Father O'Reilly's side-kick

Sat, 12*-Apr-1603, Spring

The brigantine Lūpukrāsas Slampa ("Painted Lady") of Riga (Latvia) docked in Baltimore harbour. [Baltimore, USA, took its name from this place].  Among the crew taking shore leave were two fellows, Elrick Youngson [Ian], sailor, from Oslo then Riga, and Roma Freeley [Chris], pikey, from Rotterdam. On the docks, they went through the cursory Customs and Excise inspection. One of the Customs soldiers was a Private Art Bowman [Jeff]. Art took an immediate liking to Roma who was exploiting his pikey charm.

[ * = dates use Gregorian calendar, because my moon tables are in Gregorian. To convert to Julian, which Ireland was using at this time, until 1752, subtract ten days. So this day is 2nd April 1603. ]

Sun 13-Apr

After taking mass at St Mary under-the-wagon, Deacon Father O'Reilly [Shane] headed to his favourite post-mass Sunday location, the Waterfront Inn.

The deacon's parents' surname was O'Reilly, and, not being too bright, they named him "Father" after his uncle, a priest. This was made more confusing since that very uncle was the parish priest that Father worked under, another O'Reilly, and the uncle was a genuine Father. So, the good church of St Mary had a priest called Father O'Reilly and a deacon called Deacon Father O'Reilly. ("Deacon" being a father-in-training.) Of course, when the deacon would be fully ordained, he would then be Father Father O'Reilly.

In the inn, Father met with his childhood friend, Art Bowman. Elrick and Roma arrived too and joined the drinking buddies. Ale all round.
Father did not have a very good constitution, and although he loved ale (in fact, any alcoholic beverage), he could not drink much before he became sick. So the usual Sunday morning ensued with Father drinking too much, slurring his words, making a disturbance, and voiding his bladder.

A little while later, the genuine Father O'Reilly arrived. This was also the normal Sunday occurrence, where the the Father would take the ill Father home. But today, he arrived with another older fellow in tow. He was introduced to the group as Todd Unctuous. Todd was in his early sixties, and was from Dublin, or was it Cork? They weren't sure. Father O'Reilly arranged for Todd to chaperone the drunken deacon. Todd had good knowledge of Catholic doctrine, and a cast-iron constitution, so he could pass as a tutor for Father, and could bodily carry the sickly drunk home, if necessary.

While this was going on, Roma overheard a bunch of sailors at the adjacent table. They were from the other ship that was docked in the harbour (next to the Painted Lady), a British warship, the HMS Dreadful, a brig. The sailors were talking about a wreck that they had passed yesterday during the trip along the coast - off Long Island, an island eight Irish miles* to the west. The moon was new, so there were very large king tides; maybe that explained the recent observance of the wreck.

[ * = An Irish mile is 8 Irish furlongs, or 320 Irish linear perches**, or exactly 14/11 English miles, or a fraction over two kilometres.

** = perches are normally units of area (there being 160 perches to an acre; yes, the Irish acre was different to the English acre), but the Irish had a "linear perch" which was 7 yards, c.f. the English "rod" which was 5.5 yards. And one square rod was called a "perch"***. Thems were the days.

*** = not to be mistaken for the small stripey freshwater fish. ]

Roma "found out" that there was a dying man living on Long Island and that he needed an emergency Last Rites performed (else he would die unconfessed). So Father O'Reilly told Todd to get Deacon Father O'Reilly over to Long Island by any means necessary ("a man's mortal soul is in jeopardy"; "jeu parti" a lost game). Roma and Elrick managed to convince their boss (Captain Galvenā-Krastmala of the Painted Lady) to borrow a skiff "for three days". And Art convinced his immediate barracks commander, Lieutenant Matthews, that he would be required to travel with the group to give them martial protection, for three days. Art suggest they bring his other friend "Ab" Siddy [Darryl], as he had some unique skills which might help the group.

The skiff was sailed by Elrick, who had significant boating skills, with the rest of the group: Roma, Art, Ab, Father and Todd, forming the crew. They got to Lamb Island, just past halfway, by dark.
The island was a wooded and uninhabited island, so they pulled the skiff up the beach, and started a large fire from driftwood. Todd cooked a meal, which was pretty mediocre, and they settled down for the night.

Around midnight, Roma, on second watch, heard some movement in the woods just off the beach. He woke everyone up and went to investigate with his cat-like tread. In the woods, he espied a figure, a nude figure of a young woman, crouched down, watching the group. Her skin glowed, as if shone by moonlight, but there was no moon. Roma crept close to her, but she suddenly noticed him, gave a squeal, and then waved her hands. A red bolt of light shot out at him, he ducked, and it singed his cheek with a searing pain. Then the woman dropped something, scampered off and disappeared behind a tree. Roma called the group in and they searched; no trace. He recovered the object she had dropped. It was a small basket, size of a fist, filled with fine sand. The sand also glowed faintly.

The group investigated the sand. Father knew a few churchy blessings, wards and things, so he got out his kit and performed those rituals, but it had no effect. Art sniffed the sand deeply. Todd did too.

"Smells like sand," Todd said blankly. He then dipped his finger in it and tasted it. "Pah. Tastes like sand too."

Roma wrapped the sand basket up tightly and put it in the skiff.

Suddenly, Todd started to cough. It sounded like the retching noise a cat makes when coughing up a fur-ball. He was given water, both holy and mundane, and some communion wine, but that didn't help. If anything, it made the coughing worse. His coughing got louder and more violent. Blood started to spatter out of his mouth and nose, and, what looked like his epiglottis, only bigger, was being coughed out too, in long stringy tendrils. But when he gasped air between coughs, he would suck it all back in. Each time he coughed now, the tendrils and bits of meat and mucous membrane got longer and longer. They were glistening and fleshy, like the inside of his mouth and throat. This progressed for the next quarter hour, and as time passed, more and more glistening membrane and viscera was coughed out. It looked like stomach, then intestines and then liver, and it was large enough now to touch the sandy beach. Great gasping coughs, but it was all sucked back in between coughs.

Between bouts, Roma helped Todd onto the skiff and pushed it off the beach, while Todd crouched within on all fours, doing his violent coughs. By now, it looked like he was coughing out his lungs, heart (happily pumping), and even his bowels. In fact, there was more of Todd coughed out than what was left in him. But each inward gasp would still drag it all back in again. Finally, there was an almighty explosive COUGH, which echoed around the bay, followed by a wet splodge. And then silence. Todd was nowhere to be seen, so Roma peered into the skiff. There was a naked girl, in her late teens, lying unconscious in the boat, glistening with the various body fluids of Todd  (sweat, blood, lymph, bile, interstitial fluid, chyle and saliva). Todd's clothes were in a heap next to her.

Roma brought the boat in, and the group gently lifted her out and lay her next to the fire. She was totally unresponsive, and even prying her eyelids open revealed non-reactive eyes. She was breathing softly. Roma searched through Todd's clothing and gear, but could find no trace of him; apart from the foul blasphemy of his soiled underpants, which they burned.

The girl's eyes suddenly sprang open and she sat up.
"What's goin' on here, then?" she said, matter-of-factly, and then glanced down and screamed.
"What happened to me?!" she shrieked. "What are these?" grabbing her breasts.
Then she grabbed at her groin, yelling hystrically "Where is it?!"

"Todd?" said Father.
She looked at him.
"What happened to me?!" she yelled.
"Must've been the sand," said Art wisely. "You shouldn't have licked it."
"Maybe try eating some more sand?" ventured Roma. "Might turn you back."
"No!" said Father.

Having a naked girl in the group, proved to be a distraction (esp Roma, who had an unhealthy-cum-psychotic interest in the fairer sex), so they draped her best they could in Todd's ill-fitting clothes, then tucked her in for the night.

Mon 14-Apr

The rest of the night passed peacefully.

"Todd," said Father in the morning. "You need a new name. I vote 'Tess'. Tess of the d'Urbervilles."
"To be sure," said Tess.

Roma had thought up a story to explain this whole Todd fiasco for when they returned to Baltimore. If word got out that some sidhe* magic had changed Todd to Tess, she'd be burned as a witch, and most likely the rest of the group too.

[ * = sidhe pronounced "she" is the faeries, the fae. ]

So, here was the story, which they all learned by rote:

1. A handful foul Ottoman* raiders attacked us on Lamb Is.
2. We bravely fought them off. They sailed away.
3. Poor Todd was killed in the skirmish. We gave him a Christian burial on the beach on Lamb Is.
4. The raiders had a fair maiden captive with them, whom we rescued. She had been abused by their foul Ottoman hands so much so that the trauma caused amnesia. She could not even remember her own name, so we called her Tess.

[ * = "... out of Constantinople, headed to sack Venice, but turned left at the Adriatic and ended up .. um... in Ireland?" ]

After this, they packed up and disembarked on the skiff.

After a few hours, Elrick cast his weather-eye to the west and did not like the look of the gun-metal clouds and towering thunderheads. So he made for the closest island, Horse Island. There was already a big swell, and this trip was pretty violent. Everyone except Elrick was horribly sea sick. But, Elrick got them there safely, and, as they were pulling the skiff up the beach, the storm proper arrived.

Horse Island was inhabited, so the group pushed their way through the icy driving rain to a farm house. The occupants were very welcoming, and when they realized a cleric was with them, even more so.

The locals all asked for to make confessions, so Father spent the rest of the rainy day taking confessions and issuing penance.

Tess was given some proper women's clothing

The group were given a slap-up meal, and the best beds for the night.

Tue 15-Apr

After a horrible stormy night, the next morning dawned clear and calm.

The group said their good-byes to the Horse Islanders, and they made for Long Is. under the careful command of Elrick using his best boatmanship. This would take about five hours.

Long island was about an Irish mile long and maybe 1/4 mile wide. They assumed the wreck site would be on the southern side, that being where the sailors of the HMS Dreadful could see it. The tides were still large, and it would be about mid-tide when they got there.

However, off in the distance was another larger ship, at anchor, with no flags up.

"Pirates!" spat Art. Everyone agreed.

It had just disembarked its own jolly boat to the island with 6-plus fellows aboard. Elrick changed course to pass on the North side of Long Is (the pirates were on the SW side). They beached their boat, pulled it into the woods (that covered the entire island), and headed to the high point on foot.

They got to the high point easily, but the forest covered everything, so it afforded no view. As they were deciding what to do, they heard noisy movement approaching, and sharp foul foreign tongue. So, they dug in and planned an ambush.

Three onion-and-garlic-reeking foreigners arrived, and a fight ensued. They were armed with match-locks and swords. One managed to get a shot off, but the musket ball whistled past Art's ear. The battle dragged on for ages [ because I was doing Fudge combat wrong ], but the party prevailed and downed the three. Roma took a nasty wound.

There were at least three more foreigners. And they would have heard the gun shot, and heard the screams of battle. What would they do? What will the group do next?

Introduction

Welcome to 1603. Baltimore, County of Cork, Southern Ireland.

QE 1

Hated Queen Elizabeth 1 has just died, and has been replaced by James 1st who has a slightly kinder predisposition towards the Irish. The Nine years war has just finished ending the uprising of the Irish Earls. England has a firm foothold in Ireland with the English holding all important positions in both country and town.

“Plantations” have started. This involves the confiscation of Irish ancestral land by the English crown and the colonization of this land with settlers from Britain.

Fifteen years ago (1588), the Spanish Armada’s failed invasion of England resulted in the wrecking of 24 of its 130 ships along the west coast of Ireland. Any surviving spaniards (and any Irish who dared to harbour them), were summarily rounded up and hanged by the English troops stationed in Ireland. Even now, the Irish are still finding the occasional piece of loot from these wrecks.

The plague pops up now and again all over Europe. Ireland is not exempt from this.

Shakespeare in full flight, writing his plays and sonnets, and will so for another 13 years.

Snaphance (pre-flintlock)

Soldiers are now armed with long muskets (carbines and rifles) instead of bow and sword. Short-barrelled muskets (“pistols”) are very rare. The flintlock has yet to be invented. They have the snaplock and the snaphance (an early flintlock) as well as the expensive (but very reliable) wheel-lock, and the mundane match-lock. The paper cartridge is the latest thing: a slug of gunpowder pre-wrapped, ready to be rammed.

Armour has reached its zenith, using excellent high-carbon metallurgy to make suits that will turn any blade. But a full suit of this plate costs a king’s ransom.

Witchcraft is rife throughout Europe, but strangely, not in Ireland. Maybe this is because fae magic abounds. In the woods and forests, and in the wilderness, live the sidhe (“she”), the fairy-folk, waiting to ensorcel the unwary traveller and bewitch him.

This is countered by the Church and her miracles. Most of Europe is still Roman Catholic, but it’s been almost a century since Martin Luther was excommunicated, and Protestantism has been growing since. Henry VIII started the (Anglican) Church of England sixty years ago, and the Church of Ireland soon after. However, Roman Catholicism still has a strong-hold in Ireland, and the Irish-speaking majority tend be faithful to the Latin liturgy. The English-speaking minority adhere to the Church of Ireland (Presbyterianism with Calvinist doctrine).

Much of the diet still revolves around dairy; people drank milk and buttermilk, ate fresh curds, and mixed whey with water to make a sour drink called “blaand.” Butter is flavoured with onion and garlic and buried it in bogs for storage (and flavour!).

The other primary food was grain, mostly oats, which was made into oatcakes and pottages (oat stew). Wheat, which was not easy to grow in Ireland (too wet), was mostly eaten by the rich. People supplemented their grains and milk with occasional meat and fish; grew cabbages, onions, garlic, and parsnips; and ate wild greens.  People still avoided uncooked fruit and vegetables, believing them to carry disease. Indeed, during the last London plague 34 years ago (1569) it was illegal to sell fresh fruit. Though, this fear is now starting to wane, and we’re seeing oranges, lemons, quinces, apricots and melons (imported from Southern Europe).

Potatoes, and tomatoes, from the New World, are now being grown locally and just starting to be cheap enough to be used as food.

Other new foods have arrived from the New World, still expensive, include kidney beans, maize, Indian corn, chocolate, peanuts, vanilla, pineapples, French beans, red and green peppers, turkeys and tapioca.

And there is an ever-increasing appetite for sugar from sugar cane (imported from territories in the West and East Indies as well as from Morocco and Barbary). Sugar is used for anything from dressing vegetables and preserving fruit to the concoction of medical remedies. But it’s still costly.

So too was tobacco; expensive and rare.

Tea and coffee have another fifty years before they arrive.

Plenty of alcohol, however. Beers, ales, and the stronger whiskey (with an “e”)

(Gaelic “uisce beatha”, meaning “water of life”.) Whiskey wasn’t aged at this time so it was rough as guts (whiskey aging did not start until the Bushmills distillery opens in North Ireland in five years’ time).

Wine is locally made too. In fact, there have been vineyards around Cork since 450 AD.

No Guinness for another 170 years.

Job Interview

Wednesday evening, July 23, 2014

Theo had headed into town because he thought that Ebony was to arrange the destruction of the cursed rings (that he and she were wearing). But no; Ebony sent him a quick text that the deal had fallen through. Vampire Defacto wanted to replace Vampire Oberon's ghoul rings with his own version of jewellery. So Theo turned the taxi around, and headed out.

Ebony was summoned to Oberon for a progress report. She managed to convince him that she didn't need the anti-ghoul ring, and that she could infiltrate Defacto better if not so encumbered.

After a bit of thought, Oberon was convinced, and duly pulled the ring off her finger.

Theo, had by now destroyed his phone - his new paranoid habit each day - so never got the chance to rid himself of his ring.

However, according to Ms Anderson, Oberon's PA, her master was getting more and more annoyed at Theo's reluctance to report in.

Thursday morning, July 24

Sledge had spent an exhausting night swotting up on politics. He had heard from Colleen that a high political knowledge was a useful requisite for him to have for the job interview (STRIKE FORCE Philadelphia Area Commander, vacated by Lieutenant Prospero) tomorrow.

When he awoke, he rose feeling ever-so knowledgeable. [ Shane spent experience to get Politics 1. ]

Thursday mid-morning, July 24

Not content with a bit of political knowledge, Sledge wanted more. He knew that Witch Cello could help him magically, so made a booking with her.

Cello sat him down on a chair, and then started her chant of political minutiae; obscure ramblings on UK and USA politics. Sledge drifted off into a restless, haunted sleep.

When he woke up, he had even more political knowledge and acumen. [ Shane spent more experience points to get Politics 2. ]

Thursday afternoon, July 24

The party was in STRIKE FORCE HQ. Alan Cumming's team, the Geist Squad arrived. The Geist Squad was the other team of hunters operating in Philadelphia. Lieutenant Prospero introduced them to the group.

• Alan Cummings: Natural leader of the Geist Squad. Was good with guns and rifles. Hated ghosts.
• Brian Hart: Dexterous and good with throwing and missiles. An Ebony analogue. Hated ghosts.
• Charis  Denton: Shotguns. Hated fae.
• Dennis Trevino: Brains of the group. Investigation. Medicine. Occult. A Jacob analogue. Hated mages.
• Edgar Willis: Big strong melee fighter. Hated demons.

Charis Denton

Alan Cummings

Brian Hart

Dennis Trevino

Edgar Willis

They had been a few hours north of Philadelphia fighting ghosts in a haunted house. In fact, they had two ghosts trapped in a "fish tank" - an enchanted ghost containment vessel. It looked like a glass fish tank, about 400 by 300 by 300 mm, with swirly moving mist inside.

Lieutenant Prospero decided that the captive ghosts should be destroyed, so everyone, from both groups, assembled themselves on the firing range, all equipped with etheric (anti-ghost) rounds. Some see-etheric gas was released, and the contained ghosts were let out.

The angry ghosts shot skyward, and both parties opened up, filling them full of etheric rounds. They don't last long and were destroyed.

[ As far as Morality was concerned, this was considered a "legal execution". Although sentient, the ghosts had committed evil acts, and they had been duly judged by a STRIKE FORCE leader. So no-one suffered a Morality hit. Even though it was like shooting rats in a barrel. ]

Thursday night, July 24

Sledge knew that empathy was another trait looked for by the appointments committee, so he started working on his Empathy. Swotting away late into the night.

Ebony was contacted by Ms Anderson again. She implored Ebony to get Theo to come in. As it was after dark, Theo had destroyed his SIM card again, so she had no way to contact him anyway. Not that she thought it would be any help.

Friday morning, July 25

Sledge woke up feeling refreshed. And empathetic. [ Shane spent more experience to get Empathy 1 ]

Friday late morning, July 25

The job interviews went ahead

Sledge went first. The appointments committee consisted of Ms Elgin and Lance Corporal Bolger from STRIKE FORCE New York, and Lieutenant Prospero (soon to be Captain).

Colleen had told Sledge that the appointments committee would be Chalet and Albus. She had made an educated guess, but turned out to be wrong. Sledge did not realize this at the time of his interview, so he tried to ingratiate himself into their good books by pretending to hate fae and the created (Chalet and Albus's hated). They were not impressed, and Prospero knew that Sledge hated werewolves (and not fae nor the created), so he was not impressed himself.

Then they moved on to a series of questions about the STRIKE FORCE constitution. Sledge kept saying that he'd delegate such minutiae to his staff.

After this, they went over his experience, and then talked about goals and the "where do you see yourself in five years" type questions, and usual interview fare.

Reginald's interview was next.

His knowledge of the Constitution was impressive, and he only failed on one of the constitution questions, but it was on an obscure article from the early days of STRIKE FORCE about how many muskets you can put into a hand-cart.

The appointments committee was a bit worried about Reggie's pedantry and attention to details and minutiae.

Then followed Detective Trisha Noble, and finally Alan Cummings.

Friday noon, July 25

Sledge and Detective Noble made the short short-list, and were both called in.

Friday afternoon, July 25

The appointments committee brought all four applicants in. They congratulated everyone on the high calibre of their resumes. And they then announced the new STRIKE FORCE commander of Philadelphia. Trisha Noble.

[ This was all rolled out. Sledge had 24 dice in his pool, Trisha had 22. Reggie had 16 and Alan 14. Reggie and Alan were soon out of the race, leaving Sledge and Trisha. But she lucked out, and beat Sledge across the line. ]

Detective Noble was to start immediately, and she was promoted to Second Lieutenant on the spot. She would become First Lieutenant when she passed a few more tests [ spent experience to raise her STRIKE FORCE merit to 5 ]

Sledge, Reggie, and Alan Cummings were warmly thanked for their efforts.

Second Lieutenant Noble then called the entire party for a STRIKE FORCE meeting.

"I plan to run your group as before," she said. "There will not be many changes. But two things I want to change: I want you to choose a leader for your group. You are currently a homogeneous mass of like-minds and it is harder to focus you like this. I want you to choose or elect a leader of your group. Give yourself a catchy name too. I find a hint of irony goes down well here."

"Secondly," she said. "What do we do about Theo? Staying out side of Philadelphia, he is next to useless. I know he had a run-in with Oberon, but I can not believe it is as serious as he makes out. I want you lot to resolve this problem."

They all nodded wanly.

Sledge asked about his wedding, and if anything could change re STRIKE FORCE protection. But Second Lieutenant Noble shook her head.

"Lieutenant... I mean Captain Prospero has arranged SWAT and a squad of uniformed officers to cover ground for your wedding. I fully support this action.

"And your Jacob has worked out a successful mix of diesel and rubber to burn in 44-gallon drums to make a smoke screen to shield your group from snipers."

Friday sunset, July 25

Ms Anderson phoned Ebony, and reminded her of her commitment to infiltrate Defacto. So she went to Defacto's base under the cancer hospital.

Defacto told Ebony about a new crowd in town, some werewolves, in the south-west (his area), and he wanted them investigated.

"We happen to know that they will be at a party tonight, on the New Jersey," Defacto said. "Show me how good your sneak skills are. Go and bug them."
,
The USS New Jersey was a WW2 Iowa class battleship, now a tourist site cum museum, and was moored in the Delaware river, in central Philadelphia.

Ms Reynold gave Ebony a special bug to plant. It was a hybrid; a mix of magic and technology.

Friday late evening, July 25

USS New Jersey in Philadelphia

Ebony, Reggie, Jacob and Sledge turned up at the New Jersey. Security was tight: there were vans labelled "Isaac's Security" about, and many uniformed security officers. Jacob used his Gem of the Veil, and sure enough, the Isaac's security staff were werewolves. A quick search on the net revealed Isaac's base was in the south-west of the city; so this was the crowd Defacto was interested in.

Reggie and Jacob stayed on the docks with the vehicle, while Ebony and Sledge fast-talked their way onto the battleship.

Mage Nonce was hosting the party and had booked the whole ship. Ebony managed to fast-talk herself and Sledge on board. While Ebony schmoozed herself with party guests, Sledge snuck down to the forward hold meeting room and planted Defacto's bug. Mage Nonce was in the meeting room with Werewolf Isaac (in human form) talking on things veil.

Mage Nonce

Interestingly enough, at that very moment, Ebony was dancing with Mage Nonce up on deck. Somehow he had two versions of himself running.

The party went on to very late. There were more gorgeous girls (human) here than you could shake a stick at. Ebony hooked up with one or three, and found a quiet cabin.

Sledge was propositioned many times by the gorgeous creatures in their low-cut straining tops, high skirt-hems, and even higher heels, but he was a good boy and kept saying he was keeping himself for his fiancee; the wedding being on Tuesday. The ladies thought this was very sweet, and thus redoubled their efforts.

Sledge consoled himself at the open bar, with his mates Jim Beam, Jack Daniels, Bud Weiser and Tom Collins.

Friday midnight, July 25

Sick of waiting and now bored, Reggie and Jacob repeatedly tried to ring Ebony and Sledge to return to the car so they could make their exit. But their pleas were ignored: Sledge was too drunk to comprehend what that noise his phone made meant, and Ebony was indisposed elsewhere, so, in a fit of pique, Reggie & Jacob headed home (to Reggie's safe-house).

Saturday very early, July 26

Sledge, by now, was utterly trolleyed. Ebony extracted him from a pool of his own vomit, and helped him back to the car ... but the car wasn't there of course. So they got a taxi. And had to pay the soiling fee - Sledge was sick in it.

Back at the Elfrith Alley apartment, Mina was there.

"Gosh," she smiled. "Look at you two... had a nice night?"

Ebony nodded. Sledge started to retch again.

"You will feel crap in the morning," she said. "I can fix you, now. Shall I?"

Sledge looked up bleary-eyed, blinked, then nodded.

Mina cut her own wrist and dribbled her blood into his mouth.

No sooner had he swallowed than he was sober again. Like a switch: from drunk to sober in less than a second.

"Damn!" cursed the sober Sledge. "Damn! I feel nothing!"

Mina chuckled.

He still stank of vomit and urine, so he had a shower.

Saturday early hours, July 26

Clean and in clean attire, Sledge wanted the drunk buzz again, so he and Ebony hit the bars. With vampire blood still fresh in him, the alcohol's effect was severely lessened; like by a factor of ten. Sledge won all the drinking games he entered, but all he received for his exploits was a bunch of fives; several bunches of fives. Maybe it was his incessant gloating and his lack of grace in victory.

They got home (the Elfrith Alley apartment) around dawn.

Saturday morning, July 26

The party met up again in STRIKE FORCE. Although Sledge's heavy drinking didn't get him drunk, the other alcohol effects were there. He reeked of bourbon, Victory gin, cheap sherry and stale beer. And his breath was rather potent.

Second Lieutenant Noble called them to order.

The Heart Pin

Wednesday morning, July 23

Theo (wearing Oberon's cursed tracker ring) was cowering down in the Nexus in Mina's Shroud (in the party's Elfrith Alley apartment). Ebony was not sure what to do about him, so phoned the others; she was worried that Oberon's goons would still be around.

Jacob, Reggie and Sledge made a habit of always spending the night in Reggie's class-5 safe-house. arrived. Despite being "off the grid", it had a land-line phone; hence Ebony could contact them. They soon arrived in Elfrith Alley.

When they had gone down into the basement, next to the Nexus, and saw Theo standing there, Jacob frowned.

"Didn't Mina say that you mustn't take those cursed tracker rings into her Shroud?" he said.

"Um," said Theo. "Well, nothing has happened, so it must be okay.

"We need to get you out of town," said Jacob. "Sledge has his magic No-eavesdrop Ruby. If you stay close to him, he can shield you."

So Theo stepped out of the Shroud and right next to Sledge, and upstairs.

On the off chance that Ms Anderson (Oberon's PA) had the apartment under surveillance, Ebony put a cheap disguise onto Theo. The group then left the apartment, and went to their car. Then headed for STRIKE FORCE. Sure, enough, Jacob noticed a suspicious vehicle following them.

In STRIKE FORCE offices, they split up. Sledge and Theo snuck out the back and into another vehicle. With this, he drove Theo to another rendezvous in a parking garage, changed cars, and headed out of Philadelphia. Sledge left the vehicle with Theo, and he took a taxi back in.

Theo's plan was to stay out of Philadelphia now during the day too.

Meanwhile, Ebony was phoned. It was Ms Anderson.

"You were noticed leaving your apartment with an extra," she said. "Who was it?"

"Uh... Trevor," lied Ebony.

"Is he new in your group?"

"Yes, that's right."

"Okay. I want to meet him. See that he is here at noon."

"Surely," said Ebony. "I'll tell him now."

Meanwhile, the interview times for the position of STRIKE FORCE Commander of Philadelphia (vacated by Lieutenant Prospero) had been posted on the STRIKE FORCE notice board. The interviews were on Friday (25th) morning, 30 minutes each. The short-list was four candidates:

• Sledge Hammer, Corporal
• Reginald Gates, Corporal
• Trisha Noble, Detective
• Alan Cummings, Lance Corporal

Wednesday late morning, July 23

Ms Reynolds, Defacto's PA

Ebony thought she had a way to get rid of the Oberon's tracker rings. Vampire Lord Defacto could apparently source some werewolf blood. And that would work according to witch Siri. She got on the phone and arranged for Siri to meet at noon. Then Ebony phoned Defacto's PA Ms Reynolds.

But Ms Reynolds would have none of this.

"You will need to speak with my Lord," she said. "Come around tonight."

Wednesday just after noon, July 23

Ebony's mobile rang. It was Ms Anderson.

"Where is this Trevor?"

"I told him noon," Ebony replied. "Maybe he's late."

"He better be here... or else."


Wednesday early afternoon, July 23

Jacob got a call. It was from Cello, the witch.

"Jacob," she said succinctly. "I would like you and your group to come visit me; this afternoon at five. My shop."

"Yes, Ma'am!"

When a normal witch says "jump". One is inclined to jump. When the most powerful witch in the tri-state area says "jump", you say "how high?"

Wednesday afternoon, July 23

Reggie, Sledge and Jacob visited Colleen Thomson.

Sledge quizzed Colleen on STRIKE FORCE procedures as to how they conduct interviews, and who would be coming from New York. Colleen had been across many interviews in her time with the organization, so she gave him a heap of tips.

[ Election mechanics:

1. Add the following merits, attributes and skills: STRIKE FORCE, Intelligence, best of Wits/Resolve, best of Presence/Composure, Politics, Empathy, best of Streetwise/Socialize, best of Persuasion/Intimidation, best of Academics/Investigation/Occult, best Physical skill  (minuses for zero-skills apply). 
2. Then roll repeatedly (candidates may spend WP), each roll being half a day.
3. First to 15 successes wins. 
4. If a draw, the drawers start again, with a (sum - 15) head-start. 

]

Sledge then asked Colleen to use Dolly to get some more premonitions about his Wedding. Jacob was a better candidate for readings; Sledge's mind wasn't attuned to this task as well as Jacob [ Intelligence and Occult ].

After the previous scary premonition of the bikers storming the wedding, Lieutenant Prospero had offered the Philly SWAT team and a few dozen normal cops to guard the wedding.

Jacob took the little plastic dolly, shut his eyes and let her whispers overwhelm him. A vision appeared in his mind. He was on the steps of the church, looking out over the police and SWAT officers standing around. Sledge and his new bride Safiya were descending the church steps. Suddenly, Safiya's head just exploded in a shower of blood and brain. Then the vision stopped.

They worked out where the sniper bullet would have come from.

Reggie suggested smoke to block the vision, so arranged with Prospero to get some 44-gallon drums to be filled with chipped rubber and old oil, enough to make a colossal cloud of smoke.

Jacob took Dolly again, and let her give him another vision. This time he was doing some lab experiments with beakers and stills; he reached for a glass valve and noticed his hands were old and liver-spotted. Then there was a flash of fire.

So, in this vision, Jacob was now aged: so that meant their smoke trick perhaps blocked the sniper bullet, and perhaps the wedding went through safely. Perhaps.

Wednesday late afternoon, July 23

The party arrived at Cello's "Ye Olde Magick Shoppe". It was set out like a new-age mystical shop with charms, trinkets, incense, etc, to keep the general mundane (non-veil) populous unaware. The mage haters of the group, Reggie and Leon, stayed in the car (Theo was a mage hater too, but he, of course, was currently miles away). So only Ebony, Sledge and Jacob entered Cello's shop.

They were shown through to Cello's office. Cello was there dressed in her velour form-fitting splendour.

After some polite introductions, and bergamot tea all round, she got down to business.

"I haf vatched your progress in Philadelphia over past few months with some interest," she began in her cultured Romanian drawl. "You seem trust-vorthy."

They just nodded. Sledges eyes affixed firmly on her decolletage.

"What I am about to tell you three, vill not be repeated outside this office. Is this clear?"

They all said "Yes, Ma'am."

"I haf a heart pin."

"A heart what?"

Heart pin pin-cushion

"A heart pin," she repeated. "A large magical needle. It go in heart and is magically linked to a duplicate pin which lives in a special pin-cushion. When the duplicate is removed from pin-cushion, the pin in heart also comes out. So the victim, she dies very quickly."

"How did you, a powerful witch, get this?" said Jacob.

"When I was small girl, Oberon, he did this. I did not know until last few years."

"Can't you just magic it away?"

"No. Is magic and any attempt like this causes fail. And death."

The party digested this for a while.

"So what can we do?"

"If you ever should be in Oberon's house, in vault, and you see pin-cushion, with single pin in, you take it and bring to me."

"Of course, lady," said Jacob.

Sledge's mercenary side couldn't stay silent.

"What's in it for us?"

Cello smiled.

"I am sure most powerful witch in Philadelphia can reward you suitable," she said.

Jacob was worried on another angle.

"Reginald, Leon and Theo are all mage-haters," he said. "They would feel no loss if you were to die,
Lady Cello."

"Then maybe it not good for you to tell them," she said. "But I trust you enough to leave that choice for you. Though, I do caution you that if others outside of your group know ... of my weakness, I will not be happy."

"Does Oberon use the pin cushion to threaten you?" asked Ebony.

Cello's mouth tightened and her eyes narrowed.

"He does not use it often," she said. "Maybe, one or two times in last year. He use it more to ensure my loyalty, my silence, and my magic with no questions. Some of his requirements are ... not good."

Conversation drifted onto other topics, and then Ebony decided to quiz Cello about the mechanics of the Oberon's tracking ring.

Cello admitted she was the one who created it, but she couldn't take it off Ebony, for obvious reasons. The location detection that Anderson and Oberon would use, was special copper bowls. Each bowl had a single enchanted marble attuned to the ring. The marble will rise up and freeze on the edge of the bowl closest to the ring. Oberon would have a bunch of these bowls in his other properties, scattered about Philadelphia. So, by triangulation, the location of the ring could be done. The range was about five kilometres.

Wednesday sunset 8:23pm, July 23

Ebony turned up at Defacto's base, under the Abramson Cancer Hospital, and was shown inside. Here she asked to take Defacto up on his offer for werewolf blood to remove the cursed Oberon rings.

"Yes," he said. "Of course. Give me a couple of hours to source the werewolf."

Ebony nodded.

"And," he said. "Would you prefer studs or sleepers?"

"What?"

"In return for removing your cursed ring, I will gift you some jewellery; ear jewellery."

"Cursed?"

"No. Of course not. You just can't remove it."

"Why?"

"There will be a small bang if they are removed."

"How is that not a curse?" whimpered Ebony.

"It is to ensure that you remain loyal to me," smiled Defacto innocently.

Ebony no longer wanted the werewolf blood, no longer wanted to lose Oberon's ring. Luckily, Defacto didn't seem to insist on her wearing the studs; maybe he was worried about the mixing of them with Oberon's ring.

Theo's Excursions

Monday afternoon, July 21

Theo left for the country again, for the night, to hide out of range of Oberon's tracking (Theo's cursed ring). This was becoming a normal nightly habit.

Monday evening, July 21

Sledge was in his private room in Pennsylvania Hospital convalescing.

During hospital evening visiting hours, he was visited by vampire noble Defacto and entourage. Defacto brought some gifts of flowers and chocolate and a "get well soon" balloon. He offered best wishes to Sledge, and presented his card.

Monday midnight, July 21

Sledge was dozing and woke up. There was a noise in the room.
He flicked on the torch app of his cellphone.

Crouched down by his storage box was a woman, dressed as a nurse, but it was a fetish nurse outfit. Bulging bust, cavernous cleavage, tiny skirt, seamed stockings and towering stilettoes. She paused staring into the light, like a possum caught in headlights, before running. This gave Sledge a chance to take a series of phone pictures.

Sledge then pressed the nurse-call button, and the normal night nurse arrived. She was horrified when she saw the pictures.

"We don't allow escorts in rooms, sir!" she blustered.

"It's not a whore," Sledge said. "She was stealing my stuff. She's a thief!"

Eventually he convinced the night nurse of this, and lodged a compliant.

A hospital security guard eventually got to Sledge's private room and Sledge eventually convinced him to check the CCTV of the hospital. Sure enough, this "lady" was spotted entering the main doors just before Visiting Hours had closed. She seemed to be alone. No sign of her exiting.

Tuesday morning, July 22

Sick of being cooped up, Sledge checked himself out of the hospital.

He headed in to STRIKE FORCE offices, and sought out Lieutenant Prospero.

"Can you tell me who else has applied for your position?"

Yes," said Prospero. "This information is not confidential. But I will tell all applicants. It is you, Reginald Gates, Alan Cummings, and Trisha Noble. You are all equal to corporal rank [ 3 dots ]"

"Detective Noble?"

"The same."

"Who is Alan Cummings?" asked Sledge.

"He is the leader of the other group of hunters working in Philadelphia."

"Another group like us?"

"Yes. They are currently north working around Doyleston."

Sledge digested this for a bit.

"Who is top contender of the four of us?" he asked.

"That has not yet been decided."

"Well, who actually makes the decision?"

"We will form a committee of three. Two are coming from New York STRIKE FORCE, and the third is me. Also, when we have made our choice, it must be vetted by Major Ewing."

Tuesday noon, July 22

Prospero didn't seem to mind Doctor Donald frequenting STRIKE FORCE offices, so he got chatting with Jacob.

"I'd like to build a created to help your team," said the doctor.

Jacob looked at him suspiciously.

"Go on," he said. "I am listening."

"See if your STRIKE FORCE boss can source a child corpse," said Doctor Donald. "I've not made a child-size created. It would be exceedingly useful. Good for small spaces. Would fit in an airline bag too."

Jacob went and asked Prospero, to see if it was allowed. And if he could get hold of a child's body.

"Although 'pragmatism' is my middle name," said Prospero. "This is a bit of a stretch..."

"I thought so," interrupted Jacob. "I'll tell the doctor 'no'..."

"Let me finish..." interrupted Prospero back. "I never said 'no'. You look at your own moral compass, Mr Bradshaw. I can make enquiries if you decide it would help STRIKE FORCE."

[ Jacob was being played by guest player Chris Whelan (not Ian), so we decided to defer this decision for when Ian was back. Especially since it might involve a Morality roll. ]

Tuesday afternoon, July 22

Theo left for the countryside again, for his nightly sojourn.

Tuesday sunset, July 22

Ms Anderson phoned Ebony

"My Lord wants to see Theo. Make sure he reports in tonight."

"He's gone," Ebony said. "He leaves town each night and dumps his phone."

"Oh dear... ah. Well, catch him tomorrow. I can probably hold off my Lord for the night. But it is imperative you phone me tomorrow the instant Theo appears. For his life's sake. His very life's sake."

Wednesday morning, July 23

Theo came into town with a new phone, and met Ebony in the Elfrith Alley apartment. Ebony phoned Ms Anderson, Oberon's PA.

"Make sure he doesn't leave!" she snapped. "Be there soon."

Elfrith Alley was only ten minutes' walk from Oberon's offices: the Khyber Pass Bar and Grill.

Ebony chatted innocently with Theo to pass the time, until, suddenly, there was a hammering on the door. She changed her mind.

"I think it is best you go hide," she whispered.

Theo scampered opened the secret door, and fled downstairs to the Nexus and into Mina's shroud.

Ebony let the guys in. They were some of Oberon's goons - three of them. Heavily armed with MP5s, and Taurus PT145s. One had a G36 assault rifle. They searched the apartment, but the secret door behind the cupboard in the living room was not breached.

Ebony was phoned again. It was Ms Anderson.

"It seems Theo just left town," Ms Anderson said. "How he do it so fast?"

Ebony had no idea. Ms Anderson wasn't convinced, but she summoned Oberon's men, and they left the apartment.

Ebony hissed down the stairs.

"Stay there, Theo!"

Bones' Destruction

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."

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.