Heartland Orphans: Jane

My short Vampire the Requiem Chronicle, Heartland Orphans, featured a flock of Strix that killed and maimed vampires and mortals alike. Previously I revealed their past and connections. This week I present the one ‘good’ Strix: Jane, also known as the Friend.

Jane

This shadowy bird possesses corpses like people wear clothing, donning and doffing them whenever she feels like it. Though she rarely kills, she has no compunctions about stealing a dead body.

When she speaks, her voice is small and nervous. She often seems child-like or shy.

The Strix most touched by the sickness within her mother’s soul, Jane desires to be among others. She sees other vampires as kin and spends her time trying to befriend them. Of course she has never been human and so her perspective often seems alien and cold. She would have no problem murdering a threat to a friend and might not see the issue with such an action. She also doesn’t consider the consequences of leaving her ‘vessels’ lying around when she tires of them.

Vice: Kinship
Aspirations:

• Befriend a vampire
• Feed with or be fed from another vampire

Shadow Potency: 3
Attributes: Power 2, Finesse 3, Resistance 3
Skills: Athletics 2, Brawl 2, Occult 2, Socialize 2

Corpus: 5
Willpower: 6
Size: 2
Speed: 12
Defense: 3 (typically 4 in a host body)
Initiative: 6

Embodiments: Shadow Form, Possess Corpse, Possess Revenant
Dread Powers: Ambition’s Sense (spend 1 Vitae, pool Power + Finesse - target’s Composure to learn an Aspiration), Mother’s Kiss (spend 1 Vitae, roll Resistance + 5 – target’s Blood Potency to give the target a pool of dice equal to successes rolled toward supernatural powers), Kindred Disciplines 2 (Animalism 1, Majesty 2, Vigor 1), Sheep’s Clothing (hide physical decay in possessed corpses)
Vitae: 12, 3/turn

Banes: fire, sunlight, running water (can’t pass over rivers, takes lethal damage each turn immersed)

Jane can also invoke the traits of her lair when one or more of the Tilts (or those of her siblings) is already present: Maze, Darkness, or Jagged.

The Unusual Suspects: The Four Pyramids

We’ve reached the third session of my Demon the Descent Chronicle, the Unusual Suspects. This first story “Alligators in the Sewers” has grown much longer than expected but in a good way. Given the revelations of this third part, it earned the subtitle: The Four Pyramids.

Our cast:

• Accabish (a.k.a. Priscilla Webb): Saboteur, Inquisitor, and editor of the Slog news blog.
• Daemon (a.k.a. Nick Mathers, Daemon (on the web and to its followers)): cult leader, Tempter, and hacker extraordinaire. A janitor named Bob has been investigating him.
• The Hunter (a.k.a. Joseph Mutsinzi): Saboteur, janitor, former child soldier, and all around blunt instrument. Bob Jenson is a thorn in his side as well.
• The Naturalist (a.k.a. Dorian, Jenny Olson, ‘Nat’): a master of covers, this Tempter has recently discovered its husband, John Olson, might not be entirely faithful.
• The Weaver (a.k.a. Jeanette Teller): Inquisitor and chemist, it has acquired several mysterious gadgets recently. It is also being followed.

Alligators in the Sewers, Part III

The Four Pyramids

As usual, I start with my wife’s character, Accabish. The one on one session went well, the best so far in fact. I pressed her character with some personal threats and we had a much more dynamic session. Now I just need to keep doing this.

We start with Cipher stuff from last session. She earned three Beats in scenes involving the God-Machine or cults and so rolls Intelligence + Wits three times. She fails twice but the one success reveals her next key is a Vocal Embed.

Also she buys Occult 1.

We start with her thinking about the Angel Sabek. She rolls Wits + Occult to guess at his powers. Rapture, Influence Alligators, Animal Control. She also knows he has a Ban and Bane. The Ban is likely the best route to removing him permanently without a fight. Finding his Ban becomes her new Aspiration.

As she waits for her session with Alexa Harper, her therapist, Accabish thinks back over what she knows about Sabek. The alligator headed angel looks alive but she could easily pick out taxidermy marks as well the human bones molded into his form. Perhaps they belonged to his victims? Or the sacrifices?

Alexa’s receptionist calls her in. The psychiatrist questions her about the stresses of her job, her friendships, and her family. To each, she responds with carefully prepared answers. Except about her family. Somehow the woman zooms in on her sorest point. As she parries Alexa’s questions, Accabish decides this will have to serve her purposes. The demon allows her frustration to show and requests a referral after her session. She makes a note to call tomorrow to cancel her sessions.

Accabish contests Harper’s psychology pool of 5 with a Manipulation + Subterfuge + Lies roll. They tie. She gets what she wants (not to raise suspicions) but at a cost (exposing her real frustrations with her family: her dead daughter and murderous creator).

Later that afternoon, the demon listens in on Shaun’s session. The Stigmatic relates his dreams. He is floating on a warm river while four pyramids drift by. In his most recent dream, one of them appeared cracked. He feels safe however, unconcerned as he bobs along with the others. He can’t see them, only submerged logs. However he can hear gears ticking to life beneath him.

He does see someone. A dark woman away from the river. Somehow he knows she lies beyond the desert, outside of all of this landscape. They call her Lilith. She is manipulating events, altering paths, shifting the river’s flow.

Alexa switches him to twice weekly sessions.

Accabish considers this new information. The pyramids could be some part of the God-Machine’s plan, part of an occult matrix. The river could refer to the water way between Eastlake and the University. That would mean this mechanical brain would be coming online not in Yesslar Terrace but in the tunnels beneath Eastlake. That must be Sabek’s mission.

Accabish uses her Prepared For Anything Condition (from being an Inquisitor) to make a deductive leap.

She also earns a beat for her Aspiration to “Discover the brain of Yesslar Terrace”. She changes it to “Discover the brain of Eastlake”.

What do the pyramids represent, she considers. The cult was one. Is there another cult or facility at the University? In the Stanley Company? And is Lilith really involved? Accabish never thought the legendary first demon ever existed.

Putting those questions aside, she spends the next few days working on the new gossip webpage: picking a layout and selecting stories to launch with. Sebastian has an article already ready. She assigns a few more to her other reporters.

As she considers what she might contribute, Vince stops by to tell her about a problem. The IT expert informs her that the private server holding her sensitive research, research into the God-Machine, has been hacked. Someone is searching the files. The strange thing is that computer has no internet access and none of the storage devices they have used with it show any signs of malware. No one else even knows about the server.

As Vince begins to discuss the possibility of someone using acoustic methods to hack the machine, Priscilla interrupts him. She suggests he install a spike so they can trace the hacker next time they strike.

I gave her the option for the server to hold the redacted memories of her daughter instead of just research. If she had the scene would have played differently. The server would have become spontaneously infused with Aether (and so needs no power to run, which Vince would demonstrate violently by pulling the plug). He would want answers, especially as he finds new data is being written in. Oh well.

Later that week, Priscilla Webb attends a fundraiser for a new community center for inner city children. The journalist wanders the event collecting the latest gossip. In addition to the recent construction delays on a water overflow project, she learns of a sharp decline in vagrancy. Interestingly this has been noticed over a much larger area than just Eastlake.

Accabish rolls Wits + Socialize to learn the rumors.

Then Donna Angstrom pulls her aside. The sharply dressed bureaucrat sounds her out for exposing a dangerous group of individuals beneath the city. Donna admits to infiltrating this gang and seeing their murderous behavior up close. Priscilla mentions she’s heard something about that and mentions the rumors of alligators. Donna denies anything that crazy, saying the gossip is result of the ravings of an overstressed city worker.

The journalist can tell this woman intends to save her own hide. Priscilla makes it clear she will help but that she will need to interview the deluded city employee. Donna agrees. Throughout the conversation, the demon notes that Donna avoids exposing her teeth.

Accabish rolls Wits + Empathy + Gaining Confidence Speciality to sound out Donna.

Curious Priscilla stumbles forward, dumping her drink on Ms. Angstrom’s gray dress. In her shock, the bureaucrat exposes her strangely sharp and crooked teeth. Accabish is sure Donna’s teeth were picture perfect a few weeks ago. But her supernatural instincts tell her that Angstrom is the weak link in the cult. She just needs to break her.

Next she makes a Manipulation + Subterfuge + Lies Speciality to make it look like an accident. Then she uses the Find the Leak Embed to soften Donna up. She rolls Wits + Empathy and gets 3 successes. This reduces the necessary doors for Social Maneuvering down to 2 and grants her a +3 bonus to her rolls.

Priscilla apologizes and agrees to do the story. She just needs the right quotes.

Next day after meeting with Kenny Nguyen, Priscilla calls Donna. She explains that she’s not finding many other leads and none that are quotable. She really needs Donna to break this story. Eventually the demon wears her down. In the process Donna accidentally incriminates herself. Priscilla notes that information down for later but withholds it from her final draft.

Getting rid of the cult is an Aspiration for Donna at this point. So helping that along opens a Door. Accabish then gets an exceptional success on a Manipulation + Empathy + Gaining Confidence roll (+3 for the Embed). We impose the Leveraged Condition on Donna.

Giving the byline to another reporter, Priscilla sets up this story to run with the relaunch of the gossip column. She also makes sure the ring has a five-hour lead before the story goes live and that the police get an hour to act before it becomes city news.

Accabish earns a beat for her Aspiration to “Relaunch the gossip column”.

Now on to the main game. Overall this felt pretty good if a bit rushed in places. I hewed closer to the rules as written this time.

Again I start with Cipher rolls: one for Daemon and Weaver, two for Nat and four (!) for Joseph. After successes are tallied, Joseph, the Naturalist and Weaver know which Embed they need next for their Cipher (Call Out, Clothes Make the Man, The Map Is Not the Territory respectively).

Weaver then takes a look at the goggles again. It fails at the first attempt but on a second roll of Wits + Investigation + Primum - 2 (since it is a form gadget) the demon learns how to use them and who made them. But the Weaver has no idea who Cxaxa Quiraphis is or why she tore her eyes out to make this.

The demons discuss their earlier findings to bring Daemon up to speed. We establish that the notion that the alligators are made of people has been shared with everyone. Unfortunately I was out of the room at this point and they neglected to mention some key information about the strange light bulb they discovered in the tunnels.

Meanwhile Daemon has spent the last couple of weeks tending to his cult. In particular he discovered that a Sirguy447 had recently joined the guild. He traced the account to campus and the computer of Bob Jenson, the janitor snooping into his mail. He informs the rest of the guild secretly. Let them send him down rabbit holes, he decides.

A Wits + Computers uncovers the infiltrator as well another event:

Then he turns his attention to Jabberwoky. His second in command has taken to keeping a dream journal. Unconcerned with her privacy, he listens to them. She describes floating down a river under warm sun. Pyramids sliding past her and a red glow surrounds her. She describes an urge to go somewhere, though she isn’t sure where.

Daemon chats with her. Familiar with his reputation for omniscience, she explains the dreams began after she went hunting for ghosts near Montlake. She noticed a weird red light while she was there, near the water’s edge. Daemon warns her against going back or following the impulse to go someplace in her dreams.

Elsewhere, Jenny Olson takes a new route on her morning jog. Passing near Green Lake, she pauses behind a tree and disappears. The Naturalist ambles out, cloaked in the guise of a generic homeless man.

He is using the homeless Facade from last session.

The mad hobo lurks near the mansion of John Stanley for an hour. Hiding in plain sight, he spots two people of interest drive up to the four-story Victorian structure. The elderly woman and the richly dressed man share a family resemblance. He guesses they must be Gloria and John Stanley Junior, the old man’s children.

The Naturalist rolls Wits + Subterfuge to avoid drawing attention.

The targets acquired, the Naturalist returns to Jenny’s life. Over the next few days she uses her rare breaks to scry the Stanleys, slowly uncovering their leadership and relationships. John Senior remains in full control of his faculties, even as his withered body is stuck in bed. Despite being in his 50s, John Junior continues to drive fast cars and chase fast women. He handles the day-to-day operations of the construction company. Gloria runs the family bank and generally defers to the others. The demon spots William, the eldest brother, only once but the arguments and black looks are enough to tell him he is on the outs with the rest of his clan. Much closer to the old man is his grandson, Damian, who works with someone or something called the Surveyor.

The demon uses his Clairvoyance demonic form ability.

The Naturalist sends all of its intelligence to Daemon and Accabish. William could be a weak link, it suggests. The Surveyor may work for their old employer or have worked for it in the past.

The Surveyor is either an angel or a demon in other words.

Daemon decides to do some digging on his own. Activating his internal circuitry, he scans the internet, rapidly picking out the important details. He finds a suspiciously fast rise to wealth and influence. Originally a dirt poor family of British immigrants, the Stanleys moves from being factory workers to contractors to owning their own business. Now approaching the upper echelon of Seattle society, they seem surprisingly competent and lucky. Looking between the lines, Daemon sees the signs. Strange tattoos, metallic eyes, odd health ailments. All signs of Stigmatics. The whole family is a God-Machine cult.

Daemon partially manifests his demonic form, spending 1 Aether to gain Inhuman Intelligence. He then rolls Intelligence + Academics + 2 for his demonic form to research the family and firm. A follow-up Intelligence + Occult (+ 2 again) gives him the supernatural details.

At the same time, Joseph begins to feel more limber, his wounded leg healing slowly and naturally. Bob continues to be nice to him. His coworker seems intrigued by the demon’s strength. He continually asks how he moved that broken dumpster last fall. Was it a secret technique? Super powers?

Joseph waves him off for another night and heads into the downstairs bathroom of the Sociology Building. As he starts to mop, he hears the clink of claws on porcelain. Turning he spots an alligator the size of a large dog impossibly crawling out of a toilet. It pulls itself onto the bathroom floor and under the walls of the stall.

Luckily the demon succeeds on a Wits + Composure to notice the alligator before it could pounce.

The demon extends its form through its cover. Joseph’s muscles become literal hydraulics and strange scars cover his skin, remnants of a thousand of wounds. Invigorated, he snaps the handle of his mop and charges the beast.

He rolls Wits + Manipulation +4 (+6 for unmanifested powers +1 for Cover 7 -3 for an Angel in the room). He spends an Aether, gets an Exceptional Success, earns a Cover Beat, and manifests Inhuman Strength and Regeneration.

Initiative order is Joseph then the gator.

He stabs the beast with the sharp end, wedging it between two scales. The alligator thrashes and snaps in his direction.

Joseph rolls Strength + Weaponry - 4 for its Defense. He gets one success. The beast’s armor absorbs half the damage (I generously give him 1 Lethal from the stick).

The gator attacks with a pool of 7 but since Joseph’s Defense is also 5, it fails on 2 dice.

Joseph drops the stick and grasps the alligator’s head with his bare hands. The reptile and the demon strain mightily sliding along the wet white floor. The animal struggles for leverage while Joseph attempts to move it to the wall.

Round 2: Joseph succeeds on a Strength + Brawl - Defense to initiate a grapple. On the follow-up Strength + Brawl roll he gets 5 success! Unfortunately so does the alligator. Nothing happens this turn.

Finally, the large man lifts the creature’s head up. He smashes it down on the sink, cracking it open. Pieces of porcelain skitter across the floor, mingled with its blood.

Round 3: They roll again and this time he again gets 5 successes. He beats the gator’s roll and chooses to inflict damage. He applies his Close Combat Merit to turn the damage to Lethal. The alligator’s armor absorbs 1 point but it still takes 4 Lethal. It now has a -1 wound penalty.

As it recovers, he dives down on it, pounding his elbow into the beast’s spine. It snaps back once last time. He knocks the jaws aside and straddles its back, pummeling at the scaly neck until he smashes a shard of sink into its spine with a loud crack.

Round 4: Joseph gets 3 successes on his Strength + Brawl - Defense roll and deals 2 Bashing total. This fills the alligator’s wound track. It rolls Stamina and keeps moving. It bites back with two dice (after spending its 1 Willpower) and fails.

After that I just let Joseph narrate the end.

The animal shivers a couple of times on the floor before going still.

I winged the alligator stats a bit. It is way too easy to turn animals into killing machines.

Joseph gets up and fumbles for his phone.

He calls the Naturalist and tells him what happened. Before he can call the police, Nat tells him to call his supervisor instead. It is more natural, the other demon says.

Joseph thanks him and calls his supervisor. Putting post adrenaline shakiness into his voice, he tells Bill Johnson about the attack. His boss tells him to wait for him there.

The demon arranges the scene to look less incriminating, including stabbing the stick into the creature’s neck. Then he goes to wait outside.

Joseph fakes emotional distress with a Manipulation + Subterfuge.

I occurs to me as I write this that Sabek really needs to know who Joseph talked to on the phone at this point.

He runs into Bob.

“What happened?” the man asks, before looking into the bathroom. “Is that a gator?”

As the other janitor pokes and prods the creature, Joseph does his best to look appropriately freaked out.

Bill soon arrives and expresses similar shock. He sends both of them to the Physical Plant and calls campus security. He finds them an hour later and gives them the night off.

“But be back tomorrow!” he tells Bob.

The demons all meet at the Baudelaire for the first time since the bus incident. Joseph fills them in on the events at the university. A quick internet search reveals no other reports of attacks on campus. Daemon has his cult double-check that but it looks like Sabek targeted him specifically.

The next night, Joseph finds the matter cleaned up. Bill knows nothing about an alligator and only recalls an incident with a feral dog. As their boss leaves, Bob leans over to Joseph and says, “I’m pretty sure I recall an alligator.”

Bob is my comic relief character so of course the God-Machine clean up team misses him.

Bob

While Joseph keeps a low profile, Jean keeps working on the new contract at Adamant Technologies. Friday afternoon her near sighted coworker across the hall comes over. Haltingly the thick-set man tells her someone was here looking for her. He precisely describes the intruder from his height and weight down to the exact length of his curly red brown hair.

Cory Coulson, the Weaver decides and thanks Dr. Walters for his help. It decides to keep an eye out for him and alert security if he returns.

Later as Jean walks home, she spots another intruder. This one, a girl wearing a pink hijab, is standing directly in front of the entrance to the demon’s bolthole. Jean freezes and watches as the girl, no more than 17, paces back and forth looking for something. The mortal can’t see the entrance but somehow knows it is there. The Weaver decides to talk to her. The demon asks, “what are you doing?”

The pale brown girl hesitates before explaining she was just looking around. She turns to leave, glancing back once. Her eyes focus on the exact spot of the bolt hole entrance.

Jean discretely follows her for a few blocks until she reaches a bus shelter.

Saturday night, Joseph finally gets the work detail for the new Anthropology building. Working carefully through the building, he eventually finds what he is looking for. A large stone tablet the size of a dinner table rests in Dr. Brooks’s lab. As he sweeps around it, his eyes trace the outline of a strange serpent pictured within, a perfect match to the bulb filament they found in the sewers. Other parts of the diagram seem to indicate it as a light source or perhaps a religious item.

He invites the ring to the bar again the next night and relays his findings. When he describes the red glow of the sewer light, Daemon suddenly realizes the connection to Jabberwoky’s dreams. He informs them that another such bulb is located in Montlake. They decide to investigate.

The demons know that Montlake is a nice suburban neighborhood with a very NIMBY-ist attitude to development. They have a neighborhood watch and don’t approve of vagrants. So they decide to acquire some new facades to shield their cover identities from any angelic activity.

Daemon checks the IPs of local WoW players until he finds someone he can sell a maxed out character to in exchange for their job for a day. He has one of his cultists deliver the contract for him.

Daemon rolls Manipulation + Persuasion to avoid any problematic ripples.

Joseph outsources his identity to the Naturalist. The pair also agree that the Saboteur will acquire a gadget to keep the Tempter safe. In exchange the Naturalist begins work on a replacement cover for Joseph. For now, he uses his usual methods to locate a local jogger and obtain part of his life for a night. He has some difficulty but eventually obtains an appropriate if overweight identity. For himself, he trades for a scrap metal collector facade.

The Naturalist fails a Manipulation + Persuasion + Closing Deals roll. He is very frustrated. To speed things along I just give him a facade but at a cost. I actually decided the cost in the next scene.

The Weaver spends part of a day finding the right target, specifically a kid with a bike. At the library as Jean, it encounters an upset teenager who with some coaxing tells the demon about her abusive father. It takes careful note of the girl’s name and situation and convinces her Jean can help. For now the child won’t have to worry about her father for a week. Later maybe it can fix that problem permanently.

A Wits + Empathy finds a good target while a Manipulation + Persuasion + 3 for a point of Willpower seals the deal. I let the Weaver regain 1 Willpower due to its virtue of Awareness.

Weaver rides up to Montlake that evening just as the street lights turn on. The generic teenage girl joins the others as they walk along the waterside.

It doesn’t take long to find the red light softly illuminating the dark waters. The jogger and scrap collector wait until no one else is in sight. Daemon takes lookout while the Naturalist gives Hunter a boost up to the lamp.

The Naturalist makes a Strength + Stamina roll with a -1 due to Hunter’s facade’s weight. It succeeds and hold him steady.

The Naturalist grunts as the heavier man reaches up for the bulb and carefully pries it loose. In the gloom, the Weaver pulls a replacement bulb from inside the girl’s jacket. Hunter exchanges the God-Machine Infrastructure for the still warm replacement.

Hunter rolls Dexterity + Athletics at a -2 penalty to remove the Infrastructure. The Weaver uses In Your Pocket and somewhere a street light goes out.

Daemon hisses over to them as the sound of poorly chanted Coptic emerges from the houses nearby. “Cultists!”

He makes his Wits + Composure roll to give them time to react.

The girl rides off on her bike before the approaching gang arrive. Meanwhile Hunter puts the replacement bulb in its place.

Hunter rolls Dexterity + Athletics at a -2 penalty (for speed) to replace the bulb.

The mob mutters darkly about these hoodlums. Nat jokingly complains to Hunter about being put up to that while Daemon suggests they are just harmless mischief makers.

Some of the residents suggest calling the cops but another, scaly and bowlegged, suggests they feed them to the waters.

The ring tries to convince the mob they are harmless. I let them attempt a teamwork Manipulation + Persuasion opposed by the cult’s resistance. Unfortunately Daemon and Hunter fail on their rolls and even with a spent Willpower Nat fails to beat the cultists.

The ring bolts, each taking off in a different direction.

Disorganized, the mob attempts to follow them. Daemon escapes, quickly dismissed by the others as a member of the community. Hunter, despite his bulk, also makes it away easily. Nat struggles for a few minutes but eventually outpaces the out of shape mob.

Everyone rolls Stamina + Athletics vs the cult’s Athletics pool of 2. No one wins the first round so I let Daemon go (he’s not an obvious threat) and flip a coin for who is still being chased. Nat beats them on a second roll.

As they catch their breath outside the limits of Montlake, Accabish’s warning arrives via text. The Naturalist responds and arranges for them to meet at the Baudelaire. Joseph taps the eggplant shaped bulb for some Aether while the Weaver lends the Naturalist some of its supply.

The bulb holds 1 Aether and if powered up generates 1 per day. Since the Weaver has the suborned Infrastructure Merit, it has a full Aether pool. It spends 2 Aether and the Naturalist gains 1 Aether.

At the bar, the ring discusses their findings. Hearing of Jabberwoky’s dream, Accabish reveals her own information. She avoids revealing her source and no one asks her for it. The four pyramids might refer to four cults or pieces of infrastructure. They have found two. Could another lie in the University?

When talk turns to the Montlake cult and their connection to all of this, the Naturalist excuses itself and heads to the bathroom. As the others snidely joke of its cover’s seeming weakness, the Tempter’s eyes turn cloudy as it turns its gaze to the leader of the mob.

He spends 1 Aether to manifest the demonic form ability Clairvoyance.

It finds the unwholesome man taking a warm bath while a small TV shows Lawrence of Arabia. “Dan!” a shrill voice calls up. “Did you eat all the fish sticks?”

As Dan submerges himself, the surprised demon returns its focus to the grungy bathroom. It washes up and returns to the others.

The Naturalist relays its findings, suggesting that perhaps the cult is slowly turning into alligators. They speculate if the effect can be countered.

Accabish asks if the name Lilith means anything to the others. Most only have a hazy knowledge of the legendary first demon. The Weaver reveals that it has something more tangible: a gadget created by Lilith. The demon shows them the rod and describes its powers. The ring decides that they can use it to scan the University of Washington, aided by Daemon’s refined senses, and thus locate any cult lurking there.

He doesn’t need to spend Aether to use Aetheric Resonance so this will be relatively cheap.

It takes the student a few days to canvas campus but Daemon eventually uncovers a good lead. In addition to the Registrar’s office and few art installations (and his own cult), the main center of God-Machine influence involves the Phi Sigma Rho house. He steals the identity of a sorority member, gets a facade of the proper gender and slips inside.

Daemon uses Identity Theft.

Following the trail illuminated by the rod, the demon discovers a door hidden behind a bookshelf in the sorority library. It senses Aether welling up behind it. The electronic lock presented a minor challenge but the sound of approaching students puts an end to the mission. Daemon hides the traces of the investigation and ignores the suspicious glares of the sorority sisters on its way out. The demon does bump into one of them on the way out, hoping to steal her identity later and with it the privileges to visit the secret room.

A Wits + Investigation discovers the hidden door while a Wits + Composure alerts the demon to the approaching threat.

Experience time! The group gets 3 Beats (1 base + 2 for roleplaying) and 1 Cover Beat. Accabish made progress or completed two Aspirations while Daemon succeeded at one: “Protect a cultist.” Joseph also earned a Cover Beat with an exceptional success on a Compromise roll.

With the Experience so far, Weaver buys Persuasion 1. Joseph and the Naturalist buy their next Key Embeds and get the following Interlocks.

Joseph’s Interlock: You and Me

Every ally of the target (except those who serve out of personal loyalty) is filled with fear of the demon.

Action: Instant

Roll: Presence + Intimidation

Dramatic Failure: The demon becomes the main target of the subject’s allies. They gain a +2 bonus to their attacks for one turn.

Failure: Nothing happens.

Success: If the demon is alone, the allies of the target suffer a -2 penalty to their attacks against the demon. If the demon has allies of his own, then those affected avoid the demon and focus their efforts on his or her allies instead.

Exceptional Success: The target also feels fear reach into his or her heart. They suffer a -2 penalty to attacks against the demon.

The Naturalist’s Interlock: References

By creating temporary connections to people and places that might belong to the demon’s current cover, they deflect investigations and avoid the notice of the God-Machine.

Action: Reflexive

Cost: 1 Aether

Dice Pool: Manipulation + Socialize

Dramatic Failure: Contradictory details manifest for the demon’s current (or last used) cover. Immediately roll for Compromise.

Failure: No special protection is provided against Compromise or investigations.

Success: The demon temporarily strengths his Cover by manifesting more of the minor details and back history real people have. Successes penalize Investigation rolls that threaten to unravel Cover. Any Compromise rolls this scene gains +1 bonus.

Exceptional Success: In addition to the above effects, the demon can either impose a Condition on an investigator (to represent their frustration or tedium) or increase the bonus to Compromise rolls to +2.

Heartland Orphans: The Nightmare Realm

In my short Vampire the Requiem Chronicle, Heartland Orphans, I created a flock of Strix as the main antagonists for players. Though they were able to destroy, defeat or divert them it was only through superior information and cunning planning that they succeeded. Last week I presented the flock’s secret history. Today I’m outlining the strange nightmare realm they control...and can use to abduct people.

The Nightmare Realm

The geography of the Strix’s shared dream is determined by the relationships between the siblings. The ‘younger’ brood (Jane, the Beast, the Witch) cluster together while the ‘older’ members like the Bird of Ill-Omen and the Inverted Lord remain more removed. The Witch being somewhat standoffish keeps a small barrier between herself and the others. This leaves the Twins to dominate the core region.

The Cornfields: Endless rows of corn spread as far as the eye can see, bending under an ever-present wind. Overhead dark clouds rumble and occasionally flash lightning. Under the cover of the buffeted foliage and in the misty confines of the clouds, something stalks those trapped in this region.

Tilts: Dim light, Exposed (no cover)

The Farmhouse: Wooden walls and high stacks of hay confine those within to a narrow and hazardous path. Rusty tools hang from the roof and walls rocking gently as the building creaks and groans under the howling gale outside. Beneath the feet of intruders, the old floor boards crack and sag, threatening to dump them into some abyss.

Tilts: Dim light, Sealed Exits, Razored

The Final Battlefield: Rotting corpses and shattered weapons from all eras decorate this vast field. In the dim night sky dark forms circle in search of survivors. No tree or piece of wreckage offers refuge from the watchers above or the stench of the dead. The Bird of Ill-Omen watches this land, supping on its fallen and contemplating the doom of men.

Tilts: Dim light, Rotting, Exposed, Stench

The Frozen Highway: These slick roads are decorated with wreckage both human and machine. Sharp crusts of ice cover everything. The cold winds cut through the thickest clothing. Sodium lamps flicker along the straight aways barely illuminating the paths of black ice as they wrap around an endless white landscape. Under the few soft snow banks lie sharp rocks.

Tilts: Dim light, Exposed, Sealed Exits, Razored, Extreme Cold

The Graveyard: The dead rest uneasily beneath the moist soil of this misty cemetery. Cracked gravestones lurch this way and that. Bony hands sometimes rise from the earth to trip and drag down the unwary. Meanwhile tall stone walls hinder those who would escape.

Tilts: Dim light, Engulfing

The Haunted Forest: This vine-covered tangle of trees blots out almost all light from above. Thick thorny undergrowth turns even a short walk into an ordeal. Pale ghostly lights flit between the trees, always just ahead.

Traits: Dim light, Undergrowth

Hospital Horror: Old stains of blood and pus mar the walls of this facility. Behind doors and counters lurk mad doctors, insane patients and others ready to lash out with a scalpel or sharpened piece of wood against intruders. Composed of the nightmares of several notorious hospitals and asylums, its history offers the only hope for escape.

Traits: Rotting, Exposed, Sealed Exits, Razored

Ice Palace: This icy castle is carved into the heart of a glacier. Every surface from the railings, flowers and seemingly smooth ballroom floor hides razor-sharp ice. A dim red glow illuminates the structure, percolating down from the blood frozen above. Here the Inverted Lord makes his lair, brooding over a bleak if beautiful domain.

Traits: Dim Light, Sealed Exits, Razored, Extreme Cold

Inner Hellscape: A realm of bleeding walls and barbed wire, this landscape threatens to literally consume intruders. A heavy musk permeates the air, bringing with it a strange heightening of the senses. The Beast lurks within, wallowing in the sensations of pain and pleasure. Sometimes it brings prey here and simply watches their response.

Traits: Dim light, Engulfing, Razored

The Lonely Labyrinth: Cold winds and distant sighs waft through this pitch black maze. Rough masonry makes up the walls and floor, filled with jagged rocks and potholes to cripple the unwary. Jane makes her home here, moping in the dark.

Traits: Maze, Darkness, Jagged

The Mound: Blackened mirrors hang from cyclopean masonry. A few distant torches illuminate the gloom with guttering flames. Here many of the younger brood prowl in a realm reminiscent of their old home.

Traits: Dim light, Maze

Mirror Realm: Tarnished mirrors cover every surface, imperfectly reflecting their surroundings. One mirror might reflect the worst in someone while another shows the ravages of age. Inner natures stand revealed while the Twins cackle with glee.

Traits: Dim light, Maze, Mirages

The Pit: This is the inner sanctum of the Strix, the place they place their captives. Rusty iron cages hang above an endless black void. Escape is impossible and in the isolation, the prisoner’s own mind is turned against them, driving them mad with phantoms and mirages. At any time some shadow might peel away from the darkness and scourge them with talons of smoke and ash.

Traits: Dim light, Exposed, Sealed Exits, Mirages

The Rotting Ziggurat: This overgrown ruin recalls a much earlier time, before the creation of the flock. Now it is just crumbling stone and rotten wood, held together by gravity and thick undergrowth. The Witch meditates here on a time when mortals recognized the divinity of her goddess.

Traits: Dim light, Undergrowth, Decayed

Heartland Orphans: the Finale

All things end and that includes my Vampire: the Requiem Heartland Orphans game. Having befriended one Strix, killed another, and convinced another pair to leave them alone, the coterie have to face the Inverted Lord and his remaining allies. In the Finale, they attempt to preempt his attack. Though they arrive too late to save everyone, they do put an end to his plans. For now...

We were down a player unfortunately: the one playing Portor. Thankfully I prepared for just that eventuality.

Our cast consists of:

• Alex Carlyle (Ventrue Invictus): a local doctor who quit his practice after gaining his condition. He recently “earned” dominion over Urbana much to the displeasure of Big Eddie, a local rival.
• Sybil Brannon (Gangrel Carthian): a former nature guide turned vampiric vigilante, she’s claimed the parks as her turf. She taken a nomadic Nosferatu called the Wolf as a mentor.
• Ethan Redhawke (Mekhet Ordo Dracul): a member of the inner circle of the Heart of Akamon, an Ordo Dracul led cult of mortals who serve as a source of blood and researchers. He leads the cult as they comb folklore and myths for clues to abilities beyond the limits of current vampires. Like his sire Martock, he lurks around the University of Illinois. This is now Invictus territory.
• John Portor (Mekhet Ordo Dracul): sibling to Ethan, this adventurer retrieved the heart's blood jewel from a mysterious mound in southern Illinois at the cost of a friend's life. Just before the Strix arrived, he disappeared. He remembers something like an alien abduction.

Heartland Orphans: The Finale

The coterie drive north as far as they can before dawn. They park the two cars at a road side motel, put the do not disturb sign on the door and fall into day sleep.

While Sybil slumbers beneath the earth and Jane occupies herself watching the cars go by, Ethan twitches in his death-like state. As he dreams, a shadow crawls along the floor toward Portor.

The cult leader finds himself in a palace carved from a glacier. Light filters down from the red ice above. As he turns around to survey the elegantly appointed chamber, a tall black figure asks him for his answer. Ethan asks the Inverted Lord to repeat his deal. Then he declines. Angered, the Strix warns that he will destroy everything Ethan loves.

Night falls and the Kindred awaken. The wind whistles outside as a light rain starts. Ethan tells the others of his dream. Portor seems unsurprised at this turn of events and Sybil gives him a sideways glance. They decide to hurry back to Champaign. Portor takes the other car while Jane and the others drive in Alex’s vehicle.

Thus removing the need for me to play two characters at once. Though at least one person noted that I played Portor differently (with more and less knowledge than one might expect).

On the way, Ethan calls his sire. As the professor looks over some research, the Mekhet explains he needs him to send his sister to Chicago. Martock agrees to arrange the tickets.

The rest of the ride is uncomfortable as the vampires silently consider their options to kill the remaining Strix while Jane smiles in the back seat. Eventually Ethan voices his hope that they can dissuade the Inverted Lord. He asks Jane if she knows a weakness they might use to do this. She eventually reveals he is susceptible to exorcisms, which they can use to force him from a body he is possessing. Ethan plans out a variation on the cult of Akamon’s rituals to attempt this.

It plays to his Dirge/Virtue: Cult Leader.

Alex makes good time on the highway, arriving in Champaign before midnight. However he loses Portor along the way.

Alex makes a Wits + Drive to cut down time. I roll for Portor but he fails.

They arrive at the university and find Martock. They walk in as the professor carefully notes down a reading on a balance borrowed from the Chemistry department. A series of weights and times decorate a nearby chalk board.

Ethan asks about it and learns that the ashes put on different amounts of weight depending on whether they are fed blood or vitae. Even if left alone, the remains are slowly gaining mass.

Eager to talk more freely, the cult leader offers Jane a place to stay and sends her off to the temple.

Once the Strix leaves, the coterie discusses their options. Alex favors allowing the Inverted Lord to possess Big Eddie and then burning him alive. With that in mind, Sybil borrows the key to the Chemistry building to get some fire retardant clothing. While there she also grabs two jugs of alcohol and a lighter for a bunsen burner. Alex meanwhile heads for Big Eddie’s club to keep an eye out for the Strix.

He finds the strip club quiet. He watches some would be patrons bang on the door trying to get in. The doctor heads around back. The rear door swings open into the alleyway. Cautiously he enters the club.

Blood and gore decorate the walls and floor. The bodies of Big Eddie’s thugs and staff lie scattered around the room. Sweet Pea is sprawled on a table, drained of blood with vitae pooling in her throat. The vampire is missing.

Alex finds a large bouncer clinging to life. He staunches his wounds and the man revives for a moment. He babbles about Sweet Pea attacking the boss and Bid Eddie going crazy. Alex texts the others that things are bad at the club.

“What does it look like?” Sybil asks.

Alex sends a picture of the horror. Then he heads out to the parking lot. Big Eddie’s ride is also missing.

Back on campus, Ethan calls the temple for a favor from his disciples. Thomas answers but the call it interrupted by the sounds of someone breaking into the inner sanctum.

Ethan texts the coterie and rushes over. The cult leader finds a half-dozen student hurrying away from the stone fraternity building. He quickly rallies them and leads them back inside.

Ethan rolls Manipulation + Empathy + his Gaining Trust Speciality.

They find two members bleeding and slumped against the walls. Stephanie lies on the ground, pale and not breathing. Some blood decorates her face.

“Jerry help the others,” Ethan orders as Sybil lumbers in carrying two jugs and dressed in mits and a thick apron. She slips past him and into the inner sanctum.

As she creeps inside she hears voices from a nearby room: three people talking and a fourth sobbing. Spying into an ante chamber Sybil sees a pale Thomas tapping his feet while Big Eddie growls at Jane to possess the girl in the corner. All of them register as vampires.

She rolls Dexterity + Stealth and beats all of the Strix’s Perception rolls.

The Gangrel pulls a pair of tapestries from the wall and soaks them in alcohol. As she works, a dowel bangs loudly against the stone floor.

“Did you hear that?” Thomas says, interrupting the Inverted Lord’s attempts to cajole Jane. “They are here and they are making flammable tarps.”

Sybil fails a follow-up Dexterity + Stealth roll. Thomas/The Bird of Ill-Omen uses Auspex 5 to spy the hall.

Ethan leads his followers inside and directs them to arm themselves. Two help Sybil with the tapestries.

Outside Alex and Portor pull up at the same time.

“There’s trouble in there,” Alex warns him as he gets out of the car.

Final Combat! The initiative order is the Inverted Lord, Jane & Portor, the Bird of Ill-Omen, Ethan’s cultists, Ethan, Sybil, and Alex.

“I know,” Portor says, his eyes flashing yellow. The possessed vampire launches himself at Alex, knocking him against a wall.

A muffled bang separates them. Alex, his gun still smoking, retreats into the temple building.

Doing this a little out-of-order for the purposes of narration. Portor/The Beast rolls Strength + Brawl - Alex’s defense + 2 for all out attack and gets one success. Alex takes 1 Bashing and rolls Dexterity + Firearms. He also gets 1 successes and deals 2 Bashing to the possessed Kindred.

Inside, Big Eddie moves into the inner sanctum. He opens his mouth and screeches.

Instantly one of the men holding the tapestry claps his hands to his ears and stumbles back. The other readies himself as Thomas emerges and glares at him with a strange intensity.

“Please don’t fight,” Jane shouts. The old man she’s animating turns his head from Big Eddie to the cultists and back.

“Disciples! Funnel them to the altar,” Ethan shouts before beginning to chant.

As his voice builds in intensity, Big Eddie shudders and cringes. Black smoke emerges from his orifices as the Inverted Lord is forced from the Kindred’s body.

As Big Eddie collapses on the ground, Sybil grabs one of the tapestries from the floor. She rushes into the room the Strix emerged from and tosses it over the still unpossessed vampire.

The rest of Round 1:

The Inverted Lord uses a power to stun a cultist. Jane does nothing. Thomas/Bird uses a power to curse the other cultist (-5 to his next action!).

Ethan directs the cultist and then does an Abjuration. He rolls Resolve + Composure + 2 for working his Dirge into the rite + 3 for Willpower vs. The Inverted Lord’s Power + Finesse. He wins!

Sybil then removes the most obvious target for the Inverted Lord to possess.

As the Strix leader attempts to recompose itself, Jane tells Thomas, “we should just leave.”

The possessed young man nods and moves to do so. But the cultists react with sudden violence. Two swing bats at the youth while another shoots him in the side. The fourth trips on the tapestry, plunging a knife blade into his leg.

Thomas rights himself, seemingly barely phased by the attacks.

“Stand down,” Ethan orders his minion as he considers how to deal with one true threat forming above their heads.

In the other room, Sybil carefully calms down the terrified woman.

Meanwhile, Alex races inside, narrowly avoiding another attack. He leads Portor toward the sound of the gunshot.

Round 2!

I have the Inverted Lord lose a turn. Jane tries to defuse things and it would have worked if the cultists weren’t keyed up. Of course they can only deal Bashing damage, are relatively untrained, and one of them is cursed. I roll some dice. No amazing successes but one Dramatic Failure.

Portor chases Alex. Both roll Dexterity + Athletics and Alex gets more successes.

Sybil rolls Manipulation + Empathy to calm the woman (and avoid Frenzy).

The smoke reforms into an owl. “I will return for my vengeance,” it snarls before flying away.

As Jane and the Thomas also vacate the sanctum, Alex stumbles in with Portor hot on his heels.

“Portor’s possessed!” he shouts as his pursuer jumps on him and smashes him to the floor.

“Get the bells!” Ethan calls out. The cult leader extends his senses attempting to link to whatever lurks in Portor’s mind. The Beast within drives him off but not before he detects something strange: a set of untriggered posthypnotic suggestions lurking in Portor’s mind.

Sybil emerges from the antechamber and tosses the alcohol soaked tapestry over Portor.

Round 3!

Most of the Strix leave.

The Beast/Portor rolls Strength + Brawl and Alex rolls twice his Defense to dodge. Alex completely fails and takes 3 bashing.

Ethan uses Auspex 4 (Intelligence + Socialize + Auspex vs. the Beast’s Resistance + Shadow Potency) but fails the roll. I give him a hint anyway.

Sybil makes a Dexterity + Athletics - Defense and succeeds. Portor/Beast is in a bad spot.

The vampire turns on her, grabbing hold of her as Alex scurries away. She wrestles him to the altar as the doctor grabs a lit candle from one of the many alcoves. All around them bells ring, causing Portor to recoil in pain.

“Wait!” Ethan calls out to Alex as he peers deeper into the mind of his ‘sibling’. He sees the experiments the Ordo Dracul did on him: the drugs, the brainwashing, the chemicals put in his blood. All to make him a trap for the Strix. He decides to trip it with his own will.

The Beast within Portor screams as the occult trap springs, its voice growing smaller and smaller until it shrinks into a soundless squeak.

Portor blinks. “This rag stinks.”

He pulls it off. “How did I get here?”

Round 4!

Portor succeeds in initiating a grapple (Strength + Brawl - Defense) but fails the opposed Strength + Brawl roll. Sybil choses to move him.

I roll 8 dice for all the bells, dealing 3 Bashing.

Ethan rolls for Auspex 2, rolls Intelligence + Empathy + Auspex and gets 3 successes. With them he realizes how to destroy the Strix inside Portor. He rolls for Auspex 4 (Intelligence + Socialize + Auspex vs. Portor’s Resolve + Blood Potency) and it ends.

The coterie quickly explain things.

“I need a shower,” he says.

“I’ll take care of Big Eddie,” Alex says with a sinister glee.

The cult begins to clean up. They find only some drops of blood where Stephanie’s body lay.

In the coming weeks, Alex solidifies his control over Champaign as well as Urbana. Jane and Thomas vanish for a time while the coterie discover a mysterious woman lurks on the edges of their territory seeking vengeance.

End of game! Many Aspirations were resolved and it felt like a good ending even if there were loose ends. My one regret is that I didn’t remember to deploy the tornado like I had planned.

Heartland Orphans: History

For my short Vampire the Requiem Chronicle, Heartland Orphans, I introduced a flock of Strix who arrived to plague the vampires of the region. Through clever planning and research, the player characters were able to destroy, defeat or divert them. In the next few weeks I will be presenting their stats and descriptions. This week I am describing their history and a mighty artifact they feel bound to protect.

History of the True Heartland Orphans

For the history of their “mother” look here.

The flock of Strix that I’ve dubbed the Heartland Orphans were created by an ancient vampire known as the Antediluvian.

The story of this group of Strix begins with the Antediluvian’s loneliness and the Idigam bound to her soul by powerful Archmages. The magics placed upon the ancient vampire bound her to destroy any group of mortals that drew too close to a certain location. But the spirit reacted to her wants by gathering, again and again, people and stranger things to worship her, ultimately triggering her blood baths.

It would build a cult for her and she would murder it. It would create a vampire clan to venerate it and she would devour their blood. It would mold a civilization to worship her as a god and she would destroy it.

Though a simple being, the Idigam was not without some cleverness. In one attempt four centuries ago, it carved away part of the vampire’s soul and combined it with another supernatural creature’s innermost being.

That being was a Beast.

The process destroyed the Horror within the Beast, killed the host, and spawned several strange shadowy birds. Between these newly born Strix, a strange nightmare realm formed, like a Beast’s lair.

Also forged at the same time was a shard of the Antediluvian’s heart’s blood, a physical reflection of the spiritual damage to her soul. This garnet like jewel contains a fragment of her power.

When the ancient vampire next awoke, she was pleased. Though the sleep of ages soon drew her away from her children, she used her powers to command the few mortal survivors of her wrath to build a massive mound to house her ‘children’ until her return. They piled earth atop earth until they dropped from exhaustion. The survivors then piled the next layer on top of them. She placed the jewel in the Strix’s care and hid their new home from all eyes mortal or supernatural. To this day satellites skip over it blindly.

She went north and slept.

They waited.

She never came back.

When outsiders entered their mound and stole the jewel centuries later, the Strix chose to pursue them into the modern world. Now they murder, search, and pursue their own long denied goals on their own.

The Heart Blood Jewel (Durability 6, Size 0, Structure 6)

This opaque red jewel contains the blood of thousands of mortals and supernatural creatures, all victims of the Antediluvian. The full powers of this jewel remain unknown.

Possibilities include:

• Destroying it destroys the Antediluvian for good.
• Destroying it frees the Antediluvian to reincarnate.
• Destroying it transforms the Antediluvian into a Rank 5 ghost anchored to her childer.
• Mixing it with the remains of the ancient vampire (or any vampire!) might restore her to full power.
• Using it in a Cruac ritual amplifies its power to epic proportion.
• Devouring the jewel turns the person into a powerful vampire.
• Devouring the jewel turns the person into the vessel for the Antediluvian’s mind and soul, destroying them from the inside out.

The Unusual Suspects: Alligators in the Sewers II

Session 2 (Alligators in the Sewers Part II the Mutation) of my Demon: the Descent game, the Unusual Suspects, was an unexpected success. Even being down a player, the story felt full and layered. We started slow but the excitement built steadily. Of course it helped that they finally encountered the Angel behind the Alligators in the Sewers.

Managing the timeline between my wife and the others worked much better this time and both sides had the information they needed to stay in sync.

Also we had our first combat! I ignored some rules toward the end in the interest of action over exactness. Did my players get off light? Yes but it benefitted the pacing of the game.

Our cast for this session:

• Accabish (a.k.a. Priscilla Webb): Saboteur, Inquisitor, and editor of the Slog news blog.
• The Hunter (a.k.a. Joseph Mutsinzi): this Saboteur, janitor, and former child soldier is a blunt instrument.
• The Naturalist (a.k.a. Dorian, Jenny Olson, ‘Nat’): a master of covers, this Tempter has recently discovered its husband, John Olson, might not be entirely faithful.
• The Weaver (a.k.a. Jeanette Teller): Inquisitor and chemist, it has acquired several mysterious gadgets recently. It is also being followed.

Alligators in the Sewers, Part II: the Mutation

As a side note, I watched too many terrible horror movies as a child, including the Alligator movies. Hence the title.

We start with my wife’s character, Accabish. It was a bit slow, partly because she was tired and partly because I didn’t push the plot towards more action. I need to change that in the future.

Before play I clarify her goals for the relaunch of the Gossip Column. She sees it as a source of information via a tip line and web crawl code. Functionally it will be a Library Merit that she intends to buy.

As Accabish breaks from editing the latest articles for the Slog, she considers how the ring might remove the sewer cult as a threat. From what the Naturalist saw, repeated verbatim to her in the early hours of the morning, while the cult was connected by their beliefs and a desire to serve Sobek, it was the cult leader that kept them unified. Without him, the group would splinter.

Accabish rolls Intelligence + Empathy + her Confidence speciality at a - 4 penalty to determine how she might destabilize the cult. She succeeds and determines the leader is the linchpin.

She decides to pay a visit to city hall later that afternoon.

The demon finds Sgt. Spencer at her desk, looking at her own reports. The officer keeps a careful eye on the security monitor, always wary of threats to her charges. As Priscilla Webb, Accabish tells the officer about a potential threat to Donna Angstrom. She shows Spencer a drawing of the cult leader and suggests that he has been making threats involving the bureaucrat.

Accabish rolls Manipulation + Persuasion with a +1 bonus to get some information from her police Contact.

Convinced that he might be a person of interest, Spencer runs the face through their database. As they wait to hear back, the pair talk a bit about other threats to Donna, as Kenny Nguyen storms out of her office. Spencer explains, the head of animal control is normally quite relaxed. She confides he has been heard shouting about alligators in sewers lately. He apparently complains that the authorities won’t take him seriously. Spencer thinks he is simply stressed since one of his employees went missing.

The report on the sketch comes back. Unfortunately the man doesn’t appear in their database. Spencer says she will show it around the precinct.

Back at the office, Priscilla has the Slog’s IT person, Vince, look for the man. The young technician moans it is like searching for a needle in a haystack.

Accabish uses her Retainer to do some searching.

The next morning however, Vince informs Priscilla that he managed to locate a man who might be the cult leader in a paper from 2007. He shows her the photo. He’s younger and healthier looking but it could be him. He appears at a protest over layoffs at a recently bought supermarket. Accabish sends the photo to the Naturalist who confirms that it is the man they are looking for.

As Priscilla, she arranges to meet the former owner’s widow, Christine Morris, for lunch. She explains she is doing an article on the fate of local mom and pop businesses in the Seattle area. Mrs. Morris agrees to talk.

Over lunch, Accabish learns a lot about the supermarket and its troubles. She makes a particular effort to learn all she can about the employees who lost their jobs: their names, stories, and contact information. Christine doesn’t have a contact number for Daniel Montgomery but she does recall him. He had been with them for six months when the store closed. Both of his parents had died while he was in his teens. He was only 18 when the store closed and he lost his first job.

As she returns to the office, Priscilla gets a call from Sgt. Spencer. A colleague from the department recalled the young man from a few years back. The youth had the misfortune of being mugged and robbed in the same week. She confirms his name was Daniel Montgomery. Spencer suggest he might be among the local homeless and offers to send his photo to the city shelters.

Several days later, Spencer gives her a few more bits of information. Daniel has been staying at an Eastlake shelter. Apparently he managed to get off the streets briefly a few months ago but falling back into homelessness. He got a job with Windermere family, the Boltons.

Accabish decides to contact the Boltons to learn more about Daniel. The father claims he was lazy, a thief and sex offender, but Accabish reads between the lines. The Boltons have a college age daughter. She decides Daniel and the girl must have been too friendly.

Accabish rolls Wits + Subterfuge + her Lies speciality to sense the truth.

She contacts the shelter and arranges to volunteer there before the cops confront him.

That evening, she doles out soup to grateful people. One of them is a dark man with scaly skin. Daniel thanks her for the food and even takes her up on a second helping. Convinced she has the right man, she puts in a call to Joseph.

And now for the rest of the Ring.

First I deal with Joseph’s Surveilled Condition. I roll 10 dice - his Cover and get a success. My total is 2 now. If I get to 7 it will trigger some escalation.

Next up is some left over material from last session: the Cipher. Given all the investigation of the God-Machine’s plans last session (including a scene where I awarded a roleplaying Beat), the Ring has an opportunity to learn more about their next Key. Everyone rolls Intelligence + Wits and succeeds. All the demons learn the attribute used by the Key Embed. Weaver gets an exceptional success and so learns the category of the Embed as well.

Meanwhile the rest of the Ring coordinates a raid on the cult’s meeting location in the sewer. The Naturalist hunts for a disposable Cover for Joseph. After several days of careful observation, he locates several people who might give up part of their lives for the right deal. But only Jillian Day fits the profile he is looking for. The elderly African American woman lost her house and savings in an insurance scam. For the past few years she’s lived on the streets.

The Naturalist makes a Wits + Empathy roll to find some prospects. In addition to Jillian Day, he also discovers Gerald Reilly (an African American man once involved with the local gangs but now trying to leave it all behind for seminary school) and Roberta Chu (an older Asian American woman whose beauty has been marred by cancer treatments).

Under the guise of Dorian, the Naturalist gives Jillian a dollar while she panhandling. She soon notices the phone number and note claiming that the person on the other end can solve her problems. She calls and arranges to meet the Naturalist under the Ship Canal Bridge. The Naturalist dons a facade and cuts a deal with her. It offers her a job and shelter for her experience on the street. It also offers a more permanent solution but sensing suspicious about the well dressed man, she declines, taking only the lesser offer. She signs away part of her life for a month and the Naturalist secures the new paper thin cover.

The demon fails his Manipulation + Persuasion + 1 for his Closing a Deal Speciality. In the interest of moving the story forward, I give him the temporary Cover. The pact involves a trade of Resources 2 (Lesser Asset +1) in exchange the relationship of homelessness (Medial Cover +2) for a month. The willpower cost is relatively unimportant given the time table. The Naturalist creates a Facade (functionally a Cover with a rating of 1 that only lasts a short time). He gives it to Joseph.

In the life of Jenny Olson, the Naturalist discovers that John, her husband, has been flirting with a barista named Jackie. Using its supernatural powers, the demon continues to record John’s activities from the nascent adultery to how he plans to teach his kids to program. For now he is none the wiser.

The Naturalist succeeds on his Manipulation + Socialize to avoid raising suspicions. He continues to use Living Recorder him each day.

The Weaver meanwhile focuses its free time on unravelling the mysteries of the various gadgets it has. The demon learns the final secrets of the rod, how it works and its creator: the mythical first demon Lilith. Turning to the strange goggles with salt orbs in the place of lenses, it finds that they were forged from a demon’s eyes. The gadget confers the power to sense things without sight though the controls will require more work to decipher.

This was a series of Wits + Investigation +Primum (-2 for the form gadget). Each roll took an hour and each success revealed a new fact.

The Weaver also notices a man watching Jeanette’s home. When Jean tries to confront him, he speeds off. She notifies the homeowner association and trust them to handle it.

The Weaver’s Wits + Stealth (or really Wits-1 roll since she lacks Stealth) failed to beat the stalker’s Wits + Composure roll. The homeowners association will however be a thorn in his side.

Joseph’s week is quiet. A few times he notices some men in dark suits shadowing him but otherwise the only thing that surprises him is Bob Jenson new friendly demeanor. The janitor seems to be covering for him and even got him off bathroom duty for the week, passing it off on the new guy. Joseph concludes that Bob wants something.

Bob is using Social Maneuvering. He opened 1 Door this session. He has 1 more Door to open at which point he’ll either apply a condition or ask Joseph to do something for him.

As the day of the mission arrives, the Weaver seeks out someone who can provide it enough material for a quick Cover. It finds a skateboarder kid and makes him a deal. In exchange for some cash, it will cover for him at school. The kid agrees and takes off for the day.

The demon rolls Wits + Empathy to determine what the kid might want and Manipulation + Subterfuge to convince him to play hooky for cash without the deal scaring him off. The pact is 1 day duration (+0), Resources 1 and Barfly 2 (+2 for student), and the student relationship (+2 for the Weaver). It pays a willpower and makes a Facade.

A street kid meets up with a homeless woman and a well dressed construction worker just after 1 PM that afternoon. Joseph in the guise of the old African American woman tells them to call him Hunter for now. She leads them to the sewer entrance the cultist couple used last week.

Luckily they find the manhole cover pulled aside in the alley. Waiting until the street traffic thins, Hunter slides into the shaft. The Naturalist follows but trips over the metal cover. As the loud jangle attracts attention, Weaver the street kid quickly follows the others down.

As I approached this part of the story, I realized I had a bit of a plot hole. Opening a sewer cover is a loud endeavour, something the adventure I am adapting points out. But the cult has to be able to sneak in themselves. So I figure there is a chance the manhole cover is already open and thus requires that they only sneak quietly down (given that it is broad daylight). I roll a die and get a 10 so not only is it open but they can easily get down.

Even so I ask for a Dexterity + Stealth roll. Since only Joseph has that skill, this goes badly. The Weaver and the Naturalist both fail and the Naturalist decides to take a Dramatic Failure and a Beat. So the cops will be on them very soon.

The trio find themselves splashing through six foot tunnels half filled with gray water. Small dark objects float past them as they try to navigate the dark labyrinth.

Something bounces against the Weaver’s leg. It shines a flashlight down. A bundled pair of pants floats past. A sock and a lost shoe drift after them. The demon reaches into its pocket and pulls out a pair of latex gloves.

Donning them, the teenager grabs the pants. No blood stains or other violence mar the intact pants. The demon plucks a wallet from the soggy clothes. In addition to a twenty, a soggy free sub coupon, and a credit card, it find the driver’s license of Glen Jacob, an Eastlake local. Noting the details, it tosses the rest back into the sludge.

The Weaver succeeds on a Wits + Composure roll. The demon also uses the In My Pocket Embed to have latex gloves on hand. Eidetic Memory means it does not need to write anything down.

Back the way they came, the demons hear voices shouting down for them to come back. They push on and the Naturalist soon finds the tunnel that matches its memory of the path the cultists took to the meeting.

The Naturalist makes a Wits + Composure roll to find where its memories (from Eidetic Memory and the Clairvoyance demonic form ability) match reality. Since they are hurrying everyone rolls Dexterity + Athletics - 2 for slipperiness. The Naturalist fails but chooses not to make it a dramatic failure.

The passage slowly shifts as they push forward through the increasingly turgid and warm water. Along the tunnel walls, the ceramic tiles grow larger until heavy sandstone blocks replace them. Mold and later moss grow up the sides which expand outward and upward as they go. The now vertical walls appear covered in graffiti which on closer examination appears to be hieroglyphs.

They reach a large stone arch inscribed with solar discs and humanoid figures in profile. The Naturalist looks up, spotting a crocodile at the apex.

Then it slips.

Before the water can wash the demon away, the elderly seeming Hunter grabs the burly man and effortlessly sets him back on his feet.

Joseph reaches out and grabs the fallen Naturalist with an Exceptional Success on his Strength + Brawl roll. I give him the Steadfast Condition.

Just beyond the arch, the space opens out more, revealing dry paths along each side of the waterway. They pull themselves up and take a look at the symbols decorating the walls. The Weaver explains they are gibberish. However mapping their path to the sewer maps that Daemon retrieved for them, it says they must be standing within an extradimensional space. They should be in solid stone right now and passed through what should have been a subbasement fifty feet back.

The Weaver succeeds on an Intelligence + Academics roll to determine relative location.

Deciding they are close enough, Hunter lets some of its demonic form through. Instantly the old woman’s eyes glow green and she begins to fade from sight.

Joseph manifests Night Sight and Mirrored Skin by spending an Aether. On its Wits + Manipulation -2 for Cover + 6 for unmanifested traits, it gets an Exceptional Success and takes a Cover Beat.

They push on and soon see a red glow from around the next turn. The Naturalist informs them that the meeting location lies in a large chamber just around the corner. The demon extends its senses to detect any Aetheric resonances. Beyond a pool of Aether in the direction of the glow, they seem to be alone.

The Naturalist uses Aetheric Resonance.

The Weaver decides to test one of the gadgets and rings the rod on the stone wall beside the teenager. Extending its senses, the demon picks out traces of Aether racing along the walls and glyphs, percolating out through the streams of water, and concentrated in three log sized objects just below the surface a few yards away. It alerts the others.

The Weaver gets a clearer picture doing the same thing as the Naturalist thanks to the rod.

Cautiously they move on, staying as far as possible from the water. The chamber they find is empty with the glow coming from a rose colored bulb in the ceiling. The size and shape of an eggplant, it contains a snake biting tall which functions as a filament. The Weaver notices a clear liquid collecting in the bottom of the glass. It removes a small screw from the base and collects the Aether that pours out. Hunter asks if there is any more. The Weaver calculates it should regenerate in a day.

Weaver taps the small piece of Infrastructure for 1 Aether.

As they look around, the sound of someone splashing through the tunnels comes from the way they came. A man’s voice calls to them, asking them to turn themselves in. Realizing the police are still following them, the Naturalist heads back to buy the others time to explore more and keep the cops out of danger.

The Naturalist manages to catch the pair of officers before they reach the full strangeness of the God-Machine’s Infrastructure. The men seem to believe the demon’s story about coming down here to find its lost friend, or at least the part about investigating alone. As they head back to the surface, the demon subtly directs them to the quickest route out.

The Naturalist rolls Manipulation + Subterfuge to guide them quickly out of the Infrastructure.

The Weaver and Hunter push deeper into the tunnels, looking for the main Infrastructure.

I have them roll Intelligence + Occult to find something interesting. They fail and Joseph takes a Dramatic Failure for a Beat.
The Angel Sabek finds them and lurks nearby in Twilight.

Instead, they suddenly find six large alligators slowly encircling them. One pulls itself onto the path in front of them and growls. The creatures approach in uncharacteristic aggressiveness. The Weaver notes a tattoo on the lead reptile’s front limb. A second one has eerie blue eyes. A third looks almost piscine with webbed limbs and a narrow body.

Sabek summons alligators.

Weaver succeeds on a Wits + Science roll to realize they are acting weird. It also correctly guesses they are made of people.

As the beasts lunge for them, Hunter fires three times. As the scaly forms collapse in pools of blood, the two demons fend off the survivors. Hunter’s gunshots eventually drive them away with help from thrown rocks by Weaver.

In the aftermath, the soaking wet street kid helps the old woman, limping from a leg wound, out of the Infrastructure and quickly to an alternate exit.

Hunter uses the Merciless Gunman Embed but fails. It uses the Steadfast Condition to get one success. With the damage bonus from its heavy revolver, that causes 3 alligators to die. It also marks a Beat.

After that we roll Down and Dirty Combat. Hunter rolls Dexterity + Firearms and Weaver rolls Dexterity + Athletics from thrown rocks. I fudged the rules since if I totalled the alligators’ numbers they would be dead. So I had the alligators use teamwork (I probably should have had the PCs do the same but it was a spur of the moment decision). The result was a tie so the conflict was inconclusive. Joseph takes a Lethal and the remaining alligators fled.

The demons succeed on a Dexterity + Athletics roll to avoid slipping and the Weaver also succeeds on an Intelligence + Composure roll to navigate them out.

They remain unaware of the Angel trailing behind them. Sabek indulges in his Vice of Indirectness.

The echoes of the gunfire reach the Naturalist just as the cops begin hauling the demon up the ladder to the surface. As one of the officers considers heading back down, the Naturalist quickly stammers that they should call for backup. They take him up and head for their squad car.

One of them sticks him in the back of the car while the other radios for backup. The demon looks at both of them and uses its supernatural powers. The first remains a mystery to it but the demon sees a certain tension in him, a desire for companionship not approved by his comrades in the department.

The Naturalist succeeds on a Manipulation + Persuasion roll to keep them together. The demon also attempts the Heart’s Desire Embed (Wits + Empathy - Composure) on one cop but fails the roll. It succeeds against the other officer (both have Composure 2) and learns he is a closeted homosexual.

The Naturalist tries to convince the officer to let him go. He was just looking for his friend, the demon tells him. He just had an argument with his boyfriend and if he gets arrested, he’ll lose his job. The cop tells his partner to stay here and takes responsibility for bringing the Naturalist in.

The officer does drive the demon to the station but instead of bringing the Naturalist in, he gives the trespasser a stern lecture and warns him he’ll face a large fine if he tries that again. The Naturalist looks contrite and thanks him.

The demon succeeds on its Manipulation + Persuasion roll and gains a +1 bonus for using the officer’s Aspiration against him.

Elsewhere, Weaver hears someone trudging through the sewage near their exit. Hunter fades into the background, its mirrored skin blending into the brown tile.

An Asian american man in waders shines a light in the demon’s direction. Weaver shields its eyes and spots an animal control badge on his shirt.

“Kenny” warns the street kid that it is dangerous down here. The man waves a long control pole as he tells the soaking wet teenager there are alligators down here. They killed a friend of his, Kenny adds. The youth lies and says he hasn’t seen any gators. He wandered down here from an spillway.

Kenny leads him out, unaware of the mirror skinned woman trailing him or the silent presence hunting both the intruders.

Hunter easily makes the Dexterity + Stealth roll (+3 for Mirrored Skin) to remain hidden.

The Naturalist calls the others and they arrange to meet in front of a bar. Looking to change covers quickly, the demon first finds homeless man who might make a deal.

Specifically one who it can use Heart’s Desire on first.

The foul smelling individual it finds is scrawling symbols into the cement with a shard of green glass. The Naturalist considers backing away. Instead the demon looks into his desires. The man seeks redemption in the eyes of his master, Terentius of the 11th circle, for losing a scepter. Cautiously from the safety of a nearby alleyway, the Naturalist manifests the copper tendrils that allow it to detect Angels. The man is merely human.

The demon succeeds on a Wits + Manipulation roll to manifest Sense the Angelic. It should have gained a Condition or glitch though. Oops.

As Dorian, he approaches the beggar. He offers him the phone number of someone who can help redeem the beggar in exchange for his current state for a short time. Cautiously the madman agrees. A new Facade in hand, he finds the others.

The Naturalist makes the Manipulation + Persuasion + 1 for the Closing a Deal speciality. The pact is very one sided, just the contact information for another deal: Day Duration (0), cover Pact (+1). Normally this would cost 2 Willpower but since the Naturalist has the Efficient Dealer Merit, it costs 1.

The Ring regroups and discuss the recent events in front of the bar. The crowds give the two homeless people and the teenage hooligan, most of whom reek of raw sewage, a wide berth. Then Joseph gets a call from Accabish. She explains that she has eyes on the cult leader and directs them to the homeless shelter.

They hurry over as quickly as they can.

My notes indicate I awarded a Roleplaying Beat here for the various jokes made around this point.

The two demons with homeless facades enter a half hour’s walk later. Hunter’s old woman is immediately pointed to the showers. Still dripping with sewage she reluctantly heads in. The Naturalist meanwhile meanders towards Daniel and sits down in front of him. Rocking back and forth in a fetal position, he delivers a rambling message from Sobek and how Daniel must go to the women’s showers.

Sadly for Daniel, this is exactly the sort of sign he looks for from his god...

As the cult leader sneaks into the showers, the Naturalist creates distraction by screaming about fleas.

Which apparently happened to the player at work. Libraries are crazy.

Oh and the Angel continues to trail Joseph...

Daniel finds Hunter waiting for him. The freshly washed woman smiles at him. As he tries to excuse himself, she greets him and explains she has something to say. Displaying her inhuman strength, she mocks his god and tells Daniel to flee the city. Terrified by her display of power and the growing inhumanity of the old dark woman before him, Daniel flees. The demonic voice of Hunter chases him out of the shelter as well as causing everyone else to hurry from the building.

Hunter manifests Inhuman Strength and then later Glory and Terror. Both times it makes the Wits + Manipulation roll (-2 for Cover 1 +6 and 5 for unmanifested traits and -3 for the Angel right there). I forget to throw on some Conditions however.

The first Presence + Intimidation roll succeeds in breaking the cult leader’s faith (despite a -4 penalty) but a second roll (with no penalty due to Glory and Terror) gets him to flee for good. At least as long he has free will.

As the crowd spills out into the street, Accabish and the Naturalist notice a large Nordic man fall to his knees. Accabish manifests her angelic senses and spots the angel Sabek actively enrapturing the man, who clutches a large wooden cross. Realizing the threat, she causes the man to lose track of time. By the time the Angel realizes its new minion is befuddled the Ring has dispersed and doffed their facades.

Accabish and the Naturalist succeed on Wits + Composure roll to notice the large man. The Angel intended to send him after Hunter’s facade (since it is still not sure it’s a demon) but a timely use of Ellipses (Manipulation + Expression) gave everyone enough time to escape.

Technically I should have had Accabish roll for compromise but in the interest of time, I skipped it. I’ll have to decide at the end of the story if this counts for the purpose of Cover (where is makes a difference in the amount of Cover Experience she earns). But hopefully there will be another clear Compromise and it won’t matter.

In the aftermath, the demons make new plans. The cult has begun to destabilize but there is still the tunnels and Sabek’s mission to disrupt. The Naturalist decides to scout the house of the Stanley Company’s founder and learn what it can about them. The Weaver begins building a bomb to take out the Infrastructure under Eastlake or at least its core. Joseph will snoop around the new Anthropology building the Stanley Company constructed.

Privately the Naturalist visits the woman John has been seeing. As Dorian, it asks Jackie for a job application at the coffee shop while flirting with her and tagging her as a Living Recorder. The espionage on the nascent affair expands.

Experience! The demons earn 1 base Beat + 2 roleplaying Beats. Accabish and Joseph earn an additional Beat for fulfilling an Aspiration. Joseph receives 1 Beat from an exceptional success on a Cover roll and 1 more from resolving a Condition. Dramatic Failures earned an extra Beat for Joseph and the Naturalist. Everyone also receives 1 Cover Beat.

Thoughts from the Twilight Zone VI

Last meditation on the Twilight Zone this year. After all the familiar episodes and the sometime uninspiring if novel dross, I found a final few that sparked new ideas for me. A Stop at Willoughby gives me an idea for Mage: the Awakening, The After Hours could be the source of a host of stories, and A World of His Own gives me an idea for a great horror scenario.

Season 1: Episodes 30-36

A Stop at Willoughby

A stressed out ad man dreams of a pastoral town on his train ride commute. As his life unravels, he tries to escape into the town of Willoughby. It doesn’t end well.

I thought this was going to be another escape into the Twilight Zone but instead our protagonist simply dies jumping off a train. Still I think it could be the basis for an Astral journey. Willoughby could be a realm in the Tenemous (part of humanity's collective dream and memory for non-Mage fans), a vision of perfect pastoral beauty and existence. Perhaps meditating on a train (or falling asleep in the right seat) transports a person’s mind to this place...unless it is a trap drawing souls to their doom. Perhaps some entity lurks there living off the energy of those who fling themselves to their death or waste away in an attempt to live in Willoughby. Can the Mages destroy the monster within the town? And what to do with those who find themselves still drawn to its comforting bounds?

The After Hours

A woman finds out she is a mannequin when she reaches the nonexistent 9th floor.

I love this classic, it raises so many questions. What are these mannequins? Aliens? Fae wood? A separate species living alongside us?

What happens if an outsider (i.e. a real human being) makes it to the 9th floor? Do the mannequins hide? Or do the hungry wooden creatures move in and devoured their identity?

Another question, how does Masha White have a mother? Is it just a fiction of her mind or does she possess some sort of cover like in Demon: the Descent? Is there a whole life these beings possess when they leave the store? What happens when a PC discovers their sibling was always just department store mannequin?

In the Chronicles of Darkness these creatures could be a clan of Prometheans, a Demon who stores covers in semi-animate wood, or perhaps something stranger still.

A World of His Own

A famous playwright has the power to conjure anything he describes into being. Unfortunately his wife does not believe him until it is too late.

The protagonist creates a mistress, an elephant, and even our faithful narrator Rod Serling over the course of the episode. Since we also discover that his wife was one of his creations, it raises the question of who and what is real in this story. Is the playwright the only real thing here?

A more interesting idea to me however is to focus on what happens if the safe he keeps the tapes containing the identities of the people and things he created is robbed. If the PCs are the crooks, do they blackmail the subjects? Destroy the tapes of those they want out of the way? What if they find envelopes with their names on them?

Alternatively in a Demon: the Descent game, the playwright would be a valuable resource for a Demon, able to conjure Covers out of thin air. His contracts might be odd, being stripes of magnetic tape, but function the same way. Destroy them and the identity goes too. but who or what is he making Pacts with?