Arbiters Brief[]
Merle[]
Bloody close call there. Merle started with some bad luck, missing a couple of key shots and briefly getting overwhelmed and thoroughly punctured by a couple of the crow demons. He took a lot of damage and was bleeding severely. Just in time, Twitch managed to mitigate the bleeding (while dragging Charlotte towards the JMC). Then Merle's luck normalized. He kicked an explosive crowling to the ground and used that to put some distance between it and him. Then BANG BANG with the pistol shots to put the crows to the ground. Merle belatedly realized that his brutal pain penalties were caused by a big shard sticking out of his torso, so he yanked it out and then moved closer to Millie to get healed a bit.
Some mysterious figures appeared and started sniping at Millie. Some possessed cops and firefighters were out of range with their pistols, but Neils had possessed a trenchcoated body and was just unloading. We all wanted to take Neils out once and for all with the Thunderbird Staff, but we just weren't in any shape to challenge him. Charlotte and J-Dog were out, the rest of us were damaged and depleted, and Neils had plenty of reinforcements coming in from two directions.
So we clumsily crawled into the JMC and roared on out of there. We checked for bugs and took some evasive measures to end up at a new motel. And then breathed a sigh of relief as we rebooted the corpse PCs and started to lick our wounds. Merle's now cursed by Raum and has picked up an affliction, which is very difficult to get rid of. Frank hooked me up with a psych who should be able to help, but it's going to take a long time. I want to lay low for a bit. Meanwhile Charlotte's undergoing surgery to deal with her own traumas.
[Had a problem posting images today, not sure why. I like this one:
☀https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EIRenZ8XkAAGfTo.jpg ]
J-Dog[]
What, Charlotte? No wait, T'challa was gonna tag me in to the Eiffel Tower he and Atticus Freeman were running on 1980's Whitney Houston... Fuck! Why is the Jimi-Grande-Casa so awash in Blood? Oh, wait, it's mine... and Charlotte's? Not exactly how I was hoping to mix bodily fluids with her... Jesus Twitch stay back, no I don't want you to help me clean myself up! Why is everything so monocular? Oh, I 'see', it's time to get the Eye-Patch out again. Wait, no, Whitney...
For the Record, Lenny looks more like this than like Kramer from Seinfeld...
Well thanks for the Save, team, glad to know you won't just leave my body in a bloody heap when it gets inconvenient, so there's that I guess? Or more inconvenient than that, at the very least ? Yes, new Hotel, I agree! I'll be in the truck cleaning up then. Or making a Knit Flesh to cure Bleed if I go below 0 DC Fetish at least. A commotion up at the Rooms, the girls bursting out of theirs, and into the other. Whatever, those guys are all the crazy ones... What's that Twitch, time to see Juno about maybe finding Psychic Training? Well, I guess he's not so bad. And apparently he didn't use the Thunder-Bird Staff to brutally murder the Party and go on an unstoppable killing rampage of Blood, so there's that, too.
Juno looks a bit shook, Twitch gives her a plant? Fuck, people are weird. Psychic Dude's been kidnapped by the XRD to Blackstone? Shit that's no good. I really hope I'm not an XRD Sleeper Agent, that could be super problematic. OK, let's go, back to the Hotel and get another couple of Blocks in to try and recover from one super shitty night, then early to bed to deal with the fucking sleep deprivation...
Millie[]
Oh shit, there’s these fucking birdlings all around and Charlotte is laying bleeding on the ground. Fortunately, one of the birds drops from its own blood loss and I start a flurry on the one with the glowing red eyes. I take a hit as I circle behind it to finish him off and count my lucky stars as I escape unharmed from the resulting explosion.
Ok I got the eye out, now what?
Merle is making loud bleeding noises but Charlotte is super far away from the JCG and Twitch is apparently in the flight mode of this fight. I take a running jump but trip at the last minute and almost fall down. It’s almost enough to just sit down and let the stress take over, but I keep going and start dragging Charlotte’s corpse to JCG. As I do that, I see what is obviously Neils in a new meatsuit lining us up with an assault rifle. He’s flanked by demon cops (which are actually not as bad as real cops) and I see demon fire fighters coming up from the street. Charlotte’s body is not moving fast enough even though it’s totally lubed by all the blood and viscera. Neils is pecking away at me and every now and then doing some real damage. I manage to heal myself and take away some of Merle’s bleed as Twitch is getting the keys ready at the JCG. Merle and I hobble over with some last minute encouragement from Twitch when Neils blasts me with a solid hit but I hear the sounds of my fallen comrades cheering me on and I narrowly defend out of the way. Twitch drops one of his bubbles down to give us some cover and I start up the JCG to get away. Merle is in the back doing CPR and I park a ways away to give the JCG a run down for bugs. No bugs but there’s a drone up above. Charlotte (she’s alive!) hacks in and gives us a chance to get out so we find a place in Burnaby with an underground garage and rest up.
You gotta drill right through to let the bad spirits out
I immediately go to sleep after some Merle PTSD shenanigans and feel absolutely shattered afterwards but somehow better. J-Dog’s eye is still leaking everywhere and I try to patch him up but after 8 hours, I’m just making it worse. I tell him not worry and if it gets infected we can give him some alien antibiotics. I then join Dr Lamb and Mary Death to assist in Charlotte’s surgery. All that vet practice must have been worth it as I don’t embarrass myself and we patch her up. Doc and Mary are really curious about the wound and seem confused when I say it looks like beak marks.
I’m still super stressed and not looking forward to the rest of this week.
Charlotte[]
The next thing I know, I'm awake in the back of the JCG with Twitch hovering over me. I guess we got away? Not sure what happened but thanks to everyone for saving my ass. Holy mother of gawd, I feel like shit. JDog looks pretty messed up - but still better than i feel. I take a moment to revive him before settling down against the wall in the fetal position until we get wherever we're going.
After we set up in a new hotel, I burrow into the bed and try to get some damn sleep. Twitch wakes us up with a creepy picture of Merle dead in a bathtub. WTF, Twitch? WTF, Merle? What is with you and hotel bathtubs? By the time Millie and I get to him, his Migu nanites have revived him. Twitch and I drag him onto the bed where he snores happily. Must be nice.
I feel a bit better after a decent sleep but i'm still tired as shit and leaking off-time blocks/money out of my gaping headwound. I call Dr. Lam to patch me up but he wants to charge $10k. Thankfully, he can use my doctoring services so I only ending up owing him two blocks and Millie another. Mary Death also comes down to help out. Our CSIS cover is pretty much blown by now. She seems to not mind, though. At least they all look like they were having fun doing Nitrous while I sat there with my head open. Dr. Lam is a fantastic doctor, though! I was expecting a nasty scar but he miraculously hid any lingering marks under my hair - you couldn't even tell there had ever been a gaping headshot. The guy is an artist!
I stick close to the hotel for the most part and quietly train. I'm too fucked up to do much else. Dying sucks - I'm at 6 blocks to recover now with sleep and what i owe for the wound. Still feeling a bit stressed, too.
Twitch[]
Get in the car!!!! Goddam we need to go now. I run across the lot hacking down Crowlings and tossing JDog and Charlotte's bodies across the lot and into the Jimmy. MOOOVEEE. Knit flesh Merle and Millie. Get in the car. Snipers, cops and demon fireman... run dammit. I toss up a barrier between the gunfire and the flaming cars to cut off the demons as Millie drives us out of the hotel parking lot and into the suburbs. It was starting to be a real struggle with the only blood on the field belonging to Merle and Millie. The wound's didn't look like they needed the Knit Flesh (although Merle looked panicked, which I have never seen) but I could feel the power locked in their blood and I would rather not find out what happens if I lose control. Also pretty sure that was Nils who showed up at the end. He is on the hunt again.
We find a new hotel in Burnaby and settle in for the morning. My meditation begins, and is quickly interrupted by a loud smash in the bathroom. Merle seems to have knocked himself out so I call the girls into paramedic. By the time they get in though, Merle seems to have healed himself so we just move him to the bed. I mop up the bathroom and get back to meditating.
Feeling refreshed and back down to 1 stress I am surprised to find everyone else fast asleep. Typically they would all be grinding away if the had there sleep interrupted like that. I may have to look into tracking down some Serenity. Perhaps Juno's contacts will be able to help. I bang on the van to wake J-Dog and go pick up some flowers for Juno. We meet at Waves, and although she still seems to want a fix, she is happy to get the flowers. The meeting is not what I had hope for though. It seems like going to the Gulf Islands for J-Dog's tong hunt may have cost us our contact. Orion (Richard) has been picked up by XRD and taken to a black site. J-Dog, who normally panics at mention of the XRD is oddly quiet. Maybe he's trying not to blow this lead and that we may finally go check on Lenny. I wonder how Lenny is holding up after months of torture at a black op site.
It gets worse though. Juno is out of a job, and is starting to realize that we may not be safe people to be known affiliates of. I had warned her, and she always said she was covered, but clearly the incident at Insite has her rethinking her safety. If let her know that it was likely Novo who was the target. She knew him, but is surprised he was targeted. I tell her she is looking for a job to avoid a handful of others and give her the list of other marked youth. She's surprised to here Erik Claasen is on the list as she was about to hit him up for a job. I get his phone number (he is at the Woodward's Centre. I haven't seen him since we were kids, but I remember someone mentioning him recently.... what was it? Right, his dad was seen standing outside the Boys & Girls Club watching it burn long before the rest of the parents arrived. Almost like he was involved. We definitely have to give him a call.
Since this may be the last time I see Juno I ask about Spirit Mastery spells. I would love to be able to hand her some cash for training, but all she knows is an old rich family on the British Properties that run fighters in the underground rings. Apparently they are known for giving their fighters some Quantum Acceleration. It looks like I may have a way for Merle to pay me back after all. We will have to look into that. As the only link the the magical community outside the world of Monks and Shinto Masters I have a few more question but J-Dog slaps his paper figurine down on the table, declares he is done and starts to leave Waves. I thank Juno profusely, wish her the best of luck and head out to make sure he doesn't land in any trouble.
Who else is trapped at the XRD site with Orion (front left), Belina (back left) and Lenny (back right)?
Back at the hotel, everyone else is slowly getting out of bed. With puffy red eyes and tear stained cheeks. Clearly they are shaken as Millie spends 8 hours working on J-Dog's eye with no luck and then shuttles off to the vet to fix Charlotte. Peeking over Merle's shoulder I see he is looking up psych wards and counselling services. Yep, a strong mental fortitude was a huge win in that fight. Glad I empowered the agility because I nearly ended up on my ass several times from those force screams. By the time I crawl into bed at 2a.m. I feel I am well on my way to understanding the ways of the Shaman.
When I get up at noon tomorrow I think we will need to sit down as a group and figure out next steps. The group will probably want to bunker down, but we need to move. Clearly the respite we had from demons is over. Nils is on the hunt, marked are being killed off (two in the last couple weeks) and turned into Raumvatars, Erik has been dragged past our daft noses twice, as has the XRD black site. The question is which do we deal with next:
- The final piece of the Thunderbird Axe
- The demon slaying knives at the M.O.A.
- Attack Nils (I think he will find us - traps don't seem to work too well)
- Contact Erik Classen and either get him somewhere safe (a cell in the sewers) or make sure the body can't be used for another avatar.
- Info Gather on the XRD black site and figure out how to free Orion, Lenny and Belina (and perhaps a number of others)