Previously on Shadowland
Four students at Croatan College had driven a 6x6 Mercedez Benz pickup to San Diego.
At their final stop, they had witnessed an all-out battle between vampires and werewolves.
Three of them had died! All of them had been transformed into something more.

To save the unlives of two, all four had entered the shadow world of vampires in the service of Baron De La Vega.

And they then scattered to the winds to find their own part of Shadowland.


It has been a strange few days. Living in a luxury apartment has in some ways been the least strange. And now he has some time for a little normalcy in his life, his first break from magic since he stepped foot in said apartment.

It's Friday and Abe pulls up on the driveway of his parent's home. His home. Still?

[Feel free to give us some details about your parent's place.]
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:00, Fri 29 Nov 2019.

Abe walked up to the classy two-story adobe home he had grown up in.  The small trees in the front yard remained just short of the roof still - when he was younger he had expected them to eventually surpass it, but now he knew they never would.  They just didn't have it in them.  The hedge that fenced in the extremely small yard was still well kept, and the iron gate connecting two short stone pillars at the walkway looked to have been recently painted.  The flowering bushes seemed as well maintained as ever.

He had decided against getting a haircut back to anything resembling high-and-tight.  It made him look even more different, but hopefully it would take the blame for a lot of the difference in appearance if one of his parents was ignorant of Shadowland.

He ignored the doorbell and made two quick raps on the door before entering.  Ahead of him beyond the entry way was the kitchen, same as always, and to the right was the living room, which extended past the doorway to the front, partially shielding it from wind and weather.

"Hello?"  He asked as he entered.

Cale, Abe's younger brother, was the first to get to the door. He embraces Abe in greeting.

"Wooh," Cale says after ending the hug and looking at Abe's face. "No longer the Marine Corps look I see. It works for you."

The second to arrive at the door was his father, Mace, who hugged him too.

Cathryn, his mother, came down the stairs, saw Abe, and started crying. She sat down on the stairs and covered her face.

Abe acknowledge Cale's comment.  "Yeah, not sure if I'll go back to high-and-tight, but freshman year seems like the time to experiment with things."

Abe saw his mom crying and knew she knew.  He sat down next to her on the stairs.  "Mom, you okay?  I know it's a big change, but it's smaller than deployment at least.  It will be okay."

He looked up to Cale and Mace, and asked "You guys mind giving us a minute?"

The other men in the family nod and make themselves scarce.

Soon, you hear from the TV "You don't understand... that is my ceremonial blade. I am a pilgrim, here for the sacred day of Chu'dag." Another episode of Babylon 5.

Cathryn hugged Abe, but didn't answer his question.

Abe hugged his mom back.  He had a million questions, but started with the most basic: "Mom, are you Fae?  And does dad know about this?"

Cathryn suppresses her tears, dries her face with her hands, and sighs.

"Your dad doesn't know. No one knows. I hoped you would never find out. And no, I'm not Fae. Your father is."

Abe was caught aback.  He hadn't considered this possibility.  "So my father and my dad aren't the same person?"  He asked to be sure the shock wasn't driving his mind down the wrong lane.

"That's correct, Cathryn said. "You were already born when Mace and I met. Ours was a whirlwind love story. Like the ones you see in the movies. You weren't even a year old when we got married. Your sister and brother are both his."

He very nearly let loose with a string of oaths, but his mother was right there.  "So... is there anything... similarly different... about you or dad?"

"We're just ordinary people," Cathryn says. "Just like Jayne and Cale."

Where he had previously had his emotions playing across his face, Abe's face became a mask of calm.  The mask one wore when a DI stood two inches in front of one's face: no flinching if it seemed fearsome.  No laughing if it seemed ridiculous.  Just calm.

"And his name?"  Abe asked.

"His name is Oberyn," Cathryn says. "I haven't seen him since before you were born. The only other Fae I've met was the woman that locked your powers away."

Abe nodded calmly.  If things went south for his family, he knew who he'd eventually be visiting, in order to... share his feelings of remorse and regret.

"And what was her name?"  Abe asked?  The woman hadn't caused this and had tried to save his mother from an impossible situation, so he had no problem with her.  That said, any contact in Shadowland might be useful at some point.

He'd have to talk with Sparrow about what to do with Jayne.  Her intelligence and curious streak had him seriously concerned.

"I don't remember," Cathryn says. "I'm not even sure she gave her name. In any way, that was decades ago."

Abe continued nodding until he realized it was just a nervous response.  He had noticed the discrepancy between his birthdate and his parents' anniversary.  But he'd had no reason to doubt his parentage until today.

"Well, the parts that wouldn't get a person killed would have been nice to know before today.  I won't hold this against you, but I've gotta go do what I can to make sure it doesn't bite everyone in the butt in the near future.  So I have a job of work to do before tomorrow.  I'll either be back tomorrow or in a few days.  Anything else I should know before I go?"  He asked resolutely.

"Get a person killed," Cathryn asks. "What are you talking about?" That got her fear response going.

Abe's eyebrows rose.  "Oberyn didn't tell you?"  Abe cursed.  It might have been better if his mom had not known.  "Finding out anything about anything is a death sentence for mortals if anyone finds out about it.  Of course not knowing I wasn't your two's child, I alluded to things with Jayne and I doubt I can get her off the trail.  You know how she is about a mystery - even worse than I am.  I'll see what I can figure out for you two and I'll be back.  You should be fine as long as you don't say anything else to anybody, that's worked for decades.  But I'll need to figure something out for Jayne."

He stood to go.

Cathryn stands too.

"Are you leaving already?"

Abe nodded.  "At least to take a walk."  He said simply.

He stepped out of the house and started walking around the block while he dialed Sparrow.

"Yes Abe," Sparrow says picking up the phone.

"Hey Sparrow.  I'm outside but not near anyone so I'll be a bit vague.  You said yesterday the simplest fix to the complicated problem that might lead a person to be half-way like my friends was to make them just like them."  By half-way like them, he was trying to say dead.  "Are there any other ways to fix it?"

"There are only two solutions I'm aware of," Sparrow says. To make them Shadowlanders or to make them forget."
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:47, Sat 30 Nov 2019.