Previously on Shadowland
Two college students in the service of vampire Baron De La Vega confronted their pasts. One discovered his true Fae origin. The other orchestrated his own death so that his loved ones could go on without him.

All four members of the cohort faced their future. Two of them as vampires. One as Fae. And one as an Immortal.

Why did Tom’s grandfather react so strangely to the Salk Institute?
Is Abe’s family truly in danger?
How did Jack trick his Sire to become his girlfriend?
What will Dean’s Sire, the Sheriff of San Diego, think of the way he became a bat?

Why was Cailin, the high school angel, placed in their path?
What is the conundrum of Thomas?
Who is the Hunter?
How do you deal with the Banshees?


On the evening of 23 May 2019, the cohort was in the conference room as the Arcane Lux. Cailin was there too. As was Asali and Isabella, the two Sires.
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:34, Thu 19 Mar 2020.

Isabella was seated next to Jack. As close as their chairs would allow. They were holding hands, their fingers were intertwined.

Jack and his sire have apparently become very close. Tom does his best not to act too curious about it, but he admits that he can't blame Jack. Just because the guy's undead now doesn't mean he doesn't have needs, and Isabella is stunning.

Clearing his throat, Tom says, "So, uh, good to see you guys again. What's on the agenda for today?"

It was obvious that Dean and Asali had not become as intimate as Jack as his Sire in the interim. He seemed to treat her like more of a superior than a lover.

That was not to say that he judged Jack harshly, who knew what sort of traditions the others Clans had? Or that he was not a little jealous. They were surrounded by remarkable attractive women, and Asali was one of them. But Dean also wondered if such a close relationship might effect the quality of his training.

He was dressed in black motorcycle racing gear, a little dusty from the road, but with an armored jacket and thick boots to combat road rash. A plain black helmet was casually perched on one knee.

He smiled to Tom and jerked his head up slightly, obvious a little wary about keeping up some stoicism in front of their peers and superiors. "Not sure. Some how I doubt it's just a check in."

"Good of you to ask," Asali told Tom.

"A keen observation," she told Dean.

"There is a group of rogue werewolves known as the Banshees. We could call them a gang or a pirate crew. They interrupt long-distance transportations. They leave the trucker in pieces, steal his cargo, and vanish."

"Because of the threat the Hunter is to all of Shadowland, the werewolves have withdrawn their tacit protection from the group. Which means we can deal with them without going to war. We have recently found out that they are taking a semi-truck coming to San Diego on Highway 8 tomorrow night."

She pressed a button and on the screen, a map appeared of the Highway and its surroundings, the San Diego border was highlighted at the edges of the map.

"Any questions or suggestions on how to do this?"
This message was last edited by the player at 18:15, Thu 19 Mar 2020.

Abe quipped at Tom as he entered: "Same thing we do every day, Pinkie.  Try to not die or screw things up too badly."

He nodded to each of the others and took a seat at the table and listened as Asali spoke.  When asked for questions and suggestions, he spoke up. "Well, are the werewolves vulnerable to silver like in the stories?  Or anything else?  We have enough people here who can transport that if we know the truck's information we could intercept it and replace the drivers.  Instead of an unsuspecting human or two, they'd be facing our cohort - all ready and packing for bear... or wolf in this case, I guess."

"They are indeed vulnerable to silver," Asali said. "Other things can harm them normally, but they heal very fast, and only silver can kill them."

"Replacing the driver would be a good idea. Does anyone know how to drive a semi-truck?"

Cailin was wearing pretty much the same thing as what she left Abe and Dean for Tom: a jean and a hoodie, though this one was a Marine one. She nodded to greet everyone and looked curious, listened attentively, but didn't seem intent on saying much of anything unless asked a question… or heard something she needed to address.

Which, up to that point, wasn't the case: she didn't know much, but rampaging werewolves attacking innocents sounded to her like a legitimate target.

Tom nods in assent at Dean's observation and listens as Asali lays out the situation. A group of rogue Werewolves, and the Baron wants their cohort to deal with them? It seems like a tall order to Tom, though he figures that with Dean's and Jack's enhanced physical attributes and whatever magic Abe had been learning, they might stand a chance.

When Abe suggests a plan, Tom nods his head. "That sounds like a good idea, Abe. With any luck, they'll be taken completely by surprise."

"Do we have any way to track the Banshees? If we knew where they were planning to highjack the truck, we could get there first and catch them by surprise, too."

"They only operate in San Diego County," Asali said. "And we know the route. But we don't know where they are attacking."

"So maybe we could try a bait truck..." Dean suggested. "Maybe something on the side of the road, having trouble. An easy target." he went on. "Even if we don't go for that, I would bet that getting them while they are still in their car, or truck or whatever, would be a whole lot easier than trying to fight them all on foot."

He took a deep breath. "But that would mean weapons , and I've barely even shot a gun before." he added. "It's not gonna be easy, whatever we do."

"It seems unlikely that they would be lured away from their target," Asali said. "Not that I'm sure why they have picked this eighteen-wheeler. On paper, it's only carrying basic supplies. Toilet paper, non-prescription medicines like ibuprofen, food staples, and the like. There's nothing of value. Unless they are actually carrying something completely different."

"I don't know if they have access to Fae transportation, but if we can take them out in one clean strike, that would be great. But as you say, that requires weapons."


[OOC: I'm sorry if important details that should have been presented at the beginning are presented later.]

Dean seemed to think about it for a few more moments. "What if we follow that truck with another truck?, another big rig. When they do for the first one, we could hit them with the second. Probably won't actually kill them, but, going into a fight getting hit by a semi would suck"he posited.

"Would still need a driver though."

Cailin slightly frowned. “I'd prefer Abe's plan where the driver's life in not in any danger. Including by not learning about Vampires, Werewolves and whatnot…”

"Agreed," Asali said. "What gear do you need to stop the truck, replace the driver, and to fight werewolves?"

"Exactly," Tom says, nodding his head when Cailin speaks. "I don't want anyone hurt that's not a Banshee, and we don't need to reveal our presence to anyone that's not a Shadowlander."

He looks at the others. "I've been training to hone my abilities, as I'm sure the rest of you have. I've been practicing with a blade, and I'm not a master, but I've gotten pretty damn good. I've never had to fight for my life yet, though, and if these Banshees have guns, a sword isn't going to be as good against them, but I'm reasonably sure I can hurt them at least."

"They won't use guns," Asali said. "They are werewolves. They'll use their claws and teeth."

Abe raised a hand with the pointer up.  "I don't think we can do that plan - we still don't have a driver, right?  What if Cailin orbs Dean or Jack to the truck, they mesmerize him and the rest of us get on.  Then Cailin orbs him out as soon as the fighting starts?"

He thought for a moment.  "As to equipment - a silvered sword for Tom, a gun and some silver bullets for me... and is kevlar or anything else effective against werewolf bites?"

Cailin shook her head. “Three people appearing out of thin air in his truck is not the way I imagined to keep things quiet. Plus…” She frowned. “I'm not sure I can target a moving vehicle, I'd have to try.”
This message was last edited by the player at 01:53, Sun 22 Mar 2020.

Dean listened and nodded here and there. "I'd still like to catch them in their car, or near it at least. Maybe we can make something like a molotov cocktail or two? Might be hard to heal when your furry and on fire..." Dean suggested softly.

“We would need to know where the werewolves are parked.” Cailin frowned, pensive for a moment.

After a couple of seconds, she suggested, “If we know what kind of truck the driver will use, we can try to find one just like it no? I'm sure we can find a driver around here. And to prevent the real truck to mess things up, we could report it to the possible. Maybe say we saw some illegal immigrants inside? Or maybe something that would lead the cops to go through the cargo? If the werewolves want it, odds are that it's something illegal, right?”

"Whatever it is, it's sure not what's on the manifest. So it sure could be illegal. But involving the police would give them more mortal targets to slaughter. And that would involve the authorities. Which would not be a good thing." Asali said.

"Setting them on fire would certainly make them easier to deal with. And in addition to that a silver sword and guns with silver bullets."

"What size sword are you familiar with," she asked Tom.

Dean nodded along with Asali's assessment. Things were coming together, despite never having really worked together before, and despite Dean's unease at the prospect of being  tossed into life or death combat in the name of this ancient struggle.

He looked to Abe. "You can shoot, right? Maybe you could teach us the basics? Maybe give us some suggestions?"

"I prefer my claws," Asali said. "And to end werewolves, I have this." She then showed a bowie type knife with a silver blade that she had hidden on her person.

Abe nodded to Dean.  "I could at least show you the basics, assuming someone can get us in somewhere to do it."

He turned to Cailin with a response to her moral difficulty with moving straight into the truck if she could manage the skill issue: "The vampires could persuade the driver that nothing strange is going on, and make him forget the whole thing after we've saved his life."

Cailin frowned. “I wasn't suggesting that we warn the police to go at the place of the attack, but that they stop the truck far away from it, like fifteen minutes or so. Even if they end up releasing it at some point, as long as we have a truck that looks like it that reaches the right spot at the right time, it would be fine.” She shrugged, “But it's just an idea.”

Looking at Abe, she said, “What I don't understand is why his life has to be in danger at all. The truck comes on the highway, right? Have it stop ten miles or so away from the attack spot, for one reason or another and he'll be just fine. If it's done right, no one would have any reason to suspect anything…” She shook her head, “And no reason to mess with someone's mind.” She sounded like she really didn't approve of that. “That should be an option pretty far down the list and not something to do because it's convenient.”

“Anyway,” she continued after a pause, “I think I can go to a moving target, but I'm pretty sure I'd need to see it. Which in this case isn't really a problem I suppose, teleport close to the highway, wait for the truck and get in.” She shrugged, “but I've never done that obviously so I might be wrong.”

"We don't know the exact location the Banshees will use to attack," Asali said. "And I would expect them to know the GPS location of the vehicle in question. So we would have to switch drivers quickly or at a suitable location."

"Okay, so we have plans for dealing with the werewolves.  We need to get the rest of the plan in order.
  We need Dean in the driver's seat, and we need to get the driver out - preferably without him being the wiser.
  To do that we need to stop the truck.  Unless someone has an idea, I don't think we can predict where he'll stop.  So, we either need to teleport in or we need to force him to stop.
  As for keeping him from being any the wiser, we either need to use vampire whammy on him, knock him out, or use something I don't know about to do it."  He summarized.

"If no one has other ways to do this safely, I recommend Cailin practice orbing someone with her into a moving object, with a view to her delivering Dean to the semi and having him make the man forget or something.   While she does that, I'll train anyone who wants it on firearms."  He suggested.

Cailin ruminated for a while, obviously not particularly pleased with the plan. Or to be more precise, parts of the plan. “I can practice, but I'm pretty sure it'll work like I said. I just need to see the truck. That being said…” She frowned. “Maybe we can pretend that our car has mechanical problems and wave him to stop? If he does, you can knock him out without him risking learning anything he shouldn't.” And she could heal him straight away. “And if he doesn't stop, we'll go with the Orbing plan and you can seduce him or whatever.” She didn't like the idea of messing with anyone's man, but if he didn't stop to help, well…

After a second, she frowned, and asked Dean, “Uh… How much do you weight? Uh wait, nevermind, I'll just try.” The young angel placed her hand on Dean's shoulder and tried to Orb a few steps away.

OOC -
04:45, Today: Cailin Weber rolled 10 using 3d6.  Orbing with Dean
Works if he's under 200lbs.

Dean looked to Cailin, nodded slightly and seemed to brace himself for whatever was to come.

Last he had checked, which was weeks ago, he had been hovering around two seventy without clothing. Of course whatever laws Angels operated by likely had little concern for just how big he was.

Or so he assumed...

Cailin attempted to Orb with Dean, but nothing happened.

"Hmm, nope." Cailin shook her head. "Sorry, you're too heavy for me. At least for now, but I doubt I'd be able to change that any time soon."

"Well... what about Jack?"  Abe suggested.

Cailin touched Jack and both of them turned into globes of blue-white light that rose into the air and vanished. Shortly thereafter a shape of blue-white light descended nearby and then took the shape of the two of them.

“Yup, it works for him.” Cailin added quite unnecessarily. “I think as long as I could carry him on my back…briefly…I can Orb with him. Roughly. And don't ask me why it's like that, I have no idea.” she shrugged.

“But unless Dean goes loses a lot, I won't be able to do it.”

It was the next night.

You had a GPS locator for the semi-truck.
Pistols with silver bullets had been provided to all of you, each with two extra magazines. Silver knives had also been provided as a backup.
Tom had borrowed a silver shortsword.

And you were back in Plaster City. At a parking lot most of you had used once before. And a truck stop that had had a transformative impact on your lives. But it was still closed. The gas station seemed barely to have been used in the past ten nights since you were here last.

When the gps said that the truck was approaching, you had been waiting for hours, and you could quickly see that it was much smaller than advertised. Not at all the eighteen wheeler you had been told it would be. It came from the direction of the naval base and started signaling that it was turning right towards San Diego.



[OOC: Stats for the weapons:
* Pistol: 2d+2 pi Acc 2 Range 150/1900 Weight 2/0.7 RoF 3 Shots 18+1(3) ST 9 Bulk -2 Rcl 2
That means that if you hit, each bullet does 2d6+2 damage. You get a +2 bonus to attack if you Aim for one turn before you attack. You can fire three bullets per turn. You need to determine before you roll for attack how many bullets you are firing, so it will simplify if I roll for the attack. The reason for that is that if you make the attack roll by at least a margin of 4, all three bullets will hit. If it is made by at least 2, two bullets hit. If you succeed by less than that, only one bullet hits. When you need to reload, it will take you three turns to do so.

* Shortsword: sw cut/thr imp Reach 1 Parry 0 Weight 2 ST 8. You do cut (as based on your ST) damage if you swing and imp damage if you thrust. You don't have a modifier to your parry. As it is smaller than what Tom is used to, you have a -2 penalty to hit.]

Had they realized it was coming that way, they might have made a slightly different plan.  As it was, he nodded to Cailin to orb Jack over as quickly as possible.  He started moving that way himself, gun still holstered but ready to help in case the man proved resistant to Vampiric compulsion.

OOC: We talking about a Humvee or Jeep, a personnel carrier, or what?

Cailin hadn't taken any weapon with her, reiterating that she wasn't there to fight anyone. When they noticed the much smaller truck and she was asked to Orb Jack inside, Cailin scowled. “I hate those half-baked plans and how you treat messing with someone's mind as if it were nothing much.” She really didn't seem happy about that.

Still, she put her left hand on Jack's right shoulder and Orbed them both to the truck's cabin, him in the middle and her on the right seat.

OOC -
21:50, Today: Cailin Weber rolled 9 using 3d6.  Orb to the truck with Jack.
Successfully done.

Cailin and Jack were turned into the blue-white orbs of light traveling skyward and then reappeared in the van traveling downward, before the orbs reconstituted into the duo.

Space was at a premium next to the driver. "Stop," Jack said and the driver stopped the van. "Why don't you step out and sit on the side of the road for me." "Of course," the driver said,  opened the door, left the van, and went over to the side of the road where he sat down.

Jack slid over to the driver's seat, stood up so that the rest of you could see him out the door. And he waved you over.

Abe hustled across to the truck and tried the rear door to see if they'd be able to get in without stopping the truck to unlock it.

Unfortunately, the back door was locked. But as it was already stopped, Jack shut down the engine, got the key out of the ignition, and joined Abe in the back.

The door was soon unlocked and the door opened. Inside was a wood crate about seven feet long and another much smaller crate. Each of them maybe a foot tall and a foot wide.

Having done what she had to do - and not liking it at all - Cailin exited the truck and took a few steps away to let the others do their thing.

Still, she couldn't help but get closer, pushed by her curiosity she wanted to know what the truck was moving for so many people to be interested in whatever that was.

Caillin joined Abe and Jack at the rear of the truck where she too could see the two crates.


[OOC: If you want to check inside the crates, you need to go inside.]

Abe looked over to Cailin.  "Look, I don't like it as a thing either.  But as none of us could think of any other way to keep him from dying tonight without revealing Shadowland - which would end up with him dying anyways, I can't complain about having limited mind control as an option."

He hopped up into the truck, and to open each of the boxes, hoping to get an idea of what they were dealing with.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:08, Tue 14 Apr 2020.

Abe used a crowbar someone had left in the van to open the crates that had been nailed shut.

In the larger one, he saw four staffs in packing material. They were each a couple of inches shy of being a foot taller than he was. The end closest to him was tear-shaped and the far end was shaped like the pupil of a cat. In general, the staff was about an inch in diameter, with a few protrusions here and there, bronze-like in color, with etchings all over its surface.

He then touched one of them. Before repeating the process with the smaller crate.

In the smaller case was a strange-looking type of jewelry worn on the left hand. Half of it was a band, perhaps half an inch wide, that wrapped around your lower arm. The band was connected to a circular gold mounting with a blue gem in it with a diameter of about half the width of a palm. That mounting was connected to five rods, one for each finger. And each rod connected to a gold ring on the first section of each finger, and a cap that would cover the last section of each finger, including the fingerprint.

And Abe touched it too.

Abe picked up one of the staves from the case and gave it a spin to test its balance.  He then held its tear-shaped end back as he had seen the armored men do in his vision, being as careful of he cat's eye end of the staff as he would with a rifle barrel, and resisted the urge to fire a trial shot out into the desert.  He showed the others what he had learned from his vision.  "These are staff-rifles, but they fire energy instead of bullets.  If you're familiar with both halves, you may want to use them in the coming fight.  They have a dark history though - they're tools of war, and possibly oppression."

He picked up the piece of jewelry from the smaller case and tried to put it on.  "This, though.  This seems to be the opposite.  It exudes safety and enlightenment."  He moved his fingers in different gestures, willing something to happen, trying to get the smaller device to reveal what it did.
This message was last edited by the player at 12:36, Wed 15 Apr 2020.

After having picked up, twirled, and demonstrated how to shoot with the staff, Abe returned it to the crate and picked up the jewelry. He placed the band around his left arm, the rings around his fingers, and the cap on his fingertips.

After "using" it for about a minute, Abe was surrounded by a nearly invisible cylinder.



[OOC: As a simplification, the staff looks something like below. Protrusions not included. The parenthesis section would be more closely symbolized by a single longer parenthesis on each side to get the cat's pupil shape, but I don't have characters that look like that.]

 ()
 ()
 ()
 ||
 ||
 ||
 ||
 ||
 ||
 ||
 ||
 ||
 ||
 ||
 ||
 ||
 ||
 ||
/  \
\__/

"Those look like the Goa'uld weapons from Stargate. The jafa or something one, you know, the one Teal'c carried around?" Cailin commented about the staves. "They made big holes too. And they weren't exactly a peaceful and benevolent empire... Theocracy? People, either." She didn't move to take one though, and turned to the case of jewelry.

"Why would someone want to move things diametrically opposed? Why would those Banshees of yours want them?" Cailin shrugged, "And while we're at it... How did they learn about those in the first place?"

There seemed to be more questions than answers. Perhaps answers would come when you faced the Banshees. Perhaps not.

You packed everything back into the van, Dean jumped into the driver's seat, and headed west.


[What do you do?]

Abe had never watched Stargate.  He had figured it was a rip-off of Star Wars and not bothered with it, so he shrugged at Cailin when she asked about it.  It was apparently a sci-fi deficiency he would have to remedy.  "So, what's this one do, exactly?"  He asked her about the more peaceful and decorative item on his hand.

Before Dean started driving, Abe took a minute and opened a portal back to Sparrow's, and asked everyone to help put any unused staves through, leaving the boxes in the truck.  Even if they failed tonight, he didn't want the weapons - or whatever the other thing was - to fall into werewolf hands.  He held on to the jewelry device,

He let Tom (or Cailin if she wanted) take the front seat with Dean, as they were the most capable of defending themselves in hand-to-hand.  He hopped in the back.  He intended to practice with the hand jewelry once Cailin explained what she could of it.  If it turned out not to be useful for combat, he would put it in his pocket until after the fight.

OOC: If Cailin was wanting the wrist thing, Abe would be happy to let her have it and hold onto a staff instead.

GM passing a message.

"I know I've seen it," Cailin said. "But I don't remember what it does. Or how to use it. Sorry."

[OOC: Do you want to play around with this on the trip, do you want to take a staff weapon, or both?]

Abe focuses his effort on the handware, but keeps a staff on hand as well in case he can't get the hand thing to be useful for the coming battle.  He tried various hand gestures, pressing the jewelry as he gestured, and willing it to do anything as he gestured as well.

Much like Abe, Dean seemed almost clueless as to the nature of the items they has found.

As the van accelerated down the road, the streetlights steadily racing by them, he craned his bulky frame around in the seat to glance back at the other passengers and their strange cargo.

It was not so long ago that he had been carefree and on another trip with Abe. Now  he seemed stark, hard and pale in the artificial street light.

Sure, he had the same basic shape, around the eyes he still looked like the Dean Abe had known. The kid dreaming of going pro in football of all things. The kid with the athletics scholarship.

But how long would that last?

"So what's the deal? You wanna find a place to stop and try this stuff out real quick?" he asked with another glance in the rear view. "Or you wanna head straight there?"

Abe considered Dean's suggestion of stopping only for a moment before nodding.  "Good idea.  Let's pull off for two minute to figure out what we can use, then get back on the road - don't want to be too far off schedule and miss the main event."

The items they had obtained might be extremely effective, but bringing them into combat without being sure how the work might just be handing them over to their enemies.

Dean did just that, and found a quiet place to pull off out of the way.

With the engine idling, he stepped out of the van, the whole thing rocking on its suspension and cast a wary look towards the sky, obviously considering the time.

That ever present, subconscious terror of being caught in the open come dawn.

He walked around and hefted one of the staves carefully and looked it over.

"Doesn't look like any kind of gun I've ever seen." he said "Good heft though...probably break a bone if you swung it hard enough.". He glanced around, cocked back and swung it baseball bat style towards an old rusting trashcan, long since abandoned in the back lot.

Abe noted Dean's concern about the sun.  "Don't stress too much about the giant hurt-ball.  If we are cutting it close, I'll be able to send you to my home just like I did the extra equipment."

When they hopped out, Abe imitated the snake-headed men he had seen in his vision, holding the staff at his waist, similar to how they did.  He practiced discipline with both his finger and the end of the staff as best he could.  When he lined up a shot on a stone a ways away, he let his trigger finger go searching for a trigger.

OOC: Forgot about the success in forming a cylinder with the hand thing.  Focusing on the staves.

Abe tested the hand thing. Manipulating the obvious controls without success and trying more outlandish control methods as he was forced to become more creative when all of his attempts to use it failed.

They pulled over to test the staff weapons.

Dean swung it like a baseball bat, but it was long and unwieldy to use in that manner. But he still hit the trashcan.

Abe test-fired it first and as he wasn't in a combat situation, the bolt of fire that shot forth from the staff just hit the rock that was about 10 yards away. And it did about as much damage as an M16, but was much less accurate. On the other hand, it seemed to shoot fire, which would give the wolves the upper hand against the vampires.

Dean bristled a bit as the thing went off, kind of an unpleasant grimace and a slight turning away, his lips just barely coming apart to show the whites of his teeth.

"Huh..." He said, either unimpressed or wary. "Well I don't think that's going to work for me." he told Abe, and then gingerly set the one he had picked up back in the crate. "Good to know though...I wonder where they came from?" he asked aloud, then rolled up the sleeve on his motocross jacket just enough to peek at his watch. "You good to go?" He asked Abe. "Or you wanna mess with this stuff a little more?"

"Nah.  Let's get a move on."  Abe replied.  He pocketed the hand device to experiment with later - he much preferred its enlightened and peaceful aura to the violent aura of the staffs.  He kept the staff in hand for now anyways.  Preferences  always take a backseat to survival.

He hopped back into the truck and closed the door, ready to ride on to their "meeting".

Dean concurred, and loaded back up into the van.

Soon they were back on the road and en route to a fateful rendezvous. For the first time in Dean's life at least, he was willingly, if under duress, heading towards the threat of violence and death.

Ever since that first night he had feared it in some way, getting pulled into this ancient struggle, and despite his best efforts it seemed that he had failed.

They were, in some ways, going to war.

The group continued to drive westward for some time when suddenly something landed on the roof. Several somethings.

In a well-coordinated move, four sets of claws cut a 2 by 1 yard square hole in the roof of the vehicle. And as the ceiling fell down, two werewolves accompanied it. And there were another two of them still on the roof.


[OOC: Your turn begins her. Whoever posts first acts first.]

Dean, with a frantic look towards the streetlight now pouring into the passenger compartment, suddenly punched the gas and took the van through a sudden shift of direction in hopes of shaking loose the two remaining attackers on the roof, and of potentially knocking ones already inside off their feet.

"Hold on!" He shouted as the engine roared and the tires squealed.

Dean Mason rolled 12 using 3d6.  Drive: Automobile (15), Knock off the roof attackers.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:53, Sat 28 Aug 2021.

Abe considered using the staff he had in his hand.  Then he considered how much less accurate it was than a rifle... he would be comfortable with a rifle if it shot fire, or with this if it were accurate.  If he had space to try a few shots while the vamps closed distance, he would have tried firing a few shots with the staff.

Instead, they were in the truck already, and so were his friends.

So, he instead manifested a ball of flame in his hand and threw it at one of the closer werewolves.

16:32, Today: Abe Griffith rolled 7 using 3d6.  Fireball (15).
This message was last edited by the player at 14:57, Mon 30 Aug 2021.

Dean shifted the direction and speed of the vehicle to try to shake a couple of werewolves of the roof, but unfortunately, they remained.

Abe cast a fireball on one of them and hit it center mass.

Despite being a vampire, none of you had ever seen Jack Feed on anything other than beautiful women. That changed now as he Feed on werewolf blood and it was lost in the Ecstasy of being Fed on.

Tom drew his sword and instantly electricity started dancing up and down the blade. He swung at the first werewolf, but it avoided his sword.

Cailin was holding herself to one side and is not engaging.

The first werewolf engaged with Tom and swung its claws at him twice. It missed the first time and Tom avoided them the second time.

A third werewolf jumped down and struck at Jack, but he was able to dance out of the way and turn his supper's back towards its companion.


[OOC:
The fireball did 2 points of damage to W1 (for werewolf 1, so we know who we are attacking).

Jack is Feeding on W2.

Start of Round 2. What do you do?
]

Abe frowned.  Little fireballs looked scary, but when throwing them at a werewolf, they just didn't have the effect he was looking for to start taking them down before they made a bloody mess of the group in the truck.  And with an extra wolf going to take down Jack while he fed, not to mention another still above waiting to join the fray, that wasn't acceptable.

So, in spite of his worries about accuracy, he leveled the staff weapon at the wolf closing on Jack.  He pulled the trigger and hoped against hope that he wouldn't be laying down friendly fire.


Shooting at wolf 3.
17:13, Today: Abe Griffith rolled 8 using 3d6.  Staff weapon (?).
17:17, Today: Abe Griffith rolled 12 using 5d6 with rolls of 1,1,5,3,2.  Damage (as 5.56 rifle).

With his bid to knock off the attackers of the roof unsuccessful, Dean slammed on the brakes and prepared to climb out of the seat to meet the threat. The van tilted, the wheels chirped in protest and a thin trail of smoke wafted from the wheel wells as the vehicle skidded to a halt on the side of the road.

Maybe it was the van's sudden movement that had caused her head to hit the glass then the front seat's headrest, or the presence of the werewolves, but for some reason, Cailin looked annoyed. And while she was clearly not particularly happy with Dean's driving, the way she looked at the werewolves made it clear that he wasn't the only cause of her bad mood.

Despite that, she was merely grumbling under her breath - something about someone called Christopher - and obviously had no intention of attacking. She had in fact her hands under her thighs while she watched the fight.

Being unskilled in the use of staff weapons, Abe fired the staff, but missed the werewolf and blew a hole in the side of the truck.

Dean stopped it and though his passengers swayed with the change of motion, no one fell. He jumped out of the cabin and hurried towards the back, he came about halfway there.

Tom clearly was an expert at the sword and this time the silver blade sheathed in lightning slashed a long gash along the werewolf's torso.

Jack continued to Feed on his werewolf.

Cailin, grumblingly, remained uninvolved in the conflict.

One of the werewolves sliced with its claws against Tom in full force, but with Matrix-like grace, he avoided the hit by a mile.

Another is too busy enjoying Jack Feed on them.

The third punched Jack and this time the claws punctured him good.

The fourth werewolf jumped down, touched the first one, and before your very eyes, its wounds started knotting together.

[OOC:
Jack: lost 8hp. 12/20hp remaining.


Start of Round 3. What do you do?]

Perhaps it was some kind of vampiric solidarity with Jack, it perhaps it was simply the easiest target, but Dean focused on the werewolf that was already stupified and in Jacks clutched.

Dean had obviously never done this "for real", and it showed in the somewhat shocked expression on his face and his uncertain movements.

Regardless, his hands hardened into razor sharp claws, the fingers spread and flexed menacingly, he swung low, not wanting to hit Jack's face or arms in the melee, the claws blurring as the came down in an exaggerated overhand swipe towards the werewolves hip and thigh.

Dean, consciously or not, bared his teeth as he did so.

“I don't suppose we can talk this through?” Cailin said, trying to be heard over the combat's noise.

The way she said that though, it was really obvious she wasn't expecting anyone to pay attention to her.

Abe spared a bare moment to raise an eyebrow at Cailin before returning his attention to the combat.  He appreciated the damage the staff could put out, especially with the healer that the wolves had in play now... but if he couldn't hit anything with it, it wasn't going to help anyone.

Fireball to little damage, staff to little accuracy... then he dressed himself down mentally for forgetting about the pistol.  He drew his pistol and let the staff fall to the ground.


OOC: Player forgot about the pistol too. :-P
This message was last edited by the player at 18:47, Tue 31 Aug 2021.

Dean hurried to the back of the truck, hoisted himself up easily, and joined the others inside. He lined himself up as if he was hitting a martial arts dummy, and slashed with his recently extended claws, leaving blood and scratch marks on its legs.

Cailin tried to end the conflict diplomatically, but none of the others seemed to be interested enough in that to stop what they were doing.

Abe dropped the staff weapon and drew the pistol he was carrying.

Jack continued to Feed on one of the werewolves and some of his wounds healed.

Tom swung his sword with great expertise, but the werewolf avoided the blade with equal grace.

The werewolf retaliated at Tom, but he swung wide.

The second of them was still lost in vampire-produced ecstasy.

The third picked up the staff that Abe just had dropped.

And the fourth touched the werewolf being Feed on and healed some of its wounds.



[OOC: I forgot about the pistols too. Thanks for bringing those up!]



[OOC:
Jack: 14/20hp


Start of Round 4. What do you do?]

Abe took a moment to size up the werewolf that had picked up the staff.  He decided to run the risk of he wolf being able to use the device in order to make a better shot himself.  He took his extra moment to line up his shot.

Dean, his claws bloodied for the first time, used the the razor sharp digits already embedded in the meat of the thigh to try to rip the whole appendage off like a drumstick on a Thanksgiving turkey.

His disgust and horror tempered by the adrenaline and fear of ending up like his Sire, he cut, twisted and pulled as he tried to topple the injured werewolf.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:55, Wed 01 Sept 2021.

Grumbling but not quite cursing, Cailin opened the van's door and exited the vehicle, standing to the side and out of the way while the fight was going on.

Her arms crossed on her chest, it was obvious she wasn't happy with what she was seeing, but had no intention to intervene.

Abe took his time and aimed the pistol carefully.

Dean swiped his claws against the leg again and despite his best effort, the leg was still attached.

Cailin stepped out of the truck and waited outside, not getting involved.

Jack continued to Feed on the werewolf.

Tom thrust his sword at the werewolf, but he defended himself.

One werewolf swung at Tom, but it went wide.

The second werewolf was busy being a vampire's popsicle.

The third werewolf fired the staff weapon at Jack with devastating effect and Jack lost consciousness and fell to the floor. The clothes on his back aflame in this confined space.

The fourth werewolf hangs back and doesn't engage.

[6 blank lines suppressed]

[OOC: Dean, you have to roll against your newly discovered phobia to see what this close proximity to fire does to you before you can act on your next turn.]

[OOC:
Jack: -23/20hp

Dean: 15/16 BP. I forgot to include the cost for activating the claws earlier.


Start of Round 4. What do you do?]
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:06, Thu 02 Sept 2021.

Abe was shocked when the werewolf managed to make a hit with the infernal, innacurate, blasted staff-rifle.  He regretted having taken a moment to line up his shot before firing, and decided with a certainty not to spend any more time aiming.

Putting years of practice with firearms to practical use, Abe launched a trio of bullets at the staff wielding werewolf.  "Cailin, can you help Jack or put out the fire?"  He called out.

19:56, Today: Abe Griffith rolled 11 using 3d6.  Pistols (aimed, 3 shots, 13).

19:56, Today: Abe Griffith rolled 9 using 2d6+2.  Bullet 1 dmg.

19:56, Today: Abe Griffith rolled 13 using 2d6+2.  Bullet 2 dmg.

Cailin shook her head, “I can't help Jack yet.” After all, if she healed him, he'd go back into the fight, so that would count as her being in the fight. Something she was pretty sure she should not do.

“And the fire…” She seemed to hesitate, but then again shook her head, “Not with some of you being vampires.” Putting out the fire would help said vampires in their fight after all.

“And since they don't want to attack me…” She waved at the werewolves, then shrugged. Not that she was one hundred percent sure that she'd be free to fight even then - she could just Orb away after all - but it might have been an option.

Dean had not encountered fire in such a way, not since his death, not in such a stressful situation.

Whatever kept him going, whatever moved his dead limbs and motivated his hunger recoiled in pure animal terror at the light and heat, and the big guy found himself scrambling and recoiling, covering his face and neck with his arms as he turned away, bared his teeth and hissed.

Abe unleashed three silver slugs into the wolfman's abdomen and dropped one of them to the ground. And as the wolf lost its shape, she turned out to be a woman.

Followed by Tom eviscerating another, dropping her to human form and the floor too.

Cailin was outside the truck, not participating in the fight.

Jack was unmovable on the ground.

And Dean unmovably stared at the fire that held him at bay.

One of the wolfmen whistled and a circle of ice crystals formed in the truck, opening up a gateway to elsewhere. The two werewolves still standing dragged their companions into the gate and it closed behind them.

You are now alone.




[OOC:
Jack: -23/20hp

Dean: 15/16 BP. Stunned

We remain in the round structure for now.

Start of Round 5. What do you do?]

"Cailin, can you come give Jack a hand now?  They're gone."  Abe called without looking for her.  Instead, he was focused on Dean.

"Tom, can you drag Dean out of here?  Then grab any extra staves and stuff and get ready to get them through a portal." He asked.  Meanwhile, he went for a cloth and started wiping down everywhere the cohort had likely left prints.

Dean seemed like a cat that had been startled, all eyes and teeth and ready to jump at a moment notice.

But the eyes were dim, the young man himself somewhere else it seemed. Whatever was in control, it was not the smiling young athlete that had come west with some of the others.

His big hands still dribbled blood onto the asphalt, and we're stained crimson up to the wrist.

Abe started cleaning up anything they might have left their fingerprints on inside the truck.

Tom followed Abe's instruction and started dragging Dean out of the truck.

While Cailin went in and bent low over Jack. It didn't take long before she shook her head.

"He's gone," she said.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:11, Tue 07 Sept 2021.

Abe felt a shock.  His wiping became jolted, as if his arms weren't quite following his orders.  Without his mind's assent his mouth began to run, dripping bitter sarcasm.  "Well better that than that you heal him sooner and he might commit some violence later in life.  Like you couldn't have healed him and orbed him somewhere that he couldn't have fought from?"


OOC: Abe's not too worried about the mess.  He's still debating on torching the truck when they finish getting themselves and the leftover gear out of here.  The mess that's there (werewolf blood, Dean blood, and Jack blood) either points to their enemies or to dead people, so he's not too worried about it.  He's more worried about fingerprints left by the group.

Cailin shook her head, “I think you misunderstand something. I'm an Angel, not a doctor. I don't nurse back to health, I Heal. If I had healed him, Jack would not only have been able to fight another day, but he would have been able to return in this fight. This is not allowed to me. And before you ask, no, I couldn't have Orbed him after I healed him: do you think he would have wanted that? I cannot Orb anyone against their will.”

“As for Orbing him first, then Heal him…” The young angel tilted her head to the side, a bit less assured, before she finally continued, “It wouldn't have worked either. Both because it would have been considered as protecting him in a fight and he wasn't in a position to ask for it. I'm sorry but…” She sighed, looking sad.

“I cannot fight for you. I cannot help you in any way during your fights as much as I would want to. Before,” she nodded, “Yes, I can pretty much bring you wherever you want to go on Earth, give you whatever advice you want. Assuming I have access to what you want anyway, I'm not all knowing after all. After,” she nodded once again, “Yes, I can Heal you, I can see you safe, and do lots of other things. But not in between, there is nothing I can do. Not in any way. And even if I could have intervened,” she tilted her head to the side as she considered Jack's body, “I don't think I could have done anything for him. I can Heal but that does not include bringing the dead back to life. And I'm pretty sure he was dead before he knew it.” Plus considering the nature of vampires, she wasn't even sure she could heal them. After all, the only person she had Healed so far had been Christopher…and he was an Angel, a powerful one at that.

And it wasn't like she hadn't taken a risk, something she wasn't sure she was even allowed to do: by talking when she had, she had half-hoped that one of the werewolves would have attacked her, which would have given her some leeway. She wasn't sure at all that she would have been allowed to fight back considering that a werewolf was no danger to her and she could have simply Orbed away, but it may have given the others a bit of time.

As Abe and Cailin heatedly discussed what it meant to be an angel, the moments passed and Dean regained control of his faculties while Tom took Jack's body out of the truck too and placed it near Dean.



[OOC: I updated my previous post in clarification.]

Abe sighed, he thought about supernatural restrictions and how asking her to do those things might have been like asking Dean to take a stroll in the sunlight.  "Sorry.  I didn't know.  Being an angel seems even more restrictive than being a vampire."

During the fight, when his tiny flame did about nothing, he had been remorseful to be Fae rather than one of the other kinds of supernaturals.  Now, as he thought about the restrictions put on each of the others: sunlight, orders, people hunting you, he was suddenly as glad to be Fae as he was when had first discovered it.

"Once I'm done removing fingerprints, do we want to torch this thing to remove the Shadowland blood laying everywhere?" He asked the group.

[OOC: If we're still in rounds, I assume Abe has several more of removing fingerprints before he's ready to go.]

Abe finished removing the fingerprints as best as he could from the truck.

And Dean was back to himself.



[OOC: We can move out of combat time]

Dean came around like a man coming out of a diabetic coma, his eyes slowly gaining some semblance of the man he was, his movements becoming more fluid and natural.

He made a pained sound, and then a groan. "Ugh...I feel like shit." he told the others and out a hand to his face, only to smear blood on it. "Looks like we won?" He asked with uncertainty

Cailin nodded to Abe without saying anything, then looked around as she answered Dean's question. “Depends on how you determine victory.” With one dead though, she doubted they had the same definition…

“Removing the blood,” the young angel started to answer Abe, “Or at least making sure it can't be analyzed, wouldn't be a bad thing I suppose. Though maybe you may want to get some samples of the wolves' blood. Don't you have anyone who'd be able to track them from it? Or divine their location or something?”

"Well, it went twice as badly for them as for us.  But since there were just the five of us, and no idea how many of them... I'm not sure that's a win for us.  If his sacrifice means we can track down and put an end to all the Banshees praying on humans?  Maybe."  Abe answered Dean.

"Might as well try," Commented Abe to Cailin, as he looked around for something that could carry the werewolf blood, trying to keep the samples separate and to keep from touching any of the blood directly.  If he couldn't find anything better, he pulled out the brass he had picked up and used the three casings to hold the samples.

Taking the staff, and any other useful hardware that was left on the truck, he moved a safe distance away from the road and beckoned the others to do so as well.  "I'll open a portal for you guys, then I'll get that thing burning before I come through."

He opened the portal, and began lining up a shot on the gas tank with the staff weapon.  He took plenty of time, hoping to make sure he wouldn't have to try again.

If Abe thinks he can (both capability and Baron Vega's permission) open a portal to a proper area of the club, he will do that.  Otherwise to home.

Abe gathered werewolf blood in the brass he had gathered. It wasn't easy and he got more blood on the outside of the case than on the inside. He carefully handed them to Tom.

They moved all the remaining hardware from the truck

Abe gestured for several seconds and a gash appeared in space. It was rimmed with vines and it bulged in the middle until it became a perfect circle of vines. The outer bound of a portal leading back to civilization.
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:45, Fri 10 Sept 2021.

"Go, quickly."  Abe told the others once the portal was open.  He himself turned to start lining up his shot on the gas tank.

He had considered firing a bullet into the tank from closer, then using his own fire magic to ignite it.  However, that would have had danger of ricochet and left a silver bullet on site somewhere.  After five seconds of fiddling with the awkward thing, he figured it was as good as it was going to get and pulled the trigger.

Cailin watched Abe take the blood samples with her head tilted to the side, obviously pensive. It would have been quite easy for her to Orb somewhere, take the right tools for such a thing and Orb back, and it would only have taken her a few seconds, a minute at most…except that she had no idea where to Orb for that. Or more precisely, she had no idea where she could Orb for that without being seen. She'd have to address that at some point.

When the portal opened, Cailin watched what was on the other side curiously, but she didn't seem to be in a hurry to go through it, leaving everyone else go first, Abe included. After all, since she could just Orb there herself, there was no point rushing it. And should something go wrong, Abe could need help.

Plus, it wasn't like she was in any danger herself, no matter what happened with the van.

Dean carried Tom's body through the portal and Tom carried the brass of blood. But Cailin waited.

Abe aimed the staff weapon at the truck for as long as he thought it would improve his aim and fired. And this time he hit the truck and it went up in flames.

As Cailin refused to enter the portal, Abe walked through it and the portal disappeared behind him.

Now she was alone with the burning truck in Plaster City while the rest of them were in the private levels of Arcane Lux. Not far from the Baron's office or the conference room.
This message was last edited by the GM at 12:32, Sat 11 Sept 2021.

Abe nodded his thanks to Cailin for the cover before stepping through the portal.

He collected Jack's gun and his extra clips, hoping to be able to make good use of them against those that had killed him.  "Cailin will orb herself here or wherever when she wants to."  He informed those who had gone through before him.

He started toward the conference room to see who was there, knowing that not just the Baron, but Isabella and Asil would need to hear what had happened.  He let the group know what he was thinking.

There was a MIB stationed outside the conference room door and he opened the door for Abe. Inside, he saw the Baron, Asali, and Isabella who all turned towards him when he entered.

Abe stepped into the room, and allowed the others time to get in as well if they desired , before speaking.  His face started to twist with emotion, then he shut it away and reported perfunctorily, "We stopped the Banshees from taking the truck and anything in it.  We killed two of them and they escaped with the bodies.  We kept samples of blood from three of them including the dead, in case that would let someone track them.  However..."

He choked slightly, and the muscles in his face had a short battle of their own.  He clamped< it down again and turned to face Isabella most directly.  "We want to express hour deep regret that your mentee, Jack, was killed in action on the truck tonight.  He was dealing with one of the Banshees, while another took advantage of his distraction to kill him.  We want to extend our deepest sympathy to you in your loss.

As the portal closed, Cailin hesitated a bit: was she supposed to follow? After a couple of seconds, she shrugged, then Orbed to her clients: they were likely going to talk about what had happened and their plans going forward, so if she wanted to guide them - or pretend to guide them since she knew next to nothing - she'd have to be there.

Once there, she stood to the side, content to stay out of the way - and silent - for now.

21:53, Today: Cailin Weber rolled 8 using 3d6.  Orbing to the Arcane Lux.

Cailin orbed to the Arcane Lux and appeared near the others.

At Abe's report, the tone in the room instantly turned somber.

"I'm sorry for your loss," De la Vega said. "Quick thinking on the blood. Please take that to Sparrow when we are done here and ask her to do that for us. What were they after?"

Abe held up a staff rifle.  "A ton of these as well as some less violent-seeming tools."  He nodded to Cailin. "Our advisor tells us that these are from a sci-fi television show.  They fire powerful bolts of fire.  They are inaccurate, but the wolves seemed to have trained with them as one was able to pick one up and immediately put it to good use."

Getting the chance to focus on something martial, Isabella instantly went to investigate the staff weapon. It didn't take her long to get it ready to fire, but she didn't.

"This is definitely something I need to investigate. What about the less violent tools? What do they do?"

Abe traded the hand device to Isabella, taking to staff to let her examine it with both hands.  "It made a vertical column of light, slightly taller than a person.  Then it winked out and we've not been able to do anything else with it."

He looked over the staff again as she worked with the hand device.  "If you've got a machinist, we could mount some grips and sites on this and have a pretty reliable-seeming rifle.  Though with the lack of a fire-related vulnerability in foes, it might just be better to squirrel these away to keep them out of others' hands."

"I would have to agree with that," Asali said. "These would be much more valuable to the wolves than they are to us. They should be locked away or destroyed."

Isabella put the device on and tried to make it work, but couldn't. She handed it to the Baron who tried it on too, without success. He then handed it to Asali and she too made the cylinder appear around her.

"It seems I found it. And what does this do?"

Abe shrugged.  "Not a clue.  The feelings I got from the item were safety, peacefulness, enlightenment, and time.  Not really sure how to interpret that, and we didn't have time to test it as it stopped working almost as soon as I got it started."

"It seems this is something I will have to investigate myself, so I will look into those feelings of yours. See if that gives me anything. And Isabella, if you look into those weapons."

Isabella nodded.

"Do you know where those weapons were coming from or where they were going," De La Vega asked.

Abe shook his head numbly.  "I had thought to wipe our fingerprints from the vehicle, but didn't think to search for a manifest of any kind."

He held up the blood samples.  "Unless there's anything else, I'll work on getting these to Sparrow."

Unless stopped, he stepped out into the hall and texted Sparrow to let her know where she was, and to ask her where to meet.

"It came from the direction of Naval Support Activity Colorado Desert," Tom said. "There isn't much else out there other than desolation. Unless someone drove cross country from the prison. Not that that proves anything."

De La Vega nodded.

"We will be replacing the fake ashes at the cemetery with his real ones. In case you want to know were Jack's remains will be," Isabella said.

"You did well," the Baron said. "Please prepare yourselves even further to fight the wolves."

"Let me know when we know where they are," De La Vega instructed Abe.

Abe sent a text.

Abe nodded to the Baron.  "Yes, sir."

Once he had ascertained Sparrow's whereabouts, he concentrated for a while before opening a portal rimmed in green leaves.  "If anyone needs me, just call."  He stepped through and disappeared.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:39, Mon 20 Sept 2021.

Cailin nodded, then as Abe left said, “Well, if you don't need me, I'll be...” she pointed a finger to the ceiling, as if it explained everything.

“Don't hesitate to call me if you need anything. I can't promise I'll be able to help, but it doesn't hurt to talk.” With that and if no one had anything to say about it, the young Angel Orbed away.

Abe opened a portal rimmed with green leaves and stepped through it into a luxury apartment.

Cailin orbed "Up There".

A portal opened and Abe sent the three remaining staff weapons to the private section of the club and then he closed the portal.