When Sparrow flashed her smile at him, Tom’s knees went to jelly. How could such a brilliantly beautiful woman exist? She seemed familiar to Tom, and it took a moment to place her, but then he remembered the portal and the vampires coming through. ”So you’re a sorcerer, then,” he said. ”But I’m guessing that’s in the same way as in the Marvel universe.”

He picked up on something else with her, too, a feeling he had felt before. ”There it is again, Abe. Remember I told you I felt laughter from one of you and coldness from the other two? She feels like laughter, just like you do.” He shrugged his shoulders. ”Maybe I’m a werewolf,” he said, though not with a smile. ”They have heightened senses, right? Maybe that’s why I feel laughter and coldness from our group, but nothing when I went into the restaurant to get our food. Or maybe I’m some sort of sniffer, like something out of The Wheel of Time.”

Abe knew that he and Sparrow were Fey from what Sparrow had said earlier.  He considered outing the two of them as such to Tom, but didn't want to risk angering the one person in the parking lot who knew what they were actually doing.  Instead, he said to Tom, "Sparrow's mentioned someone in control of the supernatural in San Diego who might be willing to accept the fealty of our group in exchange for aid and training."

To her he asked, "So, should we be heading toward somewhere in San Diego to get help and meet this Baron?"

Tom frowned. "'In control of the supernatural?' How does that work? And exactly how many non-mundane beings are there, exactly?" Somewhere in the back of his world, Tom started to hear "A Whole New World" play.

"We definitely need to get Dean and Jack some help, though. Our worlds have basically turned upside down. if we can talk with some people and figure out what to do next, that would be huge. We also need to get our ride to its destination, so yeah, I'd say we need to get to San Diego as soon as we can."

"Supernatural scene, presumably not all the supernatural minutiae, but I don't know about the rest.  Sorry for the confusion."  Abe amended before adding.  "And the ride has a few more days in it."

"I am many things," Sparrow said. "And yes, I noticed that the Sorcerer Supreme can do some things that look like what I can do. One of the perks of hiding in plain sight."

Tom then mentioned she feels like laughter.

"Laughter? That would make sense. You can sense us? And the vampires? Know what we are. Interesting." She flirtatiously took Tom's hand, lightly caressed his arm with one of her fingers. Then, with a command word, the tip of her finger was surrounded by the fire you had seen previously. There was no heat. And as she slid her finger along your arm, your skin was effortlessly sliced open, and your blood liberated. And in a moment, blue lightning appeared on the edge of the wound and cracklingly healed Tom's arm. Sparrow smiled that timeless smile of hers again.

"Rare," she said. "I have met only a couple of Hunters across the centuries."

Abe and Tom then discussed the Baron and his relationship to the supernatural.

"De La Vega is a vampire. The leader of vampires in San Diego. I provide my services on occasion, but he does not control me. There are many more vampires than there are Fey though. And I don't know a single hunter in town, they have a tendency of killing other hunters as well as the rest of us."

"I would expect that you need another hunter to train you in how to use your abilities, just like Abe needs another Fey and the other two would need vampires. And having a Fey on retainer in one of his cohorts would be something he would like very much."

"And he could find many uses for having a hunter in his court too. But I suggest you should try to find something other than being his personal radar or an unending food storage. Binding your fates together in a package deal could facilitate that."

Abe's was rather surprised when Sparrow pronounced Tom a Hunter, rather than a werewolf.  "Sparrow, I'd love to stay here learning things as long as you'd let me, but I'm worried about my friends in the truck.  Is there anything we can do for them?"

After a moment's thought he added, "Also, could you give us an Idiot's Guide to Being Us so we don't wreck ourselves before getting to San Diego... at least any further than we did already?  Like: expect the guys in the back seat to turn evil and grow mustaches upon waking, or are they pretty much normal?  Can we drive over running water?  And if we get a flat, can I use a tire iron?"  Okay, that last was a bad question since if there was a flat tire on that truck, there would be a problem that a tire iron wouldn't fix, but the point of the question was valid.

"Not all vampires are the same," Sparrow said. "But generally, they only need to stay away from sunlight, fire, and anything holy. And you should probably not tell any normal person what has happened. Running water and garlic shouldn't be a problem. Nor should their personality change. But you're their food now, so...." Sparrow did not complete that sentence.

"In regards to what they need, that's an easy question to answer. They need blood. Lesser blood tastes bad and might not even work. And they look like they need a lot."

"And in regards to us. You're still you. Your choices are still your choices. Myths are myths."

When Sparrow sliced open Tom's arm, the young man gasped in shock, and then, dumbfounded, watched as his wounds rehealed. "A hunter?" he asked, repeating the term dubiously. "You mean like a guy who hunts deer or something?" Obviously, there was more to it than that. There was that weird sense he had, for one, along with these Wolverine/Deadpool healing powers he had now. He was still trying to accept that vampires and werewolves actually existed, along with whatever Abe and Sparrow were. The idea that there were even more kinds of supernatural creatures was even harder to process.

He thought back to all the stories of the supernatural that he'd heard. How much of it within all the legends and myths were actually real? Was Bigfoot real? Aliens? Talking animals and elves?

"So where can I find a teacher?" he asked Sparrow. "And you say hunters kill each other and you? Why?" Was he going to go mad and start killing indiscriminately? In spite of himself, Tom shivered. "It sounds like Dean, Jack, and I are going to be dangerous to the rest of you." And you to us, he thinks. The idea that he was now a food source for Jack and Dean was very troubling. How in the world were all going to survive this?

Abe smirked when Tom said that the group would be dangerous to Sparrow.  "I think she means you're a hunter like Van Helsing.  Specially gifted to fight supernatural beings... but I suspect that anyone who's been around for centuries isn't threatened by a single four hour old hunter.  Even if his friends are so distinguished as to be a four hour old fae and two comatose, four hour old vampires."

To Sparrow he asked, "Is there somewhere between here and the Baron where we could reasonably get the blood they need without hurting people, or do you think our best bet would be to go straight to him in this condition?"

"That's what we call you," Sparrow told Tom. "Your kind kills all of us Shadowlanders, I'm not sure why. In some sense, I guess, the Van Helsing analogy is accurate, but they want to kill 'monsters'. Not each other. I sense that the motivation is completely different. Not that I can put my finger on why. Nor do I know where you can find a teacher. You're the only hunter I know that is still alive. When you find each other, you duel, one of you dies, and there are sparks. Thinking about it, it actually reminds me of how the Dragonborn consumes the souls of dragons that die close to him in Skyrim. Perhaps that is why you hunt."

"I have worked with plenty of vampires. They haven't tried to eat me yet. I doubt it is a compulsion. I know it's not a compulsion for them and it doesn't seem to be a compulsion for you."

Abe then asked about where they could find blood.

"I do not think that is possible. Especially in their current condition. Most likely only a vampire can sort that out. Unless you hunt for them and feed them the blood manually."

Abe shook his head vigorously.  "We're close, but we're not that close.  They will have to owe the Baron or someone else in San Diego for helping them out when we get there."

He looked over at the truck.  "You want to ride along, or give us directions?  If you ride, you can play with the controls so long as you don't cause an accident."  He was joking about the last part - he assumed no one would want to crash an automobile that beautiful.

"You've played Skyrim?" Tom looked impressed. "I'd figure someone like you would spend most of her time lounging around, maybe listening to classical music or having bards serenade you." So Tom was basically a Hunter/Dragonborn. Yeah, this day was getting weirder by the hour.

Tom glanced worriedly at Dean and Jack. Neither of the two had come around yet, and Tom wondered how much longer they'd be out. "Let's get them to this Baron guy, then," he said. "As dangerous as it might be to us, I don't want to see our boys die here."

Sparrow accepted Abe's offer to ride with them and chuckled at his joke. "At least you have a sense of humor. You will need it."

And offering Tom her radiant smile once more. "Some classical music is wonderful and even the Bard serenaded me, though he was quite upset that I continually refused his advances. But sometimes, there is nothing more satisfying than killing a dragon!"

As the five of you traveled westward through Jacumba Hot Springs, she directed the GPS to Arcane Lux at 454 Sixth Avenue in San Diego.

You passed a tattoo parlor on your right and some store called The Love Shack on your left as you left town.

The Old Highway was desolate with mostly bushes, but some trees, sand, rock, and power lines on the sides. Though there were a few buildings too. You met a motorcycle going in the other direction and some guy that seemed to have been camping under one of the trees just three or so yards from the side of the road. And later you passed two parked RVs on your right. And after that, the opposing traffic increased slightly. And land was for sale to your left.

In the next community, you drove past Manzanita Diner. There even was a police SUV in the very next intersection. Exactly where you needed to turn! And you traveled on California State Route 94, with grass and trees on the sides of the road, for about 2,000 feet before you returned to the Kumeyaay Highway where traffic picked up even more.

And then there were billboards for the Golden Acorn Casino, which was located next to the Golden Acorn Campsite on the Indian Reservation. Later, you entered Cleveland National Forest. Not that it looked anything like a forest at this point. It was rather more of the same.

Laguna Mountain Recreational Area was then pointed out as the next exit. Apparently they didn't have a casino to overshadow them.

And finally, there started being trees on the side of the road again, not that they lasted. And they passed another 6x6 pickup on the side of the road.

There started being buildings near the highway again as they entered Alpine. And later the highway got wider. And in La Mesa they turned onto California State Route 125 heading south. And it turned into 94, the Martin Luther King Jr Freeway in Lemon Grove. And then into F street in East Village, San Diego. You turned left on Sixth Avenue, the border between the East Village and the Gaslamp Quarter. You drove a couple of blocks more before you stopped at the club. It was almost noon.

The Arcane Lux, THE club of the rich and famous in San Diego. It had been for years. It was a four-story luxury building with a turn of the century architecture that placed it on top ten lists of the most beautiful buildings in San Diego.
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:28, Sat 02 Nov 2019.

Dean slouched motionless in the backseat of the truck, his bulk swaying slightly this way or that as Abe guided the vehicle through the rare turns that inevitably met them on their sojourn to some kind of relative safety, and some explanation as to what had occurred.

Did he dream? Or was he was all their purposes dead? If he did yet dream was it of family and the comforts of home? or nightmares about being disemboweled or burned alive? His face did not give so much as a hint, expressionless and cold.

"De La Vega owns this place," Sparrow said. With a swift movement of her left hand, flashes of heatless fire appeared suspended above her palm. The flashes soon coalesced into a gold coin, as if taken out of a John Wick movie. But thicker, older, and more intricate.

"This is for you," she said and reached back to give the coin to Tom. "If you want me, hold this coin, and call for me." And when he had taken it, she continued.

"Do either of you have a cell phone I can borrow?"

During the drive, Tom split his attention between checking on Jack and Dean and watching the scenery outside the window. Pretty countryside. Tom found himself wanting to take a hike through the scrub grass and the rest of the vegetation, maybe backpack out there for a week or two. Maybe he could get his head on straight after the weirdness that was today.

It would be good to see his parents when he arrived in San Diego. He knew he couldn't see them right away--they needed to see to Dean and Jack first--but right now, Tom needed some normalcy.

Once they arrived at the Arcane Lux, Tom looked up at the hotel. He had driven by here before, but he had never gone inside. So this is where the vampire king of the city hung out? In spite of himself, he shivers a bit. He wasn't looking forward to meeting more vampires, not after their attack on the Jade Dragon. How were they going to get two unconscious vampires inside? He looked around for an awning or an underground parking garage.

When Sparrow asked for a phone, Tom pulled his out and passed it to the beautiful woman.

"Why did the vampires attack those werewolves, anyway?" he asked. "It seemed absolutely mental."
This message was last edited by the player at 18:04, Sat 02 Nov 2019.

"Vampires don't like werewolves," Sparrow said as she accepted Tom's offered phone. "And that was some sort of secret high-level meeting. So De La Vega sent a high powered strike team to take them out."

As she completed her explanation, Tom bent over in the back seat with an expression of pain.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:08, Sat 02 Nov 2019.

Abe listened to Tom and Sparrow as he pulled his own phone out to call Carson.  Then he realized that there were still a pair of near-corpses in the back seat, along with bloody clothing hidden in packs.   Instead, he asked Sparrow, "So, do you know who Carson is?". In the darkest recesses of his heart, he kind of hoped Carson was part of the elite strike force that no longer existed, so that the car might need to be driven back across country some time.

"He's one of the Baron's men," Sparrow said with a surprised face. "How do you know that name?"

Abe smirked.  "Maybe I am just really well connected...  Or maybe I am due to deliver the truck to him in three days.". He said,his tone making it rather clear which was true.

"So that's why this car has tinted windows good enough to protect a vampire," Sparrow said.

"I had no idea when we got them into the truck and they didn't burn, but when you put in the address I was supposed to bring the truck to in the GPS as our destination, I started wondering."  He looked around and decided to go ahead with letting Carson know they were there.  "Should I ask him for help with the guys in the back seat?"

He sent a text to his number: This is Abe Griffith, delivering your truck a few days early if you'd like it now.  Am at Arcane Lux with Sparrow.  Need discretion and help regarding 2 passengers who are like you.



OOC: If Sparrow advised against asking for help with the 2 vampires, extra crispy, Abe leaves off the last sentence of the text.

Tom slipped the golden coin Sparrow had given him into his pocket. He pointed at the underground garage. ”Abe, maybe pull in there? Then we don’t have to expose Dean and Jack to the sun again.” How easily Tom said this. He was certain he was going mad.

And then a wave of pain hit him, and he nearly doubled over in the back of the truck. ”Somebody else,” he gasped out. ”Not cold, not laughter - just a lot of pain!”

Abe drove the truck where Tom had directed, having missed the underground entrance himself.

"You can ask him for help," Sparrow said. And Abe sent a text.

Tom pointed them to an entrance for an underground garage before he doubled over in pain. Sparrow turned around as much as she could and looked back at him.

"Are you okay," she asked, realizing just how stupid the question was as soon as it had passed her lips.

Abe drove the car there and stopped at the closed entrance. There is a canopy over the entrance so you are in complete shadow. 15 minutes later a man in his 40s stepped out of a door from the underground garage. He was dressed in a black suit with a black tie, black shoes, and black sunglasses. Only his shirt was white. His face and hands were tanned, his dark hair short. He seems to be a little shorter than the shortest of you and might be a little heavier than the lightest of you.

He knocked on the driver window.


* If neither door nor window is opened for some time:

He knocks on the window again.

* If the window is opened:

He looked inside at all of you and exchanged greetings with Sparrow.

"I'm Carson," he said looking at Abe. "You're early, which is good. You're not alone, which is bad. And you seem to know Sparrow. Which is mysterious. And your passengers don't seem to be like me."


* If the door is opened:

He exchanges greetings with Abe. Looks inside. Exchanges greetings with Sparrow.

"You're early, which is good. You're not alone, which is bad. And you seem to know Sparrow. Which is mysterious. And your passengers don't seem to be like me."

* Followed in both cases by:

Sparrow made the victory sign with her right hand, making sure Carson saw her signal.

"Ah, right this way."

He went back inside and soon the garage door opened.



[OOC Just to be perfectly clear, the man is wearing a tie, not a bowtie commonly worn with the semi-formal dress code called black tie.]