Rhiannon felt unwell as she retired for the night before five pm.  She found herself tossing and turning and a roiling and rolling in her tummy that could have been anything from hunger to the beginnings of a panic attack to pre menstrual tension.  But dear reader, we know it's none of those things.

Where are you at around seven fifteen PM on the night of the full moon?

Elissa was in the queue for the movie 'I spit on your Grave'.

Ann said good evening to Mr. Arjuna, glad to have finished work for another weekend, and looking forward to a night out with her friends. No patrolling tonight - it was an Ann evening, not a slayer evening.

She made her way home, for dinner, a bath, and a change of clothes. As she walked, she noticed the full moon hanging over the houses ahead of her.

A stag sniffed the air in a forest somewhere across the border into the Faewilds.  There was the scent of wolf on the air, and the echoes of howls uncried but Herne was concerned with something else right now.

A horseman rode south southwest toward London, breathing heavily as he summoned the hounds from all directions.  Tonight, Herne hoped to catch Joe the Goblin and his human sidekick unawares in the aftermath of the Molesters' gig at the Marquee Club.

Percival would have broken into the records room of the Registrar's Office to hunt for any hints as to the identity of the Changeling that he is currently hunting.

With the sun going down, Goffery would head out of the hiding places he had to go defend people from any full moon dangers, or watch after assets that are important for the watchers that could be in danger.

Sir John sits at his desk in Emmanuel College, loading his shotgun with rock salt and placing silver knives around his person as well as silver bullets in his great grandfather's Remington two shot.  One can not be too careful on the night of the full moon.

As the sun is setting, Renee is returning to her room after visiting some of the local bookstores to gather some reading material on an unexplored topic.

Percival, which Registrar's office will you break into, Downing, Emmanuel or somewhere else.  Either way, roll crime + dex

Renee, you get some of the following books:

1)  The Unknown Guest - Maurice Maeterlinck, Methuen, London 1914
2)  Extra Sensory Powers - Alfred Douglas, Victor Gollancz, London 1976
3)  Unbidden Ghosts - William Oliver Stevens, George Allen and Unwin, London 1951
4)  Intrusions - J W Dunne, Faber and Faber, London 1955
5)  Your Mesmeric Forces - Frank H Randall, L N Fowler, London 1901
6)  The Arcana of Spiritualism - The Two Worlds Publishing Company Limited, Manchester 1921

Inoue is in her room at the YMCA, performing divinations. The full moon is a busy time for all manner of supernatural nasties, and with the dream she had her first night in Cambridge she fully expects werewolves to be a prominent issue. She does not want to sell the Slayer short but she suspects even Ann won't be able to respond to everything. Plus, there was all that she had learned from Herne the Huntress...

---

Spoiler for Nuts 'n' Bolts: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)

11:31, Today: Inoue Miko rolled 13 using 1d10+4+3.  Divinations~!

---

Surprisingly, Inoue divines that Herne the Hunter is not currently in Cambridge.  Likewise the Wild Hunt, usually at its strongest around the full moon is somewhere close to London.

In reply to Alcuin (msg # 9):

Downing first.

OOC Mechanics
13:47, Today: Percival Galois rolled 10 using 1d10+4. Crime.

You get the feeling that your attempt to pick the lock will be successful but you're likely to trigger an alarm if you're not very careful.

OOC Mechanics
20:05, Today: Percival Galois rolled 12,90 using 1d10+4,1d100.  CRIME!!!
20:04, Today: Percival Galois rolled 5,75 using 1d10+4,1d100.  CRIME!!!

Percival, you have broken into the Registrar's office at Downing College but the alarm has gone off. The security bot will be here in three minutes. What do you do?

Inoue frowns at her cards and visions. Surely that can't be right... no. It was a vision from the beyond. It had to be. She swallows the burgeoning concern welling up in her chest and dresses with as much urgency as she can muster without panicking. She quickly sketches the woman from her vision and then rushes to meet Ann. This seemed like Slayer-level, capital-B Badness. She would know what to do. Inoue hopes.

Inoue, Ann's is walking home from Arjuna Groceries and General Store on Mill Road, where she walks.  It's around five to ten minutes' walk and she's likely to be there by about seven thirty.  You can get there by seven forty-five or you could phone her either from the payphone in the foyer of the YMCA, or the other payphone in front of the Leisure Centre where the Karate classes for non University Students are held.  It's 1978 so her number is almost certainly in the book.

Will she/could she walk past the cinema?

Not by chance but if she chooses to then it will add about 45 minutes to her journey

In reply to Alcuin (msg # 20):



Then no, she's heading straight home.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:20, Mon 07 Mar 2022.

Inoue, being mildly technophobic, likely doesn't consciously realize phones are even an option. She jogs.

Alice was also at Emmanuel college... with Sir John, if he would see her.  Ann was off tonight, so it made sense to talk to her own mentor.  She eyes the weapons laid around him.

"Are we expecting trouble tonight, sir?  I'm aware of the moon phase, but no intelligence relating to any... attacks."

In reply to Alice Casey (msg # 23):

"I am certainly not expecting any specific trouble, Alice but it is, after all the night of the full moon.  It's the night when werewolves, fey and lunatics are all worse than usual."  Sir John was calm but his shotgun was beside him and his knives were either on his person or  within easy reach.

"I suppose it behooves me to be as ready as you.  One moment, please."

Alice went to retrieve her fencing blade and a scabbard.  She also did a check of the immediate area to ensure privacy, before returning to her mentor.

"While we wait Sir John, you'll be pleased to know that Ann has fought vampires on two occasions now.  She barely needs any prompting to continue her hunts, at this stage.  However she has encountered a fae and perhaps we should discuss 'that'.  We don't want to provoke a war when vampires still remain in the area, yet she cannot be expected to turn a blind eye to misbehavior.  What is your counsel on how to handle potential encounters and confrontations?"

She spoke with as much thoughtfulness and respect as she could muster.  Alice's bad feelings about the fae were temporarily suppressed, for now.

"I certainly would not expect any bad behaviour between Humans and Fae to go unremarked", said Sir John, "And any such activities should be reported, especially within the University bubble. Of course, we are most definitely not the lead when dealing with Fae and we would need to involve the proper authorities, including both the Roman Catholic Church and the Great Coven."

As Sir John was speaking, Alice could hear the telephone ringing in her own rooms.

Alice nodded with a smile, glad that Sir John had her back.  So many other Watchers would look the other way in regards to Fae shenanigans.

“Of course.  I think that’s my telephone so excuse me…”

She ran to her room, unlocking the door quickly, in an attempt to take the call…

Ooc: responding in link to a message in this game

Elissa left the movie cinema feeling a little bleh... It had been terrible and she'd walked out. The last time that had happened ... no she couldn't remember. It was a truely terrible terrible movie. And she wasted her ticket on it

She was tempted to take it out on the ticket teller, but he was just a guy doing a job...

Sighing she left. If only she could find someone to chat with, or dance with. Sonja maybe? Rhiannon maybe... it was a little sad the Welsh girl had just run away after a little making out. Elissa ate one of the last sad bits of popcorn wondering whether she should make an effort and go find if she'd been at the Hurricane recently.

The howling of wolves is coming from the South, maybe a little East of South, Parker's Piece maybe, or Fenners perhaps?

"Well hell" Elissa looked at the night sky with the red moon looking particularly ominous and moved to the nearest phone box. She started with Ann's number, but on finding that Ann wasn't there, dialed Alice

"Hi Alice. Elissa here" she started "Have you seen the moon? And heard the howling of wolves. I'm hearing them ... I'm not great at geography ... somewhere around Parker's Piece. Tell me I am not crazy and hearing things. And ... do you know where Ann is? She's not at her house."

Goffery watched and waited for the night to pass, the full moon always seemed to be used as a point of power or reference for ill omens.  As he no longer really slept, he had taken to standing as a statue out on Parker's Piece, watching over the iron wall to some degree, but also keeping an eye out for anything else dangerous that might threaten Cambridge and those that worked to protect it.

The Golem stayed motionless, watching the people outside dwindle down to just the hooligans that were too sloshed for sense, though his mostly featureless head did turn towards the sound of wolf howls.  That was something odd to hear, and bode poorly for the night passing safely.  For now, he waited til a clear and present danger presented itself, or Sir John or a proxy for him called upon him for aid.

Moving thread to Night of the Full Moon - Ann's House  link to a message in this game

Hearing the baying out of her opened window, Renee lifted her head from the tome she couldn't wait to read. She remembered long ago when she had heard similar sounds up at her families estate in Scotland. Back then her father assured her that the big bad wolf couldn't get her, that all of the wolves have died out long ago. That anything she might have heard was probably a lonely dog seeking attention. It was possible that he was right. Thinking back, she didn't know if he had heard the sounds as well or if he was merely comforting a scared child. Was that memory really one of her first episodes and was this another one?

Placing a ribbon in the tome to serve as a bookmark, Renee heads out to see if it was a lonely dog, an auditory hallucination, or something more profound and scary.

Renee emerges from her room just as Elissa, Ann and Inoue arrive at Alice's room which for reasons of politics as well as administration is next door to Alice's own.

Inoue politely waves to Renee as they pass in the hall!

Again the wolf howls and all the dogs in Cambridge seem to take up the cry.

"It is very noisy tonight!" Inoue comments unnecessarily. She directs her next sentence to Ann and Elissa but doesn't try to keep her voice down. "Is it like this every full moon or do you think they know something we don't?"

"It's just dogs."

She knocked on Alice's door.

"I don't think it will matter. As long as we stop the wolf, that is. Before anything happens."

"Hi" Elissa said to Renee in that abstract 'being polite to a stranger that you have not met, and will probably not meet again' way. She was hurting and it showed a little in the haunted look in her eyes, and the way she kept almost wincing every time she looked at the picture

She'd been about to answer Ann's questions but couldn't with strangers present who could get pulled into their world and hurt. She was though obviously reassured a little by Ann's response, and had flashed Inoue a rather battered 'thank you'. She'd not understood the Japanese but the meaning had been obvious

Not only dogs howl though, cats are singing to the full moon like demented violinists and the wolf howls more as if it were in pain than howling its pride and hunger at the moon.

"You don't... you don't need to wonder where Rhiannon might be" Elissa said sadly,  pain visible in her eyes. She was painting possible futures in her head and in none of them did it end well for Rhiannon. And in a lot of them it didn't end well for herself "Just listen. And ... do you think she is coming to find me. Either in anger or for other reasons. Because if she is... we should probably move out of her so that we don't break valuable things. We should hurry, because she doesn't sound far away"

"You think she's after you?"

A thousand questions ran through Ann's mind, but there was no time for that now. She thought of the girl they'd just passed. How many more innocent civilians might be hurt if the wolf stalked the corridors of the college. Not to mention the dogs. Or the cats.

"Let's get you out of here," she said, grabbing Elissa by the elbow. "Is there anywhere around here which would make a good spot to defend?"

Renee smiles pleasantly with the trio,  "Good evening to all of you. It is a bit busy out there. Lots of different sounding dogs " Taking a moment to evaluate each of them, she hesitates for a moment. "Are you three with me in attending Emmanuel?"

"Well she's coming closer...." Elissa observed. She suddenly realised that there was a civilian still with them. "Uh hi. No I'm studing Dance and Drama at the college. Yes you are right lots of dogs and cats making a noise." Shit! What did she do now! She didn't want to be rude to the pretty green eyed girl, but she also didn't want to be here when some sort of Wolf Woman turned up in case the pretty green eyed girl got turned into a dead pretty green eyed girl.

"We have to go. See you later." she was being dragged off by Ann, so that made it easy to decide what to do

The wolf's howl is coming from a different direction now, from Regent Street, perhaps, or Hills Road.

Before the Security bots arrive, Percival hears the howling of a wolf or wolves growing slowly but inexorably closer.

Ann replied to Renee. "I'm still at school, but we're here to visit Miss Casey. I don't suppose you know where she is, do you?"

She snapped her head around when she heard the wolf's latest howl. If it was changing direction that quickly, it had to be close. Very close. Perhaps it was too late to run, and this stranger might well be caught up if they left her alone and unguarded.

"That howling is getting close, and it's scaring me. We couldn't take shelter in your room until it passes, could we?"
This message was last edited by the player at 15:27, Sun 03 Apr 2022.

"It's coming from the South... we came from the North" Elissa mussed aparantly at random. "But we were there earlier in the day. There might be more than one. I think I am going to talk to Alice first." she knocked harder on the door

"Out of curiosity, you don't have a silver letter opener or some silver jewelry do you Renee. I was watching 'Curse of the Werewolf' a couple of weeks ago, and it's making me twitchy" secrecy be damned if there were multiple wolves coming, Elisa was going to deal with them. If Alice didn't have anything, maybe Renee did.

Renee nods as if she is accepting the explanation, though she does have an expression that is mildly still guarded. "I have not seen the Lecturer today. Other than in passing, I have most commonly found her looking through the stacks of the library. I am..." Mid sentence she flinches. Her head jerking down and to the right and her eyes shutting in a clench with her brow very furrowed. Recovering from the quick motion, the guarded expression becomes one of worry. "Sure that she..." She flinches down and to the left a second time. Her brow furrows again and her mouth turns into a grimace. When her eyes open, there is some confusion and worry present in them. "What was I saying. I am not sure if shelter is entirely warranted at the moment."

Turning to look at Elissa she asks, "Do you often ask individuals you have just met what valuables they might posess?"

"Got it" Elissa said suddenly "Those sounds they are really close to the Taboo, or Downing. I wonder if she's... that's where we met... Christ how many people are going to be in Taboo! Shit this could be a ..." she stopped they had an observer

"No actually, girl" she said to Renee "Only when I've seen too many horror movies. Sorry... I didn't mean to act weird, but I have to go... Ann, Inoue...silver if you can. Don't hang around.  See you at the Taboo..."

And then she was off down the corridor. At the sort of speed a normal person could run if they were sprinting, but she was obviously in a hurry. And heading for the Taboo.

Goffery had noticed the somewhat noisy group of girls as they made their way onto Emmanuel grounds past him on Parker's Piece and noticing the sounds of the lycanthropic threat as it grew closer.  He started to follow them as they made their way to the residence of Emmanuel, letting his vision flow through the spectrum his form allowed him.  Following them and keeping some distance as he did his duty of protecting those on these grounds.

However, when the rather loud one of the group turned and ran back, he had to come to a stop, the statue he played, was a bit more obvious in this location, but now he had to make a choice, stay with the rest of the group, or follow single runner.  For the moment he stayed stilled, watching to see if the others would follow their friend, or at least until their attention would be off his location and let him follow after without drawing attention.

"We're not trying to steal your silver. If I ever take up a life of crime, I won't target student digs. Posh houses have lots of silver.
 A stash of hash and a few LPs probably isn't going to be worth the effort."

She watched as Elissa headed out. She considered following her, but Ann knew the part-demon could look after herself in a fight. There were others here who needed the Slayer's protection.

"It's silly, I know, but my friend here watched The Beast Must Die on TV recently, and she's terrified of that howling. A little bit of silver will put her mind at rest that at least we can hurt it. If werewolves really existed, of course."

OK, that probably wasn't the best bluff ever, and a stranger was unlikely to hand over her silver to people heading out to a club. She gave another hopeful rap on Alice's door.

"Do you always get this howling around here?"

As Elissa runs down the stairs and out through the main gates, pausing only for the doddery old porter to unlock the door, dark having fallen now, she looks to the left to see... well that's not a wolf.  Elissa has seen wolves before and they're not that big, that big black wolf-shaped creature was almost the size of a bear and it was growling at someone or something down the road.

The statue watched from a short distance, the soul inside noticing that all four of them were not normal, as much as one found normal in Cambridge at this point.  Two girls lit hotter than the others, but there was magic surrounding the southeast asian girl, something that would be of concern and to keep an eye on.  The fourth was not something he had seen before and the proximity to the youthful watcher made for much more of a concern.

However, the howls were growing, and this building would provide a little more safety, and so with only the soft grind of stone the statue turned and made it's way to leave and follow after the aggressively azure agitator and follow her outside, to at least make sure she got out safely.  The gravely voice flowed from him as he talked to himself while no one was around. "I'm sure that it will be just a moment, she'll be getting on her way, and nothing will be the matter.  How much trouble could that girl be."  He said, really hoping that he didn't just jinx himself with that comment.

"I wasn't attempting to accuse you of anything. It was merely an odd question, especially for s... well nevermind." Her words are abruptly halted by personal choice as if there is a topic that she is trying to avoid speaking of. Her eyes watch Elissa as she heads out.

"I have never been a fan of the horror genre. Affecting the dreams and what one sees, no. I would prefer not too see anything more disturbing" Again her cadence is deliberate as if there is a facet that she is speaking around.

"The howling is new. I heard some howling back at home up north, but father assured me that there have been no Wolves on Stewart lands since James VI. I have to doubt that the City would be any worse off. "

Elissa had heard the expression 'heart in her mouth' but it was very rare that she felt it. She did now though. Was that really Rhiannon? The girl that she had kissed and danced with? Given what she had seen over the last couple of weeks... it was certainly possible...

But ... fuck ... what should she do now? One thing she couldn't do was let the werewolf go after whatever it was looking at... or was that whatever she was looking at. And if it was Rhiannon in there, then she had to help her.

"Rhiannon" she said cautiously "Is that you?" she was approaching it hands held in that 'I am not armed', and she had the tone of voice of 'I'm here to help'. "It's me, Elissa" It was hard. Hard to see anything other than 'thing' but she tried. Tried to visual that as the clever welsh girl in the bomber jacket. And every nerve on edge, she made herself get closer. It would have been so very much easier just to pull the cricket bat out out of her backpack and smack it on the head from surprise, but easier might get Rhiannon dead

The Porter of Downing College was cowering in his sentry box as the Gwyllgi, hackles raised and teeth bare growled at him.  He pressed a button and the howls of the Gwyllgi were joined by sirens and the rumbling and whirring of strange machinery.

When Elyssa called, the Gwyllgi backed away and looked toward her.  It does not approach but merely stands on all fours, looking with that expression canids get when faced with a 'so what's this' moment.  The howling stops but the sirens and machinery do not.

If the creature had attacked, Elissa would have known what to do. This just made it more scary. There was no flash of intellect in those eyes, Elissa couldn't see Rhiannon in them .. not yet.

That whirring noise... that was scary too. Little feelings of panic ran through Elissa. That was the sound of something coming to 'deal' with the situation. And 'dealing' might mean killing... And then the pretty welsh girl would be dead on the floor here...

"Rhiannon" she repeated the name, hoping that it would get through to the beast "Look at me. Listen to me. Let's go somewhere quiet Rhiannon. Let's go to the park" Parker's Piece was just a short distance away, and perhaps the whirring noise wouldn't follow them. She kept repeating Rhiannon's name... maybe that would help ...  as she tried to encourage it to follow her to the park. She wasn't sure what she was more scared of: the whirring noise, having to deal with an attack from Rhiannon, or Rhiannon actually following her... because what the hell would she do then?
This message was last edited by the player at 06:47, Tue 05 Apr 2022.

Finally Alice’s door opened.  She’d been sewing together some cloth bags filled with wolfs bane, complete with string hooks.

“Ahh girls, good evening.  And Miss Stewart… hello to you as well.  Pardon my charges here, they get a little excited when we go on an outing.  Girls, let’s move to the library.”

Alice wanted some privacy in which to hear about their news… and to bring in Sir John, if required.

Goffery made it outside just in time to hear the alarm go up, a small curse being uttered as he made his way onto the street ignoring efforts to hide himself from normal people.  Looking down the street the sight was not what he was expecting but little was nowadays. The blue haired woman from before was approaching a large dark wolf like creature as if trying to calm down a pet, calling out a name he didn't recognize.  This looked to only be able to end in tears.

One stone foot in front of the other as he walked slow and purposefully towards Elissa and the wolf, hoping there wasn't a pack out tonight.  He was stone, meaning he needed to get between any humans and the wolf.  If Sir John was here, or any other Watcher, he would probably been ordered to attack the creature, a monster to eliminate.  But he was alone and the woman was trying to sooth the beast, that was one of the dumbest things he could think to do.  Though he had a track record of dumber, so he could not bring himself to ignore the humanity being offered, instead approaching so that when things went wrong, he could intercept the creature and spare the woman from her own compassion.

The Gwyllgi lowers its head and whines as it faces Elissa, looking up at her.  It moves toward her slowly and sniffs before turning around and loping off about 20 yards, stopping and looking back to see whether or not the human is following.

"Let's go for a run Rhiannon" Elissa said not entirely sure how this was going to work out. Still they were leaving this area, where there were whirring noises, and strangeness. She had absolutely no idea what was going on: 'Curse of the Werewolf' was not exactly the more reliable source of information. She was happy to run after the wolf, still being aware that at any time the wolf might turn.

She hopped not. If it Rhiannon in there, there might be a chance to save her. Perhaps the Watchers knew some suitable magic...

Apparently satisfied that Elissa is following, the Gwyllgi lopes to the corner by the Church of St Mary and the English Martyrs until Elissa gets closer and then begins running Westward down Lensfield Road.  It seems obvious she's heading for Fen Causeway and the backs of the colleges, the biggest open space for a dog wolf Gwyllgi to go for a run.

You notice that the door behind the porter of Downing opens to reveal what appear to be honest to goodness Daleks

Like most people Elissa occasionally watched Dr Who. She kind of liked it, but when she was six her parents had found her hiding behind the couch hugging a cushion watching the Daleks. Every since then she'd worked hard to overcome that irrational fear: she occasionally bought the Dalek annuals at fairs, or in junk shops, and could utter 'EXTERMINATE' with the best of them. She'd even been to the Dr Who exhibition at Blackpool tower and had a polaroid of her hugging one

When she saw them there was just a hint of that childhood fear, almost instantly covered over with 'just a man in a tin can right'. Sure...

Fortunately she was already running with Rhiannon. So she didn't need to worry. Beside everyone knew if you were chased by a Dalek you just had to run up stairs. It's not like they could fly or anything

Thrusting the Daleks to one side she started to run with Rhiannon. This was so much better than what she'd expected. If 'Rhiannon/Wolf' wanted to just run and play that was fine. She was hopeful that come the dawn it would be 'Rhiannon/welsh girl' again, and then they could talk, but for now she was just going to take it one minute at a time. "Let's go Rhiannon" it was important to keep saying the name, she felt. Perhaps it was working, perhaps not, but it had so far.
This message was last edited by the player at 07:53, Thu 07 Apr 2022.

Renee smiles to Alice, "Miss Casey, good evening to you." Her eyes carefully look over the remaining trio there is a reasonable level of suspicion in her eyes. "Things surely are interesting this evening."

"Good evening, Miss Casey," said Ann with a smile. "Elissa was here, but she left for the Taboo. She thought that her, um, missing dog might be around there, and she might bite someone. We were just saying how scary that howling is, and suggesting that your neighbour stay indoors until it has passed. Plus it's a full moon tonight, so who knows what lunatics there will be out."

"If you want to go to the library, perhaps you should lead the way. I get lost every time I come to this college."

The alarm goes silent in Downing College.  Not only the one at the door but the one in the Registry as well.  After some waiting, there appears to be no more sign of Daleks.

"It sounds like things are quieting down out there.  Have a good night, Renee... we should have lunch together sometime."

Nodding a polite farewell to Renee, Alice led the way to the library.  Only when they had some privacy did she address the girls.

"Missing dog... that was some good improvisation, Ann.  Inoue, its a pleasure to meet you... properly.  I recognize you from the Fencing Club.  If Sir John is still around, I should probably introduce you both to him.  But I'm eager to hear about your discoveries... and this other woman who is in... danger?"

"Elissa knows the girl who is going to turn into a werewolf. She said her name was Rhiannon. Inoue can show you her portrait. But I don't get how we're supposed to deal with her. Even if we have silver weapons, I can't just kill her. And there's no way I can wrestle her all night to stop her from attacking other people. Have the Watchers worked out a way for dealing with werewolves in the past?"

Inoue's senses told her all sorts of interesting chaos was due to occur all around them and that literally no person she was going to meet from this point forward was going to be entirely normal, so she made a decision early on to keep her head down and avoid speaking or interjecting anything in response to anything not directly required by Ann or things affecting Ann. One benefit of being given a duty by an all-powerful benevolent goddess-figure was that one always knew what their highest priority is. So when Elissa ran off to deal with the werewolf whose name she apparently knows, or when Renee is being obviously evasive, Inoue did not stress all that much.

Inoue bows politely to Alice when they meet. She looks... vaguely familiar. Fencing club? Ah, that would explain it! "It is a pleasure to meet you formally," Inoue greets the Watcher, although leaving off any form of title that might indicate her Watcher-ness to the watching eyes of Renee who might then decide to watch the Watcher. "Miss Winters holds you in very high regard, as I am sure I will too!"

She offers Alice her charcoal portrait of the woman who is surely a werewolf by now. She has little else to add to Ann's report.

Go they do the two of them, Elissa and Rhiannon.  Beneath the light of the rising moon, slowly fading from red to pink, to yellow to a blinding white, they run out past Fen Causeway and over the drainage ditch into green fields with hysterically bleating animals in them.

From somewhere far, far to the South the sound of a horn is heard by everyone in Cambridge.

Somewhat to her suprise the immediate terror had faded. This was great. She loved running, loved the being physical. For so long she'd been unable to do her best: having to hide it, and now she didn't need to. This was glorious! At least it was until she heard the horn

The horn... that was scary. That... given all the wierd shit that had been happening recently was probably something crazy. Like a Faerie hunting party out under the full moon. And given her luck, she and Rhiannon were either going to be hunters or hunted.

Elissa pondered her options. Sodium lighting... that might keep the fey out. The Iron Ward.... She knew they had just left the Iron Ward. And she could see the glow of the street lights in some suburb just hundreds of yards away. Perhaps now was the time to turn back just a little bit.

"Let's get that, Rhiannon" Elissa said pointing at a cow in a field back inside the Iron Ward and not at all far from the sodium lights. If that horn was for thenthem and it was the Fey, then she would be ten times happier. "Come on girl, let's hunt!" it was getting easier and easier to think of this as Rhiannon instead of 'the beast'. She knew this was probably a crime ... Mind you 'inciting a werewolf to kill a cow' probably wasn't on the statue books anymore. And if she could keep Rhiannon alive, and from killing anyway, then she could live with the death of a cow.
This message was last edited by the player at 12:21, Mon 11 Apr 2022.

Watching slowly as the girl managed to get the hound to heel, then run off together, he calmed down a bit, no longer needing to present himself for defense, he pulled back off to watch over Cambridge and Parker's Piece.

Though the alarm blared and his first comment was, "Where's Cival when you need someone to distract a threat."  But the alarms were silenced again quickly meaning that what ever was going on, was not being held as too big a threat.

So he stood, a statue waiting, and then the horn blew, and that was not going to make his night any easier.  If he could sleep or rest, he would seek to do such after this night, instead, he only planned for the next bit of translation work he would need to do when finally he had time to waste.

"Sir John?  I have some visitors you might like to meet..."

Alice ushered the girls into the library and (after making sure there were no bystanders), she moved to make introductions.

In reply to Alice Casey (msg # 74):

Sir John beams as Alice brings the two women into the library.  "Good evening", he says as he tries to work out which one is the Slayer.  He guesses it's Ann, which means the other girl is?  He stretches out a hand, "Sir John Hobbes, Master of Emmanuel.  Welcome to my humble domain."

He nods to Alice and asks, "What can I do for you Mesdammes?"

“Sir John, this is my protege Ann… and Inoue.  We came together this night due to some developments…. A werewolf woman pictured here and something about a unique moon phase, so I’m told.”

Alice indicated that Ann was the Slayer by dint of introduction.  She did however leave Inoue to make her own greeting, including which group she represented.  The girls could also expand on tonight’s developments.

Sir John nods.  "Of course, tonight there will be a Lunar Eclipse so I imagine that magically it will be as if Fenris Wolf had eaten the moon and then regurgitated it when the eclipse is over."

Elissa and Rhiannon chased a cow towards the Iron Ward, and across it. Elissa couldn't help but wince as she saw Rhiannon brutally kill it, but she reassured herself that this was a lot better than many of the possible alternatives. Hopefully her worries about the horn were just paranoia, and the Rhiannon would sleep after eating. Hopefully...

Rhiannon padded over to Elissa with a huge chunk of dripping, bloody meat in he jaws and dropped it at her feet.  Resting her blood soaked muzzle against Elissa's leg.

Elissa was strangely touched by the gesture. She squatted down and fussed the giant creature that had perhaps been Rhiannon "Thank you, girl" she said. It wasn't the first time she'd eaten something raw... she didn't particularly like it but she wasn't an actress for nothing, and she ripped a little bit of the meat off to eat it: a gesture back to Rhiannon that she liked the gift

"Do you want to sleep, girl?" she asked quietly while fussing... like she would have a large dog "A nice run, a fully tummy. Shall I tell you a story while we settle down?" she didn't think Rhiannon could understand her, but she was sure the tone of the voice would help "Let me tell you the tale of 'Alls well that Ends Well'. It's by a famous man called Shakespeare and it starts ..." She spoke quietly, monologing through the story, hoping the quiet words would help sooth the dog to sleep in the same way that she would read a story to children when she 'baby sat' them

The horn sounded again and this time Rhiannon's ears pricked up.  She sniffed the wind and stood up, ackles rising as she gazed to the south. A low and loud growl came from the very depths of her.

"So this Fenris is going to puke up the Moon? If that's not literal, though Inoue seemed to think it was. But I guess my question is: what do I fight and how? I don't want to kill an innocent girl just because she's got a bit hairy of late. Should I go after her? Or someone else? And how do I fight werewolves?"

She looked towards the door.

"Maybe I should just go out on patrol. A straight vampire fight would at least let me do what I know how to do."

"I know" Elissa said sadly her hand on Rhiannon's neck fussing her a little. "I hear them too, girl. Shall we move away from them. I hope they can't follow us deeper. What do you say, shall we go for a little run. Come on Rhiannon. There's a nice little place over there" she gestured at a wall of trees that she could see from the field they were in

"Shall we go over there? Come on Rhiannon... let's move over here"

Elissa only spoke and used gestures: the tone of her voice projecting safety, and caring. The touch on the back of Rhiannon's neck gently fussing: reminding Rhiannon she was here, and not coercing in any way

For the benefit of others: We are about here https://goo.gl/maps/Cfbq3ncPay5AJU7fA but it's all fields in 1978, and the place behind the trees is the Corpus Christi College Sports Grounds

Rhiannon is reluctance personified at first and stands, growling at the hunters who seem to be on their way.  Eventually though, she relents and follows on after the blue haired humanoid.

"Good girl" Elissa said trying to keep happiness in her voice. She picked up a haunch of the cow as they went. It was hard to be happy: she had a bad feeling those hunters were coming this way. Whether to collect Rhiannon as a hunting dog, or to hunt her, she didn't know. Either was going to be horrible, and she just hoped the Iron Ward would work as well as she hoped.

Even with her worry though, she couldn't help but feel that this was going much better than she'd expected when she'd confronted Rhiannon outside the college. She'd been afraid that people were going to die: either victims, or Rhiannon or maybe even herself if Rhiannon had turned violent. But Rhiannon had eaten, they were much deeper in the Iron Ward than before

She handed the cow leg to Rhiannon "Here you are Rhiannon, Try this. Let's not worry about those out there" Mostly it was tone rather than the words. She just wanted as much calmness as possible. And a well fed werewolf was a much safer werewolf than a ravenous one

Rhiannon followed, eating whatever Elissa gave to her.  They, and everyone, heard the sound of the horn once more from far to the South.  It was closely followed by a bright light that filled the sky, looking like a sunrise if the sunrise was green and in the South rather than red and in the east.  This was followed about a minute later by a loud bang which seemed to go on for ages.

"Well crap" Elissa said hugging Rhinannon, She was trying to reassure herself as much as Rhiannon but it wasn't easy. She felt like a child in a thunderstorm who wanted to crawl under the bed or go see their mum. This was frankly terrifying, and now she was worrying a lot about the Iron Ward. Could the Iron Ward withstand that level of powers.

Was it a fucking nuke? She'd never heard of them being that colour, but what else could light the sky like that? Maybe something like the Nightingale's lightning?

"Girl, we're in this together" she whispered to Rhiannon "We'll get through it together. Stay with me girl, and we'll sort this out" she hoped
This message was last edited by the player at 00:03, Mon 18 Apr 2022.

The bright green light of the sky fades to an afterimage of red.  This also fades to black, except for the blood red moon, which is no longer as perfectly round as it was before.  It looks as though someone or something has taken a bite from it.

Ann looked about her in shock.

"Was that an earthquake? In Cambridge?"

She ran to the window and looked out.

"I thought it was a full moon tonight? And does the moon normally look like that when it's not full? I think your moon swallowing may have begun, Inoue. But what do we do about it? I can hardly go on patrol with the man in the moon. Maybe Inoue and I should look for naked humans who have de-transformed from werewolves."

She quickly added, blushing. "Not that I want to see them naked. It's just that that's how they'll be. Do you have any spare clothes we can take for them, Miss Casey?"

The bright flash, the color, the human instinct to drop and take cover started for the stone golem, though there was not much available to him.  The lack of eyelids, or eyes in the normal sense left him only able to shield his face as he tried to duck and cover for the potential fallout he did not know if he would suffer.  After a few moments though he looked around, standing up slowly, still alive as far as he could be.

However, he stopped his actions when his vision came down upon the Iron Ward, and then the stone form made a full sprint towards the Library, taking no efforts to be quiet or keep up any sense hiding his supernatural existence.  The sound of hundreds of pounds of stone running, striking the pavement, then stairs, and shortly the impact against the frame of the door was thunderous on its own.  The Crunching slamming thudding echoing into the building as only some mindfulness kept the door from being broken in or off its hinges.  Then the horrible sound the floor straining under the assault of heavy long strides as he golem rushed to the library.

Goffery paid little mind to who he might pass or what sort of damage to secrecy might have still existed as the over seven foot tall stone statue burst in on the Watchers and wards as he came rushing towards Sir John.  Slamming into a bookcase causing the wood to creak, splinters to shatter forth, and a number of books and tomes to clatter painfully onto the floor.  The Stone creature righted itself as it stepped towards Sir John, his right hand lifted towards him.

"It's.... It's Gone!  The Iron.... It's Gone!" Was all he could focus out as he approached Sir John, still unfocused on anyone else in the room, his hand and arm still extended towards the Master of Emmanuel.

Elissa vaguely remembered that the news had said there would be an Eclipse, but she doubted very much if this was just 'the Lunar Eclipse'. This was a Fey thing. A Fey Moon Thing. Some ritual timed to coincide with the Lunar Eclipse. And it looked to have suceeded.

"Girl we've got problems" she said to Rhiannon "The Fey just shattered the wards around us. We aren't inside them now. And fuck me if they aren't doing some serious moon magic. And you are a moon creature aren't you? Werewolves change with the moon... so ... " she continued to fuss Rhiannon talking aloud to help get her thoughts clear "So... it's probably not about you. Unless they need a moon creature to finish the magic. Ok Girl. We have a plan. Let's go for a run. We passed a lovely little church on the way here. All in sodium lighting and everything. And it had nice iron fences. God knows... heh ... if it will do any good."

"Gosh I wish Ann was here. Or Inoue. Or Alice. Or better still all three. But we have to deal the hand we are dealt. Let's go for a run girl."

With that she set off. Craziness was happening, but that was going to be to her benefit. The police were going to be investigating that thing to the south. The phone lines would be crazy. Lunatics (sic) would be everywhere. She just had to get to the church and they'd see what happened then.


Heading for
https://goo.gl/maps/EA12bhBUag6yCkUm8
This message was last edited by the player at 12:46, Tue 19 Apr 2022.

Rhiannon howled at the moon as if bidding it to stop hiding in that semicircular darkness, then she turned and ran with Elissa.

In reply to Goffery Lemnin (msg # 90):

Sir John turned in Goffery's directions, "What's gone Goffery... oh..." he blanched pale as marble.  "That's never happened before.  Okay, let's go." Pausing only to load his shotgun with rock salt and replace his swordstick with a silver claymore, he began running toward the Reality Checkpoint.  "Come on", he said, maybe to Goffery but as much to anyone, literally anyone he encountered.

Having fully ignored the warning of the strange trio visiting her neighbor, Renee headed outdoors. Curious and willing to for the first time to explore the visions and flashes that had haunted her ever since she could remember. Feeling the surge and the accompanying images. She collapses to the ground then slowly pushes herself up and continuing forward to see the source. Trying to trust her instincts.

Renee's instincts are trying to split her in two.

Running was the best way to avoid worry. Elissa felt as though she was 'running towards' something rather than 'running away'. She'd got a plan, it seemed a good plan. And ... she liked running...

Having Rhiannon actually made that feeling better. No dog could keep up with her, not unless it was really cold. The werewolf though seemed to like the running as much as Elissa did. Well until suddenly... without warning...

Elissa stopped horrified "Rhiannon. Girl. What the fuck..." she breathed as she saw the wolf next to her suddenly stop and cry out in agonising pain. She could hear bones crack, hear Rhiannon's pitious cries as the now half wolf, half woman collapsed on the floor... still morphing "Oh hell girl" Elissa came up to her to hold her. "Rhiannon it is you..." She'd not had much doubt, but now none

They were only a street away from the church, and Elissa could see windows start to twitch as people looked out. "Not good. Not good." The holding turned into a princess carry as the worst of the spasms seemed to be over "Hold tight girl." she whispered and broke into a jog again: Rhiannon's weight not even slowing her down a little.

Fortunately the streets were narrow and winding here, so she didn't feel too worried when she hopped over the fence into the graveyard carrying the crying and naked Rhiannon

"Shit girl you must be terrified" Elissa said "It's ok. Wait..." she opened her bag, the sports bag she'd been lugging around town with her 'patrolling gear in it'. "Here" she wrapped Rhiannon in a towel, and held her... comforting her as much as she could until she felt sentience return

Julie was jolted awake, still hearing the echoes of the explosion, and found herself in darkness.

What the...?!

Getting up, she walked over to the window, and looked around for some sign of an explosion. Then her gaze drifted up to the moon. Even to her blurred vision, it looked like it had a bite taken out of it.

She shook herself. It must be a trick of the light, something obstructing her view. She put on her hated glasses, and confirmed her first impression.

Julie sighed. The adrenaline from being jolted awake made sleep impossible, even if her curiosity would allow it. She quickly pulled on some clothes, tucked her glasses into her jacket pocket, and wandered outside.

Julie's not the only one coming out tonight.  Some are already out, trying to catch a glimpse of tonight's lunar eclipse. Others are on their way home from one or other of Cambridge's 153 pubs. Yet others, like Julie, awoke to adrenalin pumping with a wtf on their lips and an omg in their hearts.

This is Paris 1968 all over again and in a completely unBritish manner, strangers are talking to one another.

"Did you see what happened?"
"Was it an Earthquake?"
"Might have been an atomic bomb."
"There was a wolf howling earlier, set my dogs off something rotten.
What the...?"
"I think somebody put LSD in me Bovril."

Renee grits her teeth as she swivels from south to north and then back again. Being pulled in two directions simultaneously is uncomfortable. This attempt to explore this side of herself and not be home, in bed, self-medicating is going as well as she had thought. Between the two sources, one was walking distance the other less so. She begins to travel north letting the sensation of a dying divinity become a beacon behind her.

As Renee moves Northwards, the sense of a dying divinity fades.  No that's not right. It's still there but somehow her power accepts that the choice is made.  Besides the naked girl is hurting and she's scared and she's closer and closer.

Up above, it is clear, even to those not expecting it that the full moon is being eclipsed by Earth's shadow and soon the eclipse will be total.

For Renee, time seems to slow as she steps between quanta of time, she is moving faster and faster but not feeling the burn of a sprint, more the pleasant ache of a long walk.  The sensation is over quickly enough and there is the girl along with the blue haired girl she met earlier.

"Shit" Elissa said as she Renee approaching. She was smeared in blood, Rhiannon was absolutely covered in it. A towel was wrapped around Rhiannon and Elissa was doing that rocking 'it's going to be alright' that you would do to someone in extreme pain. A person finding them was the last thing Rhiannon needed

"Oh... You... How?" that didn't compute. What were the odds that Alice's neighbour was here "Are you a Watcher?" That would explain it. And be worrying because Elissa knew that the Watchers answer to most problems wasn't to 'watch' it, it was to 'arrange for the Slayer to kill it'. Another worrying possible answer was 'No I am a demonic spy that is placed to find things like this ' followed by RRAGH. Elissa was looking for some answer that was in the middle. Like maybe another Inoue?

The three of them were in a secluded ancient graveyard connected to a church that was certainly many hundreds of years old. Elissa and Rhiannon were using one of the raised gravestones as a seat

Rhiannon was sort of pulling herself together.  She was doing remarkably well considering she was barely eighteen years old and she had just experienced the agony of the change for the first time.  She looked around and asked Elissa, "Where is this place?"  Then she looked at Renee and said in a strong Welsh accent, "Do I know you, Bach?"

"And it is you as well you as well." She takes a moment to assess the pair and their questions. Her voice carries the slight markings of the North, her stance carries a history of tradition and status, and her eyes carry bewilderment, curiosity, and defiance  "How is a story that few might believe. I think you could call it being a watcher? Is that a thing? A technical scientific categorization?" Waving her hand as if to manually dismiss the thought. "That is not important right now. I don't think anyways."

Taking a brief moment to consider the fact that she had seen the wolfgirl before seeing the wolfgirl. She had to truly consider what was happening ten miles away that might give her a sensation of a dying god. "What do you need at the moment?"
This message was lightly edited by the GM at 14:34, Thu 21 Apr 2022.

Rhiannon shivers a little.  "My clothes would be nice, in the meantime, perhaps a cage if I'm going to turn into whatever I was again."

A lot happened... and all at once.  The moon, the failing wards, Goffery's entrance.  Alice took a moment to center herself.

"Ann, Inoue... take one of these, they are iron and will hurt fae.  Follow sir John."

Passing out the iron letter openers, Alice paused only to borrow a camera and collect her raincoat on the way out.  Safeguarding people and driving off nasties was of great importance... but so was documenting this lunar phenomenon.  As soon as she was outdoors, Alice began to take shots of the moon and other strangeness.

Once Alice steps out side, it becomes clearer that the phenomenon she sees is the early stages of a total lunar eclipse.  The moon is moving almost visibly into the Earth's penumbra.

"Ok summary time" Elissa said. They were in a hurry. They all had questions. They needed a plan. Elissa had been thinking about this since the big light to the south, so maybe her idea would work. Maybe not... she'd see

"Werewolves are real. Rhiannon is a werewolf. I've been lucky and managed to keep her from killing anyone. The blood is cow blood" she turned to Rhiannon who she was still holding  "Mostly because, girl, you are a nice person. And you recognised me even when wolfed out. Now that" Elissa pointed to the sky "That's a lunar eclipse. In a bit it won't be an eclipse any more and Rhiannon will rarrgh out again"

"To the south wierd shit is happening. My money is that the wierd shit is moon based. Rhiannon, girl, you are a moon creature. Even money the wierd shit is going to come here"

"This is a church. Place of sanctury. There's sodium lighting in the street and that keeps the Fey away. We're heading inside the church. I've got some clothes girl. They might not fit, but they might" Elissa reached into her bag and pulled out the black jogging clothes that she used when she wanted to 'be like a ninja' when patrolling. Clothes that wouldn't cause the police to give her any hassle"

"While you get dressed, darlin'. I'm going to open the door on the church. It's not a cage, but I don't know of any. It's probably got a crypt or a basement. Failing that it will have a vestry with stone walls and one door and we have a lot of heavy pews we can put on the door. And it's a church... that's going to help if whoever ... whatever ... did that shit down south comes a visiting"

Elissa headed to one of the side doors of the church, and with her back to the others did something to the door, before returning. "I could pick it with my teeth, the lock is that big. Come on girlz let's get inside. We can talk and chinwag and set up a cage when we're a lot safer, and lot more out of sight than here"
This message was last edited by the player at 19:09, Thu 21 Apr 2022.

The lock opens at Elissa's touch (unless she actually does try to pick it with her teeth).

Ann took the letter-opener, spinning it before putting it in her pocket. Guns might be problematic, but at least England had no laws against carrying knives.

"We're all yours, Sir John. Just tell us what needs to be done."

As Alice left the room, Ann called to her, "Shout if you get in trouble, Miss Casey. I'll come running."

Julie wandered along, admiring the eclipse now her half-asleep shock had worn off and she could see it for what it was.

Where had the explosion come from, though? No obvious signs of smoke or fire, no police cars playing "who's got the loudest siren?"

Wanting a clearer view, she headed in the direction of Parker's Piece.

"Well that is a succinct explanation and plan of action. Fortunate as I have no available cage and any clothes I could offer are around a mile away. I know she is a wolf in human facade or a human who wears a wolf skin at times. And that you are symbolically dangerous or prone to use firearms or something similar, your other friend is prone to use a museum piece, and your other other friend uses a broom in unconventional ways, and that:" She makes a gesture pointing to the south with a suggestion of a decent distance, "Feels like a being of intense power is dying. My mind likened it to a dying god, though as I say it, there does feel to be a bit of blasphemy in the phrase."

As Julie enters Parker's Piece around from the South East, Sir John along with Ann and Inoue, Alice and  Goffery enter from the South West around 450 metres away.  Everyone's attention is drawn to a huge tower of marble and glass which appears to have taken the place of the reality checkpoint.  Undisguised fairies are moving around the tower in some kind of disarray as if they were all in shock.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:16, Fri 22 Apr 2022.

Entranced, Ann moved towards the tower. Surely the authorities, hell, ordinary people, would notice this. This was no vampire attack that could be written off as a drunken stabing.

She looked at the fairies, silently thanking Alice for arming her against them.

"Excuse me, but do you know what this is?" she asked them. "Did you build it, or did something else?"

Julie entered Parker's Piece and froze in shock.

No way!

That tower hadn't been there yesterday!

Ever-curious, she began to walk towards it. Maybe she should put her glasses on to see it better, but she hated wearing them in public. Even in the middle of the night.

Elissa waited for Rhiannon to dress and lead the others inside the church before doing something to the lock again with her back to the others.

"We probably have a while. I wasn't really listening to the news, but the eclipse lasts for over an hour. I can't remember whether it's multiple hours" Elissa said. "Let's see..." she found the 'tea and coffee making area'. "My mum says a cup of tea helps in every situation. You must be feeling like crap Rhiannon" she put the kettle on and found some cups and saucers "Let's share what we know."

"Rhiannon... you just spend a little bit of time getting your shit together." Elissa patted a chair and brought her a glass of water while waiting for the kettle. She suspected Rhiannon's mouth tasted horrible. "Just know I'm here for you girl. I got you through the first part of the night. We can get through the second part. Then we'll work out what we are doing long term" she squeezed Rhiannon's shoulder gently then turned to look at Renee

"I don't recognise your symbols I'm afraid. I don't ever use guns for example. The other two you name... I couldn't tell you who was who from that. I don't think either use a broom, and I don't know anyone that regularly goes to a museum. I'm not being cagy or hiding... not a lot of point because you are a prophetess right? It's just that I probably don't know them well enough"

"I'm Elissa by the way. Elissa St Clair. I know Rhiannon from the Hurricane... a night club. It was one of the other two you met that knew she was going to change tonight: I don't know how. My total knowledge of wierd stuff is that I've killed a vampire, seen two and a half others, seen about three fairies."

"We all saw the nuke, or whatever it was. And heard the hunting horn. I'm worried about both of them. You are talking about 'dying divinities'. Do you know any more about it"

"This is not what was supposed to happen", says the Faerie Duchess of Cambridge in answer to Ann's question, "I think Joe destroyed the bubble and Christopher killed the Hunter." 

Without being too obvious about it, Alice captured the great tower on film.  Her research on the Fae had uncovered instances of illusions, mind alternations, and other 'tricks'... her photographic evidence might however last.  She just had to protect it.

To the stone man besides her, Alice spoke softly.

"We haven't been properly introduced.  I'm Sir John's understudy, Alice."

Understudy wasn't the most correct term, but it was the best she could think of in the moment.

Ann shook her head in confusion, but tried to probe for more information.

"Joe? Bubble? Christopher? Hunter? Who, or what, are those things? The only words I knew from what you said were 'and' and 'the', and even there I might have been mistaken. But if there's a danger to the city, maybe I can do something about it. It sounds like you'd like things set to rights, so could you explain it to me as though I have no idea what's going on. Because I don't."

The Duchess looks at Sir John, sighs and shakes her head.  "It is your job to educate the young, Sir John, not mine."  With that, she leads a horde of Faeries into the former bubble, clearly seeking someone or something.

Sir John translates.  "Bubble - the Reality Bubble placed around Cambridge University by Sir Isaac Newton and maintained by Masters of Trinity or Emmanuel ever since.  The Hunter is presumably Herne the Hunter, one of the oldest surviving native gods of the British Isles only Gog and Magog are older and possibly Dagon if he still survives.  Joe is Joe the Goblin and Christopher is Christopher Pressman, a changeling and the human he replaced eighteen years ago until two years ago when Christopher replaced him back."

"There's something out there killing gods? I suddenly feel as out of my depth as a toddler learning to swim in the mid-Atlantic. So are Joe and Christopher working together? And with or against the Fae? What can I or the Watchers do about this?"

"Oh they're definitely working together", says Sir John.  "That's the point.  Christopher escaped from Faerie and teamed up with Joe (who is even closer than a brother despite one being human and the other being a goblin).  It seems the pair are angry both with Faerie and with England and they have power unheard of.  That said, Christopher should not have been able to kill Herne the Hunter and Joe should not have been able to break the wall.  I don't know how they did it but one thing I know.  If Herne is dead, then the Sluagh are running wild and yes, we will be able to fight them but we also need to find Joe and make sure the Fae leave before we rebuild the wall."

"OK, so what's the first step? Track down Joe? I'm guessing I'd be about as useful at rebuilding the wall as I would be if it were made of bricks and mortar."

"I think you need to find your friend." says Sir John.  "The one with the blue hair.  She'll have a chance of finding him."  He turns to Inoue and asks, "Have you seen this young man we seek?"

Flinching at the term prophetess, Renee shakes her head. "I don't know if that is a reasonable term. I cannot say for certain that anything I see is accurate. If you do not use a gun, if one of your friends is not a wielder of crossbows, if the other is not an american stereotype of a witch, if there is not a statue walking around campus. The thing I have seen tonight is one for five, maybe two for six if my impressions of the big thing is accurate. A depth of feeling beyond the norm of life. Envisioning Pilate's wife's lamentation. The agony of a god's violent death." she sighs.  "As with the both of you, my experience is limited. Before tonight, I would've just dismissed them as I have for years as daydreams or hallucinations."

"I am Renee Stewart, pleased to meet you."

The stone golem followed after Sir John, moving close, though slowing to a stop as he could se how things had changed.  Watching and listening, if things weren't going so crazy he might be concerned about how little reaction there was to a living stone statue approaching Sir John and his wards.

Looking over the tower, watching the Fae and all the confusion happening when someone spoke to him, He took a moment to parse the information and while his head canted towards Alice a little, the lack of any real features made it hard to read where his focus was.

"Greetings Alice.  We've crossed paths before.  I'm whats left of Sir John's former understudy."  He said before a slight pause and then he followed with, "You have shown a rather worrying lack of paranoia especially when you should know the fae and other tricksters are near by.  The number of times you've past right by me without noticing..."  He trailed off for a moment.  Then there was an even longer pause before he said a little quieter, "And you are just a little pitchy when you sing and think no one is around to hear you." He said lifting his hand up with his thumb and index finger parted just a little bit to emphasize it was only a little bit.

He then heard Sir John mention the blue haired girl.  He stepped forwards to interject, "She ran off in that direction," He indicated where he saw her go, "With a rather puppy like large mystical canine." He said, trying to describe the scene from before, leaving out the situation of upsetting the robotic security.

"Thanks," said Ann upon hearing where Elissa had headed and taking a step in that direction. But she turned back rapidly.

"You're a statue. It's a statue," she pointed at it as though the others wouldn't have noticed. "Did the bubble bursting cause the statues to come to life? Do I need to patrol for the War Memorial coming to life and gunning down German tourists?"

Suddenly, vampires and stakes seemed so much easier. Like how earlier years at school felt hard at the time, but looking back seemed so easy to what Ann was studying now.

"Hi Renee. If it's any consolation girl, my number three hobby is martial arts" Elissa said "After dance and drama... I've never killed anyone though, although I put one person in hospital. But that was because of an accident not deliberate... I was distraught for months afterwards... Couldn't let people see that though. But it was scary."

"I did kill a vampire that was trying to eat some people, but that was after a Fairie blasted it with lighting. One of the people I know is a medium. Maybe that's your witch..." it was reaching a bit now, but Elissa was trying. "Never seen anyone with a crossbow .. not in Cambridge anyway .. but it would be useful. Vampires don't like sharp bits of wood. And .. er...  a statue walking? really? Gosh. Is that a symbol do you think? Or a robot? Or for real?" Renee could probably see that Elissa wasn't dismissing her, just out of her depth

"I wouldn't worry about labels. I'm not fond of them either. People stick a label on you and they think they know you. Most labels are hurtful. I didn't mean Prophetess that way though. I didn't understand a thing you said about one out of five though... sorry. It probably meant something to you though. I can't suggest...I don't know ... sheesh I am not much help here... I don't know if you should try and dismiss your dreams or engage with them. But I can put you in touch with someone that might help you"

Elissa made the cups of tea or coffee now the kettle had boiled. She prefered just water, but she felt her mother was right. There was a little ritual about it and the 'Rich Tea' biscuits on the saucers that reeked of normality. She dampened some kitchen roll and started cleaning Rhiannon's face. She couldn't imagine what the girl was going through. Something that made her own problems looked trivial

"Can you see if there is a crypt or a vestry, Renee?" she asked. "Try and do it without turning the lights on... If you wait a couple of minutes your eyes will adjust. If you are worried... don't go. I'll sort it out in a bit when Rhiannon is feeling better. A few minutes shouldn't make any difference with the Eclipse"
This message was last edited by the player at 07:51, Sat 23 Apr 2022.

The semi-featured face of the statue turned towards the young slayer and said, "I should think you'd be safe on that, unless you find a very determined Angela Lansbury at a memorial." He gave that a moment to register before saying, "You may call me Go Lem. I am in service of the watchers and specifically the Master of Emmanuel, Sir John."

"Oh, uh, nice to meet you, Mr. Lem. I didn't realise the Watchers had whatever-you-ares working for them. I'm Ann, by the way."

She held out her hand to shake his.

"I'm kind of in the service of Miss Casey, who works for Sir John. So I guess we're sort-of workmates then. Are you actual stone? That's got to come in handy when the stakes start flying."
This message was last edited by the player at 12:49, Sat 23 Apr 2022.

When Julie finally wrenched her gaze from the tower, she spotted another group further to the west. One of them looked... odd. She yielded to curiosity and put her glasses on.

A statue?!

She had to be dreaming. That explained everything. It was a particularly realistic dream, but that was much more believable than sudden towers or walking statues.

Julie headed towards the other group, determined to see where her dream led next.

“Goffrey?  You’ve… changed a lot from the young man I met.  We’re you at the funeral too?”

Alice had liked the young man and shed tears at his funeral.  A look of embarrassment formed on Alice’s Irish features.  Fortunately, Ann’s arrival helped to kill the awkwardness.

“Oh, Ann, he’s on our side… and without great magic, statues don’t randomly come to life.  I heard some of what sir John said and finding Elissa sounds like a good idea.”

Chuckling a bit under her breath, "Thank you for the attempt of consolation. It is kind and appreciated. Though I am still trying to decide if this, my attempt at engagement is pure delusion. My priest suggested it was not, but then again maybe that is part of things. But none of that is either of you two's problem. Let me go take a look to see what is around." She began to head to look for something that might contain the sometimes wolf.

Renee, please roll perception+notice

Elissa checked again to see if Rhiannon was alright. She wasn't talking much which was understandable, but hopefully she would be a better more 'together' soon. She'd finished cleaning Rhiannon's face and hands as well as she could. The rest would have to wait until the morning when they could get a shower.

Elissa sat back so as to avoid crowding Rhiannon, and carried on the conversation with Renee

"You aren't delusional, girl. I think it's just going to take some time for you to work out what the visions mean. And... shit... I'm not sure how to explain this. See... I thought you were a Watcher, Renee" Elissa said "But from what you said, you've not met that group. I'd like tell you about them... but it's not really my secret. There are people that oppose vampires, evil witches, malific Fae. I'm like a sidekick to one of them. If you want I can help you get in touch."

"I don't like them as an organisation by the way. The Watcher's are manipulative, totally misogynistic, and their idea of right and wrong is pretty fucking medieval. But the local people I am interacting with are nice, and need help. There's a lot of nastiness going on in Cambridge and someone needs to sort it out. It would be cool if you could help. Not my call... not my secret... but as I say if you want..."

"That is precisely what a delusion might say to enforce the delusion. Though again more details than I would assume my imagination could conjure, but perhaps there is a font of creativity that I have untapped."

08:11, Today: Renee Stewart rolled 13 using 1d10+9.  Per +Notice.

There is a slight hint of gardenias and corruption.

Calling back, Renee adds, "Over here. I think we have a properly serviceable crypt. One way in. One way out. There are even two empty stone caskets for what it is worth. Not totally unpleasant, but it certainly has what one would expect from a Crypt.."

Rhiannon sniffs.   There must still be a hint of the wolf about her, she can smell the other two women and also the previous occupants of the coffins  They smell of death and night and blood.  She nods.

"Close the door to the crypt and stay outside." She says, "I need you to guard me when I turn but I also need you to let me out before sunrise, even if I'm still a wolf because that's when the usual occupants are coming home."

"I'll do that" Elissa said "baring acts of god." she squeezed Rhiannon's shoulder "I'm impressed, girl. I'd be in the corner screaming if this had happened to me"


She turned to Renee "That looks great. Thanks."

"You don't need to stay you know. We're breaking the law right now. I think it's for a good reason, but the cops won't see it that way. If we get caught it's going to be messy. And there is every chance whatever you sensed down south will be coming for us. Its probably paranoia, but ... hell ... girl ... we're in a church with a werewolf and you sensed a diety dying. Crazy times are afoot. If something does come ... well ... I don't think just little old me is going to stop them. So if I was you I'd get a taxi home."

"You live next to Miss Casey right? I'll come find you tomorrow and we can talk in the daylight and laugh at our worries. But right now I'm worried. And I'm worried for you. I don't think martial arts is your number three hobby, and if something bad happens.... well shit... I don't to be feeling bad because I couldn't protect you"

"Right then. Seems fair enough. Though I doubt whatever I felt is coming for you, what I felt was in bad shape. What caused it however, perhaps. Good evening." She turns arounds and begins to head south on foot.

The full moon is completely gone now, no longer red but pitch black. Renee heads out in a vaguely southern direction. 

The fairies, including Morgan Le Fey herself, look to the skies with expressions of extraordinary trepidation.

Sir John too is somewhat concerned about what might happen tonight.  He believes that he has stepped outside the bounds of precedence.

In Downing college, Percival has had a chance to look through all of the files in the registry and find all he's looking for and more.

Brendan Monaghan with no concern for his own safety but with every muscle in his face marking his concern for Julie, steps out onto Parker's Piece and runs toward her.

Elissa feels Fae in all directions and the strongest hint comes not from Parker's Piece but from further North and East, perhaps somewhere like Midsummer Common or maybe Jesus Green.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:00, Tue 26 Apr 2022.

"Thanks Renee... and ... get a taxi girl. There are lunatics on the street..." she let Renee out of the church door and then locked it

"Hey girl" she said to Rhiannon "It's just you and me. Come on, let's get comfortable in that crypt" she wedged the door open and made sure she understood how the lock worked before escorting Rhiannon in

She took some of the cushions off the pew and made an impromptu bed "Why don't you try and sleep, darlin'. It's going to be a tough night, but we'll get through it together."

She sat on the step pondering the situation... Renee's comments were interesting. Whatever it was, was wounded. That kind of made sense. There'd probably been some kind of big fight, and the winner wasn't unscathed. That was probably good news for the two of them.

But ... what the hell were all those 'Darth Vader' feelings? How come she could feel them? Should she do something about them? It would be nice to phone Alice, but that would mean leaving Rhiannon alone. She wasn't going to do that while Rhiannon was around. She couldn't imagine what Rhiannon was going through, but she wasn't going to let the pretty welsh girl go through it on her own. Maybe when the eclipse was over, she'd phone

There was a pause from the statue as it looked at Ann, then nodded it's head a bit. "Work-mates as it were indeed.  Though seems like we are facing a quite problem now.  The azure haired one went running off that way with the canus mysticus" He said pointing after where he saw Elissa run.  "We might do well to head after them.  As it seems those here have the intentions to move as fast in decisions as the house of commons.  So let us act before we have reason to waste time on decision making based on politics."

The statue started to move after the direction that he saw the two run before, moving with some speed, but staying just slow enough that those who were not the slayer could keep up with him as he tried to lead them off, a little uncomfortable around the fae and the magic that could be used there, not something he wanted to deal with while they were trying to figure out what to do now.

Alice was happy to follow Goffrey since he seemed to have a lead on Elissa's whereabouts.

Goffery saw the pair disappear around the corner into Lensfield Road and that's where they go, but whether they turned off and where they went after reaching the Royal Cambridge Hotel is not so clear.

"Azure? Canus mysticus?" asked Ann as she kept up with Goffery. "Is that a secret language? Do you understand it, Miss Casey?"

With no sign of Elissa, Ann looked about for any clues as to which way they went.

As Renee walks Southward, she finds herself on Trumpington Street, walking South to the end of Lensfield Road, almost literally bumping into the party including Slayer, Watcher and moving statue.

As she began following the moving statue, Julie became aware of rapid footsteps on the grass, and turned.

"Brendan?!"

Goffery slowed for a few reasons, not the least of it was that he only know which way they had left, not where they might have gone.  But then when the young slayer asked the questions it brought him to a stop as if hit by weight of those words.  "Azure young lady.  From the Middle English.  Well, you can trace some to the French and into Latin as well.  And those other two were a small pun on Latin genus."  He said before looking towards Alice, "I do hope tutoring might be on the schedule for her training." he said before starting to turn around slowly to scan around them.

"So they ran off this way.  She was distraught, seeking to calm who ever this transformed person was and keep them from killing anyone or doing harm.  So they would seek somewhere more isolated and free from people.  Probably something with nature around."  He looked about trying to figure it out.  "Maybe seeking some place to hide when Luna's realm left the sky."  a stone hand went up to his lower face and rubbed the stone there.  "Lo, lost longing lapis lady leading lonely lives 'long." He said as he tried to think, and ignore how he cheated a little on the end there.  And then someone walked into view and he froze up not trying to give away the mystical to the mundane, as far as he knew.

(Edited for small spelling error)
This message was last edited by the player at 08:06, Fri 29 Apr 2022.

In reply to Julie Drake (msg # 148):

"Julie Drake as I live and breathe," said Brendan as the two approach, "Light of my life and love of my loins.  What brings you out on a crazy night like this.  Weird is afoot and that in spades.  Are you okay?"

"Longing lapis? I'm getting more confused by the moment."

She noticed the statue turn quiet and stop moving, just as she saw Renee. Presumably, he didn't want to be seen, and so had gone for the disguise of being a normal statue that had been placed in the middle of the path in the middle of the night.

"Hello again," Ann said to Renee. Distract her. "I found Miss Casey after all," she said, indicating the Watcher with a sweep of her arm that wouldn't have looked out of place on a magician's assistant.

"Did you see the Moon? I've never seen it look like that before." She pointed into the night sky, away from Goffery.

Renee's eyes fix on the statue that not 15 minutes ago she was using as a sure sign that her flashes were nothing more than delusional or perhaps a healthy imagination and intuition now she was being confronted by another one face to face. While Ann tries to distract, Renee only catches it in the periphery.

"Good evening again. I do recall you finding Miss Casey. I did not leave before she opened the door and of course after your friend left to look for her other friend. The moon as is true for many things tonight are acting oddly."

"Uh, yes, of course you were there. We met Miss Casey just outside your door, after all. I don't know where my head is tonight. Maybe the moon is making me act oddly too. Did you say that other things have gone strangely tonight? What sorts of things?"

While she spoke, she maneuvered herself so that Renee was between her and Goffrey. She hoped that if she kept Renee talking and focusing on her, the golem might be able to sneak away behind her.

"If there are odd things going on in the college, would you mind showing them to me?"

In reply to Brendan Monaghan (msg # 150):

"Brendan!"

Julie was relieved to see a familiar face.

"Any idea what's going on? Or what that is?"

She gestured towards the marble-and-glass tower.

In reply to Julie Drake (msg # 154):

"Julie", purred Brendan, "Am I glad to see you or what?" (By which he meant that he most definitely was).  "That on the other hand, is the reality checkpoint and it's supposed to be iron and a lot smaller."  He took a step closer and stubbed his toe on a rock.  "But where that came from I don't have an inkling."  He looked down at the rock and then squatted to get a better view.  "Jaysus, it's Travertine Marble and..." He looked to the left and to the right, "Looks like there's a line of these rocks crossing the Piece.  I wonder who put those there.  Must have cost them a fortune."

Goffery held for a moment, watching and listening as the young slayer tried to distract the woman, however, he watched and recognized the girl.  Seeing the energy about her again he figured at this moment it was not worth worrying about the revealing of magic, especially as neither Sir John nor the Miss Alice were stepping up.  If his form still had lungs he would sigh, so instead a slight lift and fall of his shoulders could be seen as he then resumed animation and stepped towards Ann and Renee.

"Excuse me ma'am.  I do hate to ruin an attempt at distraction, regardless of it's quality.  But as you have the energy around you that tells me you are not a normal person, I figure shall break decorum and address you directly.  Have you seen a woman of sapphire scalp running with possibly the most massive and mystical of corgis you have ever seen?"  He said before the statue tilted upwards towards the eclipsed moon then back down towards the two women, "Or someone who lacked any sort of proper attire while with a possibly crude cerulean maned maiden?" He asked, at this point out of sheer pettiness refusing to use the word blue around the young slayer.

Renee frowns a bit with both Ann and the statue's words. "So..." She pauses to collect her words. "It is blue hair and a werewolf, if observations are accurate. I just left them taking refuge in a crypt beneath the church where there are empty caskets filled with grave dirt. She was worried that when that" She waves her hand at the eclipse. "Ends, a transformation will occur and the danger will resume. I was either walking home or perhaps to check what happened far to the south I haven't decided just yet."

"Ah, so you're aware of the weirdness that goes on around here. Where exactly are this church and crypt? I think we should check on them, especially if this werewolf because a wolf again."

"Ummm, no, but yes. I don't know much about all the things out there. But I have seen weird all my life. Tonight, I saw you and her being dangerous, the werewolf, the living statue,  and a dying god. I thought about just drinking a bit and then falling asleep, but it was recommended that what I was seeing might have been real. So I am here seeing a werewolf and a living statue, so maybe. I don't know. But in any case, let me show you where they are finding refuge." Turning around she begins to lead them the way she had just come.

In reply to Brendan Monaghan (msg # 155):

"A reality what?"

She turned to face him.

"Sounds like you know something. What's supposed to be iron?"

"First thing I noticed when I came to Cambridge,"  says Brendan, "Come to think of it, first thing I noticed when I came to England.  It's supposed to be a cast iron lamppost in the exact middle, near enough, of Parker's Piece and every time it gets cleaned, somebody paints 'reality checkpoint' on it.  It's supposed to mark the border between the reality bubble that is Cambridge University, and the real world outside but now it's changed and the border is strewn with expensive rocks."

After a few moments he adds, "But get this, I don't pretend to be psychic or anything but when I pass through the border, I feel a little bit of a tingle.  No idea what that's about."

"I'm afraid it's all read," said Ann as she followed Renee. "Werewolves, living statues and some pretty scary and dangerous things exist. But some of us work together to fight against them. We combat demons, slay vampires, that sort of thing. So if anything like that should ever threaten you, let us know."

"So do you see things before they've happened or something?"

Renee lets out a big sigh, "I don't know. It is hard to say. Do you use a crossbow? Have you used a crossbow? Will you use a crossbow? Is the crossbow a symbolic representation of your capacity to protect, defend, damage, kill?  Is it a sign that you are behind the times? Is it a sign that you are a danger to my neighbor? Is it a sign I just need to go home and drink until I wake up the next morning and the vision is a bad dream? Maybe I don't know. I still need to figure this out." Upon arriving at the locked door, she knock on it thrice.

Elissa hadn't been expecting that. It was in fact worrying. The knock didn't sound like the police though... which would have been really really awkward. It wasn't the door exploding open blasted by lightning which she had actually been expecting. Instead it was a normal knock on the door.

"Stay here, girl" she said to Rhiannon who while a lot better, was still covered in cow blood, and headed to the door. Her 'Darth Vader' sense wasn't twitching, although she had no idea if she could trust it. Taking a deep breath, projecting confidence and 'I belong here' she opened the door.

"Oh" she said seeing the ensemble, and then the projection changed to a releived smile "Well I see you brought reinforcements, Renee. Thank you. Come in...we don't want the neighbours to get all excited. I'm guessing you know a lot more about is going on than I do now."

As the last sliver of shadow slipped from the face of the Moon, Rhiannon screamed, her body contorting into shapes it was not designed to take.  She was overwhelmed by the scent of humanity, of the nice one.

"Crap. Shit's happening. Get to ... I guess it's Parker's Piece on dead reck'ning. Something is heading there with murder in its heart" Elissa shouted to the others as she raced much faster than a normal mortal could sprint back to the crypt door, picking up a heavy church pew in each hand as she did so, shoving them against the door to reinforce them "Hey Rhiannon, girl" she called out. "You sleep, girl. You've eaten. I'll come back real soon"

She moved to start collecting more of the pews to ram them against the crypt door
This message was last edited by the player at 17:39, Sat 07 May 2022.

Ann piled up pews as well, carrying several at a time.

"What's going to Parker's Place? And we can't leave the werewolf here. This is a vampire lair. If she's human when they return, well, it would be the same as us delivering a takeaway to them. I guess I could stay and fight them, but it sounds like I need to deal with this thing at Parker's Place. Maybe we can run to Parker's Place then back again in time."

OOC: How long to sunrise?

Between four and five hours

"Waa... why do you think this is a vampire's lair" Elissa almost dropped the Pews. "It's a church for fucks sake" That wasn't aimed at Ann it was aimed at the world. Realisation dawned "Oh I get it... Your Darth Vader. Well girl, you and I will becoming church tourists in the near future. But crap.... shit...that changes everything."

She put the pew in place and suggested by body language they move away to stop agitating the werewolf

"OK right now my Darth Vader power tells me there are a few groups of whatever it is, that I detect. Which seems to be Fey right? Well just as Rhinannon changed, I felt something powerful and malovelent with murder in its heart is going that way" she gestured "Remember that lamp post Inoue showed us, at the center of the Parker's Piece. It's that way where a load of the fey are. There are a couple of other groups to the north. Oh and I've been thinking. Even money it's the same ugly fucker we saw searching for stuff"

"Jesus girl, I don't like leaving Rhiannon here. Not because she's a girlfriend: she isn't. But because she's a person and I don't want her to be an all you can eat buffet for some vamps. But... " a few more expletives "OK we'll do that. I think even a vampire would hesitate right now. I don't like this plan of yours, Ann. But I can't think of a better one. So... you're the slayer, we'll do it your way. Lead on girl..."
This message was last edited by the player at 15:20, Sun 08 May 2022.

Alice had been a silent participant in most of... this.  It was easier to avoid questions.  However upon hearing about Elissa's tracking sense, Alice voiced her support of following (and hopefully stopping) the murderous fey being.

"Parker's Place sounds like someplace we should be... just like Ann said."

"OK, so let's go to Parker's Piece. Rhiannon should be safe from the vampires as long as she's in her wolf form."

She cast a look at the door.

"And innocent civilians should be OK as long as Rhiannon can't get out of here."

It was a plan. Not much of one, but a plan.

"Let's just make sure we get back before Rhiannon becomes pink and vulnerable. But that's for later."

So saying, she led the way out of the church towards Parker's Piece.

Elissa looked unhappy as she left Rhiannon "We'll be back for you Rhiannon, girl" she called. "You sleep well" she still hoped that after eating a good part of a cow the werewolf would sleep, but for all she knew the werewolf just kept going...

"Glad you are here Alice." Elissa asked Alice as they headed to Parker's Piece. "I think we'll need knowledge more than muscle. Speaking of muscle...did you manage to get any anti-fey weapons" Now seemed a really good time to have one. And to Renee she added "I guess I don't need to wait until later to introduce you Renee. I'm not sure my 'keep safe' advice worked. I was hoping you'd get somewhere a long way from the act..." she stopped dead and looked at Goffery. Checking that what her eyes told her was in fact the case.

"Er... hi... Mr Walking Statue" she said. For all she knew it could talk and saying 'hey is it safe' to the others would insult it. "You're on our side, right?"

Goffery had watched for the last bit, tempted to help block the door, but when both young women were showing supernatural strength, he felt no more need to step up and aid. He merely listened and glanced around watching the aether about them and gazing in the directions that were mentioned to be important because of dangers. He doubted he would see much at distance, but if he could see something, that would give a good idea of where great danger might be.

Then Elissa addressed him and the stone form turned to focus directly at her. The head tilted down, and while it lacked any defined features the depressions in stone where eyes would have been focus towards hers. "I am in service of the Watchers and do as they bid. You may call me Go Lem." he said with a quite monotone voice. "Pleasantries may wait though as we seem to be facing a minorly apocalyptic situation at the moment. So let us deal with this sticky wicket first." He said before focusing back on heading towards their current traveling goal.

In reply to Brendan Monaghan (msg # 161):

A cast iron lamppost. That was reassuringly mundane amidst all the weirdness.

"I know the University lives in its own little world," she said, with the amused irritation of a CCAT student.

Julie looked down at the rocks too. She was vaguely aware that marble came in different grades, from the fancy stuff used for decoration down to material for paths.

"Travertine Marble? What's so special about that?"

Brendan smiles.  "It's one of the best building materials there is, and at the moment, it all comes from Italy although I daresay there are other deposits somewhere or other.  The monopoly means it's ridiculously expensive.  You wouldn't use it for a path say.  It's as if a zillionaire has been walking round scattering the stuff."

Something changes in the atmosphere of Parker's Piece as the shadow of the earth slowly disappears from the moon.  It feels like a thunderstorm is coming, but the full moon is bright and the skies are cloudless.

From the Northwest Corner comes a group of people, one with blue hair, who Julie recognises and one appearing to be a statue, but statues don't walk do they?

In the Southwestern quadrant of the piece appears as if from nowhere, a fox with nine tails.  She moves quickly toward the centre where Julie and Brendan are standing but she stops before reaching them and frowns if foxes can indeed frown.

She looks up at Brendan and says.  "You are not him, are you, young man?" Can foxes speak?  This fox can speak and before Brendan can speak she sees something coming from the Northeast.  Her response is a series of what sound like exquisite Japanese expletives.

Her tails twine around each other in ways that hurt the eyes and a mist rises from the earth to bring some relief to the eyes. When it clears, the fox is gone and a middle aged Japanese woman in rather old-fashioned dress stands in her place.  "Excuse me", she says and leaps into the air, appearing sixty yards to the North West, a mere instant later.  "Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen," she says, "But in view of the changing situation.  I have to ask Inoue to return to Japan.  I will be here for a while.  Are you ready Inoue-chan?"

"Yes, Sensei-san." says Inoue and then to the others, "I have to go".  With a touch of the woman's hand mist arises once more and this time when the mist clears, Inoue is gone.

"Ladies and gentlemen" says the Japanese woman.  "I am Matsushita Lili.  With the death of your god, Herne, at the hands of that one's partner," she points in the direction of the short and ugly one entering the Piece from the North East, "I have had to send Inoue back to the relative safety of Japan.  I will stay a while to give what aid I can."

Julie laughed.

"Typical council. Can't manage basic services, but wastes money on decoration."

She froze as she saw the fox. The nine-tailed fox. That... spoke?

"This is just a dream," she reminded herself, "A dream."

Brendan blushed beetroot as Julie suggested that this might be a dream.  "I've certainly dreamed of you Julie, but I confess, the dreams were nothing like this."

"A fox that becomes a woman? Curiouser and curiouser. Goodbye Inoue," she called the last out, hoping that Inoue somehow still heard it.

"OK, I'm guessing that there isn't time for proper introductions, but you seem to be part of Inoue's sect. So who or what is that person over there? Is he killable? Someone who kills a god sounds like someone we should take extra care around. And does anyone know his plan? Should I just try talking to him?"

The woman who had been a fox turned to look at Ann and then squinted in the direction of the figure Ann had indicated.  "I have no idea who that is but he looks like an older and uglier version of the boy who killed the god within the last hour in a place called Audley End.  I'm sure he can be killed or spoken to. As for who I am.  I am the Mistress of those who do not fit."

"Miss Casey, do you know any more about what's going on? Any suggestions as a Watcher on what to do? Is that creature a threat to civilians I wonder?"

Alice was completely lost. Too much 'magic' happening all at once and not a lot of context behind it.

"My anti-fey weapons are a little small for this situation, Elissa."

She literally held up a letter opener.  Innoue had been holding onto the one intended for Elisa but now that she was gone... Alice surrender her own to Elissa.

"Take this for now."

As for Ann's question, she preferred to defer to Sir John.

"Sir John, would you like to take this one?"

Julie blushed at Brendan's comment, but she was pre-occupied with the strange Japanese woman.

"Who are you? What's going on?"

John looked over at the fellow approaching and said to Alice.  "I would imagine that the fellow approaching is Joe the Goblin or (and this is less likely) Christopher Pressman.  I say less likely because if Pressman was about to come here there would be no need to transform the iron wall into bricks.  I would imagine that his target is one or other (or perhaps several) of the Fae but there may be side effects or consequences."

The fox lady looked toward Julie, who noticed that she also smelled like a fox, which was not particularly pleasant.  "I am Matsushita Lili.  I am Gomi-no-Sensei which roughly translates into English as Master of Rubbish, but I prefer Mistress of that which does not fit.  As for what's going on.  Around twenty minutes ago, the English god, Herne the Hunter, a being of immense divine power was murdered in a massive chemical explosion somewhere close to the Cambridgeshire/Essex/Hertfordshire borders.  I've had to send Inoue home because she is, through no fault of her own, in way over her head.  I believe the purpose of the murder was to break the iron barrier, allowing one Joe the Goblin, to traverse Cambridge and murder a senior Fae personage, possibly Morgan Le Fey, Oberon, or Titania.  I am not sure what the side effects of that would be, but they are probably less than the side effects of murdering Herne and leaving the Sluagh leaderless.  The last time anything similar happened was in Germany in 1641 and the death toll was astounding."

"You look how I feel" Elissa said sympathetically to Alice "Thanks for this Alice. As you say it's small, but small is much much better than 'nothing'"

She looked doubtfully at Sir John. He looked remarkably 'conservative' in dress, and from the interactions between Alice and Sir John he looked to be Alice's boss in the watchers. She didn't know or trust him... in fact she trusted him a lot less far than she could throw him. He would probably just come up with a plan without caring a toss whether Ann lived or die: they could always get a shiny new Slayer. Slayers were disposable resources to the Conservatives. She turned back to Alice

"I have no clue what's happening either. But hey, we have to get through it right? What I don't know is ... this is a civil war in Fey land right? So as Ann asks should we even get involved. If we do, do we cause more problems for the people we care about or not? If we get involved do we piss off both sides and get wiped out anyway? Or do we just get blasted as collateral damage: the power on both sides is enormous and more than we have"

The fox lady wasn't a conservative watcher, and had behaved sensibly towards Inoue, so Elissa had a little more respect for her words. "Thanks... er .. Lila." there was no way she was going to try the Japanese, and certainly wasn't going to call the fox lady 'mistress' or 'master' "So why don't the fey just run away? Then we don't have this problem. They can see him coming right?"

"Why don't we ask them?" suggested Sir John and he does so, asking Morgan Le Fey, "Madame, I wonder whether you could enlighten my young friend here.  The young man over there seems to be approaching with violence on his mind and it seems to be aimed at you or other senior Fey.  I assume you know that his partner has just murdered Herne the Hunter?  Why do you not flee?"

Unfortunately, Morgan Le Fey is unable to answer until Matsushita Lili San suggests a way around the dilemma.  She bows low to Morgan Le Fey and says humbly and in all apparent sincerity and humility.  "Morgan Sama, the Sluagh are without leadership at the moments and are likely to be causing havoc and mayhem.  May we call upon you to try to rein them in lest Stump's Cross become a field of blood?"

With an appropriate excuse being offered, the Fey begin to leave Parker's Piece, heading off in a Southerly direction, many of them taking to the air to do so.

"Thank you for the idea," says the Fox Lady, having risen from her rather undignified position.  "The Fey think of themselves as characters in stries and if they can be given a way to do things in what seems like a heroic manner, then they can be persuaded to do almost anything."  She smiles a suitably vulpine smile.

"Thank you, girl" Elissa said to Matsushita Lili San  "Perhaps you can help me with a puzzle"

"There is this fucker Joe the Goblin approaching. The Fey are in their own little violent civil war. We are not involved at the moment. The battle field nearly took place here... And I don't even fucking know who I should want to 'win'. We aren't mercenaries hired by one side or the other. Both side are evil gits. The fey all seem to treat humans as toys, so if there was a new gang boss would we even tell?"

"The man here" she gestured to Sir John whose name she didn't know "said last time this happened 'the death toll was enormous'. Well hell: that's what happens when people get caught up in a war. They get involved. They pick one side or the other. The armies meet... Shit happens. People die. Famines happen."

She paused "Actually... You know ... Just saying it helped. I've solved my puzzle. I am going to go have a chat with Joe. See what he wants. Maybe he's the good guy in this: he's looking that way at the moment. He's looking like a Fey Slayer would. Maybe he's the bad guy. But we don't know."

"Coming Ann? Let's go meet your opposite number"
This message was last edited by the player at 06:05, Mon 16 May 2022.

"Absolutely," replied Ann to Elissa's question of whether she was coming.

As they walked towards him, Ann called out, "Good evening, and welcome to Cambridge. I'm something of a guardian of the people around here. So are you someone I should be keeping an eye, or do you mean no harm to the humans around here?"

Julie wrinkled her nose at the fox's - woman's - scent.

"OK, none of that makes any sense. Herne the Hunter? Iron Barrier?"

She gestured towards the marble and glass tower.

"Where did that come from?"

Renee herself watches the occurrences in front of her with a flat face with eyes vacillating between skepticism, wonder, and disbelief. She had left her room tonight to see if the good father was right, to see if her flashes and feelings had a meaning or truth behind them. At first, her predictions, her visions were spotty, but soon they proved to be more and more true. Then thing has escalated beyond belief. She had to wonder if she was in a mental spiral,  raving in a corner somewhere living in a fantasy. Or if this was actually really happening.

Elissa paused on the way to see Joe "Hi Julie, Brendan. I'd say 'nice to see you but some serious shit is going down here. Can I suggest you get the hell out of dodge incase world war three starts. Because it just might. If I live, I'll see you in the canteen tomorrow?" she couldn't say much more because she had to see Joe, but she hoped the couple wouldn't get caught up in this.

As she got closer to Joe, she paused and waited: happy to let Ann take the lead.

Ann realises that she's met Joe before.  In fact she bummed a cigarette off him and she doesn't even smoke.  Joe does though and he offers her one as he pauses to light one for himself.  "I don't even want to be in Cambridge." he says,  "My brother does because he's growing to human sized and thinks he'll thrive here but what we just did... call it a proof of concept.  I was hoping to take out the Madb but there was nobody here but that Morgan Le Fey.  I suppose we'll have to ask her."

Ann took the cigarette with thanks, but held it by her side.

"So you're trying to kill gods and fey? Why do you want them dead? And what will you do if you manage to kill them all?"

Joe takes a deep drag and then lets out smoke rings that form into the letters AAD0DOO, which clearly don't spell anything but it seems to amuse him.  "Christopher and I were swapped as babies and dreadfully abused in both Tir Na n'Og and England.  We want Justice.  As for Herne, that was self-defence.  The Hunt is supposed to give up at a certain point but the Madb persuaded them to carry on after both of us escaped twice each. There's a..." But no.  He sounds like he's going to say something else but he drags furiously on his cigarette instead.

"Who abused you? If you're going after evil fey who've hurt you, that's one thing. But are innocent civilians going to get hurt? Because if so, that's where I have to draw the line and stop you. So why don't you explain exactly what's been going on, and your plans. Because justice is something I can get behind. Revenge hurting innocents? Not so much."

"Me... I don't give a toss about 'Justice'. There is no Justice there's Just Us. I can get behind 'Revenge' quite happily" Elissa said "But I can't get behind 'Revenge and I don't give a fuck about who else gets hurt'. See suppose you kill a hundred people in the process, and one of those is a kid. Or someone I care about... Or really just any person on the street... Then you become worse than the people that abused you. Nothing wrong with a nice bit of Revenge where you put the boot in, or twist the knife. Just keep it personal, man. You and them."

"Start moving to 'people they care about' or 'who cares about the others in the way' and then you are really fucked up, man. That's what we want to know. Are you really fucked up and going to hurt the people under our protection, or are you just going after the people that hurt you? Who got hurt when you assassinated Herne? Do you know? Do you care?"

"Anyway you're too late here. They've all left."

Joe smiles a smile which is both wicked and playful as he says, "Some of them are very close by, and those who have left are running toward Christopher. I would love to give you assurances but if I did that, I'd be bound as by oath and I'd hate to tie my hands if the Madb should be here."

Watching the insanity unravel around them, there was not much that really offered itself as a quick fix, or something that could use his power or touch to aid them.  Following along with the slayer and not quite slayer, he stood back and watched the back and forth, a bit disturbed by Elissa's rational on the matter of justice, but listening to this Joe the Goblin, he could not help but feel a mental knot forming that he could not process properly.

"So what?"  He asked a bit harsh and bluntly towards Joe over Elissa.  "Your goal is simply to make those that hurt you suffer and damn the fallout around those attacks. So what?"  His voice was growing a bit louder and more gravely. "Lets say you get it, what comes next?  What do you have after you get this destruction?  Do you plan to die doing this?  Do you seek to take power until someone you have harmed comes to get their revenge on you?  WHAT. IS. YOUR. END. GOAL?!?" He was practically screaming at the goblin, something he could not identify causing him such great anger at the moment.

Joe considers Goffery's question for a long and serious moment.  After thinking for a while, so long in fact that almost everyone would see the cogs literally whirring in his brain, he says, "My end goal, and I think Christopher's as well, is to stop the traditions of the Wild Hunt and the making of changelings.  On top of that, I would like to end feudalism in the Feylands but I can't see that happening."

"Why don't we get you discussing that with the fey? You've certainly got their attention. If they agree, nobody else need get hurt. And if not, maybe you can all go to a field somewhere far from anybody else and fight it out until one side is left standing."

"If the Fey who have lived for centuries are stupid enough to fall into your 'herding plan' then I will be extremely surprised" Elissa said "I mean sure... maybe they are brain dead... but if they were this brain dead they wouldn't have survived for centuries" It wasn't her problem anyway: this was a civil war not her war, and while she'd like to see the war stopped she had no reason to care who 'won'.

Just the Goffrey came in "Hey, man. Chill" she said looking worried. "Sticking your face into someone else's face like this is saying 'I want you to kick off something'. Don't loose your shit or you become part of the fucking problem, and it's a big enough problem as it is" her worry faded just a little as she saw Joe wasn't reacting violently. She probably would have if she was him...
This message was last edited by the player at 13:21, Fri 20 May 2022.

Joe paused and looked around for anything resembling a hedge but there is nothing like that anywhere on Parker's Piece so he whistles.  A new shadow crosses the moon but quickly disappears as a small winged creature looking like nothing on earth lands beside Joe.  He climbs upon its back and said, "Toodles folks."

The creature climbed into the air, looking like nothing so much as a dragon from a cartoon film and flew off in a vaguely Southward direction.  The checkpoint is still a weird looking tower and the line is covered with Travertine Marble but apart from that, everything is back to normal.  Even quiet.  It is two AM.  Perhaps an hour and a half before sunrise.

"That was a dragon, right? I didn't imagine a real-life dragon?"

She looked about her, then turned to Elissa.

"I'm not sure anything is going to happen here now. I think we should return to your werewolf friend before the vampires who live in that vault get back."

Julie jumped when Elissa appeared.

"Do you know what's going on?"

She didn't feel in danger. Confused, certainly. Everything seemed a bit like a dream, only too real. A thought crossed her mind that maybe someone had put something in her food.

Brendan frowned as Julie jumped.  "Are you okay, mo cushla?" then she asks Elissa what's going on and although Brendan has an idea or two about that, he has no idea where it's coming from so he very wisely makes no attempt to explain, hoping Elissa has a better explanation.

Elissa had to think hard about how to answer Julie's question. Really hard. Think about consequences. About what would happen if she said yes, what would happen if she said no. Her view of Julie was that saying 'no idea' would first be a lie and insulting, and secondly would just trigger Julie into doing her own research. Which might get her killed...

After a long pause "Actually yes Julie. But are you dead sure you want to know?" Elissa asked "'Cos girl this is a one way trip. At the end of the nightmare trip you find that magic is real, that fairies exist... oh and vampires do too. And walking statues" she gestured at Goffrey. "And right now one of our class mates has been turned into a werewolf."

"See girl, right now you can see Goffry. You can see the tower. You saw the dragon. But tomorrow if you want ... you can persuade yourself it was a dream. I'd fucking recommend that. It's not a 'one time offer', I'm not playing a game with you. You can say 'no' now and ask later if you want"

"But if you really want to know I can explain. At least the bit I know. Ann and I have to go help the werewolf" she nodded in acknowledgement of Ann's request "But if you really want, I can explain before we go. "

For a moment, Julie couldn't do more than gape. But she couldn't deny the strange things she'd seen... was seeing.

"It's like a dream, but too real. Is there anything I can do to help?"

"I think it's 'over' at least for now, girl" Elissa said looking at the others to see if they agreed "Short form: The Fey are child kidnappers and abusers. That generates hatred. Two of the kidnappees got pissed off and decided to stop it all by killing the Fey gods that are thousands of years old. To kill them they had to do stuff. Most of this shit you see is the backlash of that."

"According to Joe ... the ugly fucker who rode out of here on his dragon... he and his sort of brother beleive that the Fey gods are mindlessly stupid and will fall into their trap. Maybe he's right" Elissa's expression showed how unlikely she thought that was "Maybe wrong. In any event, girl, it's basically a civil war, and when people get caught up in a war... there are deaths. I'm a fan of keeping out of it"

"I'm sounding like I know it all, but actually I found out all of this tonight. It's been a long night ... "

"You asked about helping. You need to think about that. Both of you. Ann is basically Wonder Woman. She's Cambridge's ... maybe the world's ... protector against some of these horrors. I'm one of her sidekicks. She needs more help. But ... it's dangerous work. So you and Brendan should think long and hard on whether you just want to go to bed and wake up in the morning pretending this was a dream."

Brendan shakes his head.  "Whatever this is, it's not a dream.  It doesn't have dream logic.  I guess that for better or worse, our eyes have been opened and it looks as though enlightenment sucks huge blocks of limestone."

"Who's coming" Elissa had asked as she saw Ann prepare to leave for the Church. "Ann here used her 'Darth Vader' power and sensed that there are Vampires in a chuch. In that church we have a .. sort of friend of mine. Maybe a friend. She turned into a Werewolf for the first time tonight... and the second after the Eclipse. As the werewolf she is a fucking violent killing machine but still remembers something of herself. When she turned back into a human she was traumatized, scared and in pain. And we left her in the church... Because we didn't know what else to do with all the craziness going on here"

"I think she's safe until dawn. But we can't let her out until dawn because she'll probably try and eat anyone that isn't me. So Ann and I are going to babysit her. If you want you can come with us, and we can talk. There is a chance the Vampires will take exception to us... so this is volunteers only."

"My advice would be to forget about this. Go home. Pretend it's a dream. But if you want to get involved... Just be aware that if you get involved you might not be able to get out again. Or might die. This is some serious shit"

The explanation that the goblin gave was angering for him on a level that he just had to shut down somewhat.  Their answer was that they just wanted to destroy everything and hope that what comes next was much better.  Nothing to do with tradition, with honor, with duty, with anything beyond a child's petulant want to make those that hurt them to suffer and what comes next was unimportant.  Part of that made sense, but with all these others learning about what was going on, he was done with this as the night seemed to have come to if conclusion, and all were scrambling to recover the situation.

Looking at the navy haired talker, speaking so much to others, the stone statue looms closer to the group.  "Take. Care. Your choices will always have a consequence on what happens.  And sometimes death is not the end of your story." The statue said from an unmoving mouth, with its face shifting between the group as the featureless indentations of its eyes moved over those present around the indigo maned maiden. "As she said, for most, ignoring this nights as but a most unfortunate dream would grant you a chance for prolonged happiness, few have such luck when they find more than the mundane."  He then turned and made his way over to Sir John, and would leave with him to discuss what they must do now.

Julie sat down on the ground, deciding this was safer than trusting her legs at this moment. But apart from that, she took the shock of her reality being upended calmly.

"Are you kidding? Of course I want to be a part of something like this. I want to know how it all works."

Julie had long had an interest in science. Wanting to know how the world works was part of her.

"Then come with us, but know that forever more, when something goes bump in the night, you'll wonder if it was a cat or drunk in the alley, or a demon come to kill you. Then again, those creatures have always been there, and at least now you are choosing to be aware of them and deal with the danger."

She turned to lead the way to the church before turning back.

"But don't actually deal with them yourself. They really are dangerous. If you're part demon, a living statue, or the Chosen One, you might have a chance. But an ordinary human? Stay back and stay safe. There are other ways to help. Investigations, research, or just holding up a cross at the right time." She flashed a smile and held out her hand. "But it is good to have another member on the Five-O team. I'm Ann."

"For me, I was already involved in all of this before knowing it was not mere delusion. It might be nice to perhaps make use of this to help in some way. To have what I see, do something. Well something other than force me to hide away and numb things." And she begins to walk after Ann.

"Let's head to the church then" Elissa said "As Ann says be careful around the supernatural creatures... they are supervillain scary."

"The church has a crypt in it and Rhiannon is there. I hope she's sleepy. So when we go in, let's stay in the entry area... I'll go check she's OK. She recognises me... or did."

"We need a long term solution... But we've got to get through this week first. It's going to be full moon tomorrow and the next at least... so if any of you know a place we can keep her safe that would be great. And we'll need to worry about how to feed her. We killed a cow tonight... which is better than letting her kill a person, but we shouldn't do that again."