It has truly been too long since I wrote anything and it's past time to get caught up, especially since we are playing Dresden this Sunday and I want to be up to date. As I was reading through my notes and thinking of an appropriate song, I hit a roadblock. Generally it only takes a few minutes to come up with something that fits but I just couldn't this time. So I decided to stop thinking of it from our perspective and started thinking about from the villain's. Perfect! Had the right song pulled up in one minute...tops (yes, I know the song is actually about his heroin addiction but it fits dammit).
Anyway, back to the game. It was an amazing night. We had a huge ritual, encounters with zombies, and a full on take out the bad guy fight at the end. On to the re-cap.
The game started with Brandon, Shade, and Neil discussing the best way to neutralize the house and the Phages trapped therein. After a bit of brainstorming, it was agreed that a ritual would be best. That meant that other magic users would have to be involved. Brandon started working on that right away. Shade, having her own ritual to prepare for, left for her shop. Neil went in search of back up (time and experience had taught us the wisdom of back up).
Neil went to the park that was the home of the Pixies. He met up with Janks and made him an offer he couldn't refuse. For the fee of a vending machine contract/negotiation, Janks and a few other Pixies would show up at the house for the banishment and keep an eye out for escaping Phages. After seeing the house, Janks made it perfectly clear that the Pixies would only be following the escapees and nothing else. Frankly, that house scared the hell out of anyone who looked at it and rightly so. Brandon, in spite of being the lovable douche bag that he is, managed to get quite a few sorcerers lined up to help. Shade put the finishing touches on the separate ritual she would be doing. The plan being that Brandon and the others would do the banishing while Shade cast a ritual to "follow" the spell back to it's source in an effort to find out who was behind it. With everything in place, everyone met up at the place of evil.
The ritual got off to shaky start once the other sorcerers saw just what was there. However, they all agreed to stay and help. With the salt and herbs scattered, the actual spell casting could start. Brandon and the others built up their power and began the banishment. Meanwhile, Shade took a map and started her own spell. Neil and the Pixies started a pool on who would pass out or run away first. It took a bit of time and effort but the banishment was finally complete. No Phages escaped. As for Shade's spell, it worked as well. Her blood had dripped on the map over the warehouse district and spelled out House Skavis. Pleased with their success, Shade, Brandon, and Neil went to their homes.
The next morning everything seemed nice and normal. Neil did his morning routine of workout and minion check-ins. Brandon opened his shop for the day. Shade, feeling a bit lazy, was enjoying her coffee when she got a frantic phone call from Lars. A member of the Yakuza was there for a tattoo and was scaring the hell out of him. Shade left for her shop to get to work and to get Lars out of the building.
Day turned into night. Neil was out casino hopping when he had the feeling that he was being watched. He turned just as someone came up behind him. Neil managed to dodge out of the way of the punch aimed for his head. Neil recognized the guy as the hoodie wearing zombie who had ripped Harold's head off. First using a chair to keep the zombie off balance, Neil then reached out to pull the hood over it's face. As he did, Neil felt "something" battering at his mind but was able fight the effects off. Neil proceeded to beat the hell out of the zombie and also managed to drop his cell phone in it's pocket. After watching the zombie make his escape down a sewer manhole, Neil settled in for a long (very long and very slow) pursuit.
Brandon decided a night out would just be grand (will he ever learn? Every time Brandon decides to go out for fun he gets in trouble. Usually bad trouble). He was at a club enjoying the music and the possibility of female companionship when he was punched in the back. The force was enough to cause him to stumble into his dance partner. He turned to see who had punched him and came face to face with the blond zombie guy. Not wanting to fuck around, Brandon cast a spell to magically push the zombie away. The spell he used did nothing. It seemed to hit something around the zombie and splits around him. For his trouble, Brandon got a fist to his face. Brandon, being his usual chivalrous self, threw his partner at the zombie and bolted from the club.
At her tattoo parlor, Shade was finishing up the job on the Yakuza gentleman. She heard the door open and looked up in time to see the female zombie shamble inside. She and the others were hit with a mental attack. Shade and the head Yakuza guy fought it off. His guards weren't as lucky. One dropped to the ground screaming and crying in fear. The other shot himself in the head. Shade decided to get the hell out there and pulled the head Yakuza guy along with her as she ran out the back. Looking back, they saw the zombie burst out from the doorway and start to follow them. They managed to get away (the zombies were the slower shambling zombies. thank god!). When they reached a place they could stop, Shade pulled out MASSIVE flattery and was able to convince the gentleman he hadn't lost face. She did get lots of money as well.
While Neil was slowly following his zombie, Shade was heading to the Luxor (even the undead would not dare start something there). She made a call to Max and asked him to get Tess and come there. She then called Neil but zombies don't understand smart phones and, as such, couldn't answer it. She called Brandon next and left him a message about what had happened when she got his machine.
Brandon had been home but had only stopped long enough to gather his gear and leave again. He made his way to the Luxor (see- shit hits the fan and it's party time at the pyramid). Brandon found Jeremy Running Mouth and asked him if he had seen Shade or Neil. After answering in the negative, he asked Brandon what was going on and Brandon told him what had happened- with suitable embellishments, of course. Taking a chance, Brandon asked the main desk and found out that Shade and Max had rented a suite. Brandon went up to the room and he and Shade shared their adventures. That only left Neil. After looking through her purse, Shade came up with some burner numbers for him. It took a few tries but eventually Shade got Neil on the line and they agreed it would be a good idea for everyone to meet up. That also included Max, over Shade's objections. With coffee and sandwiches, of course.
A few hours later, the group pulled up to an old warehouse. The zombie had gone inside. While checking things out, Brandon caught the flicker of a shadow near the car. Turning, he saw Mason appear out of the shadows. It only took a few minutes to bring Mason up to date. That being done, everyone walked to the door and went in.
The flicked on in the pretty empty warehouse. Empty except for three zombies and a horror show of a figure standing off to the side. It was Sly. Half of her face was missing, the flesh flayed from the muscle. A magical aura surrounded her. Some of it was from the Fey curse she was under. The other was from an unknown source. Her eyes burned with madness, hate, and pain.
Author note- I am looking at three full pages of notes on the fight. For the sake of time and space, I am going to condense things a bit. It was definitely a hard fight and it took us about an hour and half to get through it. I won't include every dodge and attack and such but I will give the highlights.
Considering their history, it was only natural for Sly to throw the first mental attack at her. Shade shrugged it off easily. That was quickly followed by a group mental attack from the female zombie. At the same time, the blond zombie attacked Max and hit him. The hoodie zombie attacked Brandon but he was able to dodge out of the way. Neil made his way to the female zombie and threw a punch that unfortunately missed. Shade and Max both fired their guns at Sly. Shade missed but Max hit.
Deciding to up the ante (yes! got my token Vegas gambling reference in), Sly tossed lightning into the group. Brandon tried to counter her spell but was not able to do so. Neil, Brandon, and Max dodged but Shade and Mason were hit. The zombie female attacked Neil, who easily moved out of the way managing to knock her off balance as he did so. The hoodie zombie and Brandon were locked in combat, attacking and dodging. Mason, showing off his Black Court badassery, tore the other male zombie apart- actually ripping his head off.
Still laughing madly, Sly threw another spell at the group. Everyone except for Shade was able to get out of the way of the attack. Brandon and the hoodie zombie were still throwing punches at each other. The zombie girl went for another mental attack against the group. The only one who caved under the attack was Mason. He fell to the ground screaming.
With one zombie dead, everyone doubled up on the remaining zombies. They had to get through them to get to Sly. Both Shade and Neil punched the female zombie who fell to the ground. Brandon and Max went for the hoodie zombie. Brandon went back to what he does best and set the zombie on fire. Max punched the zombie from behind. The now on fire zombie tried a psychic attack against Brandon but failed. Sly tried to take out Neil with a mind attack. After shrugging off the attack, Neil moved towards Sly.
Brandon and the burning zombie circled each other, Brandon tried another sword thrust but missed. The zombie moved in and broke Brandon's ribs with a grapple. Neil, having got to Sly, punched her hard enough to break her jaw. She screamed in pain. Max turned to the female zombie and punched her hard enough to take her out. He then turned back to Brandon and "his" zombie. Between the two of them, they were able to defeat the zombie. Shade came up behind Sly and, using her gun as a club, cold cocked her.
After all that, the fight went out of Sly. There was a heated discussion about what to do with her. Brandon was all for killing her. Shade leaned more towards getting information out of her and then letting her go. Of course, Sly had to swear on her power to never return to Vegas and to never kill or harm when feeding. She also had to answer their questions. Sly agreed to all their conditions. She told them that the Autumn Fey had given her to someone and that someone was high up in the Vegas hierarchy ... Just as she was about to tell the name of the person who had sent her to attack them, she screamed horribly and collapsed. She was dead.
The game ended there for the night. What a cliffhanger! We now know for sure that someone pretty high up has it out for us but we don't know who it is. There are a few we can rule out but that still leaves plenty of suspects. And we have even more exciting events taking place. there is the casino the shape shifters opened and let's not forget the Skavis/Malvora wedding. So many possibilities for mayhem and trouble. Also, I can't wait to officially become a Spade!
