Oh dear, things are getting very interesting. In Vegas that is not a good thing. Last night's gaming session was filled with magic, violence, and more then a couple "oh fuck" moments. I wouldn't want it any other way. Also of note, this is the first time that I have carried a song over for two different sessions but it fit so well, I just had to. So much mayhem and chaos and even a cliffhanger. On to the recap and I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed playing it!
Neil's day was winding down. He was eating dinner at a local diner when Mason walked in. Spotting Neil, he walked over, sat down, and got right to the point. He wanted to know if Neil had learned anything new about the Skavis attack. Neil answered in the negative. Mason told Neil that Fredrick and his hunted guest were currently at the Luxor. He wanted Neil to head over there and keep an eye on Arthur. Neil agreed to do so.
Brandon was closing his shop up when he felt...something. Turning around, Brandon saw Mason right standing right behind him. Brandon asked him not to sneak up on him. Mason said he had to since the door was locked. Pleasantries over, Mason asked just what Brandon knew about Skavis' guest. Brandon replied nothing. Mason then asked if he had seen any notable strangers (one nice thing about Mason, he always gets right to the point). Brandon told him about the visits from Michelle, Jack, and Sharee. He even had it on his security tape. After watching the footage, Mason asked if he could have it. After Brandon answered in the affirmative, Mason told him to head to the Luxor and get in touch with Neil.
Further up and just off the Strip, Shade was finishing up her day when she got a visitor. One of the Changelings, Laurel, burst through the front door and started babbling. Shade told her to calm down and tell her what was wrong. Laurel said that Harold was missing. They had a date planned for that night and she couldn't get ahold of him in any of the usual ways. She was sure something had happened to him. Shade asked Laurel to take her to Harold's place. Laurel agreed and they headed out. At his apartment, Shade proceeded to break in. There didn't seem to be any sign of a struggle. Getting some hair from his brush, Shade exited. However, their visit hadn't gone unnoticed. As the two women walked away, they noticed a neighbor's door closing (hopefully there won't be a police visit in Shade's future, especially considering the rest of her night). Back at her place, Shade cast a location spell. Harold was not in Vegas.
After his talk with Mason, Brandon stopped by his house and geared up. Done there, he made it to the Luxor and started looking for Running Mouth (if anyone would know where Neil was, it would be him). Luck was with him though. As he walked in, Brandon spotted Neil right away, talking to a very big guy. Coming up to the two of them, Brandon figured out that the big guy was actually a Ghoul. After a bit of douche baggery commentary to the Ghoul (of course Brandon couldn't help himself and if baggery isn't a word, it is now), Brandon and Neil decided on a course of action.
Failing to locate Harold with the spell, Shade went to call Helena to ask her if she knew whether Harold was in the Nevernever or not. Before she could, the phone rang. It was another Changeling by the name of Steve. When he had come home, he had noticed that his neighbor's door was ajar. When he peeked in, it looked like there had been some sort of struggle. He asked if she would come over. With a sinking feeling, she agreed (remember, it really hasn't been all long since the Winter Court showed up. Plus, the whole area was sort of a no man's land between the Fey and Skavis territory). With two situations needing her attention, Shade told Laurel to call all the Changelings and tell them to keep their eyes open for trouble. If anything bad started going down, they were to head over to Legends. Shade then cast the spell to take her to the Nevernever.
Still talking, Brandon was able to recall a few bits of information about Arthur. He had been in control of a city down South but had been forced out of power. That meant he was a major player. Needing to find out the room number where Arthur and Fredrick were holed up, Neil went up to the front desk and proceeded to charm the frazzled desk clerk. With his charm (and a 2000$ bribe), he was able to get the number. The two of them headed up to the seventh floor and staked out a position across the hotel where they could keep a watch over everything. In order to make their stay more pleasant, they ordered room service and charged it to Fredrick's room.
With the spell, Shade was able to get to the Nevernever with no problem. The Courtyard teemed with Fey and there seemed to be a buzz in the air. Not wanting to disturb anyone, Shade looked for one of the Knights. A quick word to the Knight who came to greet her answered the question of where Harold was. That being settled, Shade passed back through to Vegas. Laurel was not so happy when Shade told her that Harold was in the Nevernever. She basically flipped out- Harold hated that place, never went there, and she wanted Shade to go and get him. The strength of her anger caused Laurel to change into her Fey form, a Dryad (the Changelings usually choose whether to follow their human or Fey nature but the change can be forced. Remember that, it will come up later). She went off to find her tree. That left Shade free to head to Steve's. Meeting Steve at the apartment door, he introduced himself and showed her the broken chain. In the hallway (had to do it out there since trying it in the apartment would not be good. There wasn't much of a threshold but any amount would lesson her power). Shade set up and used her power to cast a scrying spell. With that she was able to see what happened. Steve's neighbor had been attacked and abducted by Helena.
Back at the Luxor, Brandon and Neil ate and talked. Brandon also spent his time leering at the cleavage passing below on the main floor. The only activity on their floor was when two guys went into the room they were watching. While watching the main floor, Neil saw a guy that could be described as a redneck. Breaking Brandon away from his pastime, Neil pointed the guy out and Brandon was pretty sure that was him. It seemed that the guy was heading for the stairwell.
With the feeling that bad things were happening, Shade once again prepared the spell to take her to the Nevernever. Once again, the phone rang (if she didn't have her own business, she would seriously consider getting rid of the line. Really, nothing good ever comes from it). It was Max. Happy to hear from him, Shade asked what was going on. Max, sounding more puzzled then anything, asked if she knew of any strangers in town. Uri had accused him of bringing some in that were causing trouble. He knew nothing about it. Shade answered that she hadn't heard anything either. Shade then let Max know that she would be heading to the Nevernever to take care of some Fey stuff. He told her to wait there for him; he was coming with her. She told him there was no need. It was Fey business. After a bit of back and forth, she agreed to wait (she seriously considered just leaving without him but Lana played the fate chip compel. So she waited and, secretly, Shade kind of liked that Max would want to come and protect her. Not that she needs it. Really).
Wanting to intercept the guy, Brandon pulled his sword out and waited in the stairwell. After about fifteen minutes (which was more then enough time for Jack to appear), Brandon walked back over to Neil. When asked, Neil said he hadn't seen anything. Neil then asked Brandon how he would get in if he didn't want to be seen. Brandon replied that he would use a veil spell. It would be the easiest. Not really wanting to, Brandon opened the Sight, trying to focus solely on the room door they were watching. The first thing he saw was a huge shaft of light. It was the power of the Ley line the Luxor sat upon. The next thing was that it was the Luxor but...wasn't. In the Sight, the hotel appeared as a true pyramid, complete with hieroglyphics. One interesting thing of note to Brandon was that each of the doors had the names of the guests using the room inscribed on them. Not seeing their target, Brandon shut the Sight down.
Just then, Neil's phone rang. It was Chumley the Ghoul. He had seen one of the people (Jack) they were looking for just leave the building. Neil told the Ghoul to stay where he was. He figured that the Jack seen leaving the hotel was a decoy of some sort. Deciding that three could play that game, Brandon and Neil made for the stairwell, as if they were leaving to follow. Inside, they moved a few steps up to the next landing and waited. Soon they heard the sounds of footsteps coming closer. Brandon warned the unseen person to turn back. Neil was a bit more direct. He simply dropped over the railing onto the unseen figure below. Surprisingly, the person cried out in a decidedly feminine voice. While Neil and the unknown person grappled, Brandon sauntered down and blocked the door. After a few seconds, the veil dropped, revealing a very disheveled Sharee. She got to her feet and demanded that Brandon move. Brandon replied that it would be best if she would just leave. There would be no violence in the Luxor (that would be very, very, very bad. Very bad). They argued about the matter for a few minutes until Sharee swore on her power that she was just there to talk to Arthur and would not do any sort of violence (of course the whole conversation was peppered with her usual cracker and white boy references). Brandon stepped away from the door and Sharee went through it. Brandon followed right behind. They both walked to Arthur's room and Sharee knocked. When the door opened, she asked to see Mr. Skavis. Fredrick appeared and was his usual charming self (in other words, he managed to insult and sexually harass Sharee in about two sentences). Sharee told him that she was there to see the other Mr. Skavis. Fredrick invited her in and closed the door.
In the Nevernever for the second time, at least for Shade, they walked into the house proper. This time she had come prepared. She had brought candy for the pixies. There was some intense negotiations with them, especially from one named Janx (Shade is going to remember that. She has a few ideas that involve Janx. Hey, Dresden has his pixie sidekick, why not Shade). Once the negotiations were finished, the pixies led them into the Maze. Getting to the clearing, Shade and Max saw about ten Fey there. That included members of the Spring Court. Philip was on the dais with the slumbering Kings. Harold was standing next to him, looking beat to hell. On another stone bier was a body. Shade assumed it was the kidnapped neighbor. His heart had been cut out. It seemed that the Fey were in the middle of making the sacrifice in the name of Autumn.
Across the clearing, Laurel emerged from the trees, heading towards Harold. Knowing that interrupting Philip would not be a good thing (interrupting the ritual would likely lead to fallout or backlash and considering the power currently being channeled on the dais, that would not be good), Shade moved to intercept her. Using some of the power invested in the sickle, she managed to get to Laurel and grab her. Laurel managed to knock Shade to the ground just as Max came up. In a contemptuous tone of voice, he told Shade to let her go, that she was just wood and thus worthless, useful for only chopping down. Laurel turned to attack Max at that (Max has a stunt that basically allows him to infuriate anybody. Shade's and Max's fights are going to be interesting, to say the least). It took three hits with the apple but Shade was finally able to knock Laurel unconscious (she didn't want to kill her. She just wanted her out). Turning to applause, Shade and Max saw that the ritual had been completed. Shade's heart went out to Harold. He had changed into his Fey form and just looked confused. There were a few words between Shade and Philip having to do with Laurel and Shade needing to talk to him. Philip told her that he would be back in Vegas the next day. Max and Shade then left the clearing (Max was very upset at what he saw and so was Shade. Hopefully, this will not be a problem between them. At least, Shade hopes that Max will talk with her about it and not just condemn her for it or decide to leave her. She really does love him).
The talk between Arthur and Sharee didn't take long and it wasn't too much later that the door opened and she walked away. As Brandon and Neil watched her go, Neil's phone rang. He answered it but he only heard harsh breathing. A quick look showed Neil that it was Uri's personal number. With a feeling of dread, Neil and Brandon headed over to Uri's house. Finding the front door locked, Brandon used a spell to open it. Once inside, they both started searching. In the rear of the house, they found a blood trail leading from the backdoor to the bathroom. Pushing the door open, Brandon and Neil saw Uri sprawled out on the floor, luckily still breathing. When they turned him over, they saw that he had been sliced to hell and the wounds looked to be putrefying. Brandon guessed that something holy had to have done that (looks like Davy came to Vegas as well. And here is where things could really get bad. Think back. Uri believes that Max brought the New Orleans group there. Once he wakes up, he is going to point his finger at Max and probably send Brandon and Neil to "take care" of things. Shade knows that Max had nothing to do about any strangers. So each has half the puzzle but not the whole picture).
Thus ended the gaming session. Once again, Lana lived up to her promise of things going to hell and I get the feeling we are only about half way through this arc (if that!). I cannot wait until next Sunday to see what happens next!
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