Season 1 - Episode 5: "In Dreams"

  The incident at Gil's happened only yesterday and it's already turned into a media frenzy. No one can turn on a television, radio or even surf the interwebs at the moment without seeing or hearing about it. It's the talk of the town, the topic of endless gossiping and speculation. Stories are abound ranging from some nut with a homemade fertilizer bomb to a full on terrorist attack. For those that were actually there... they know it as the moment when the hidden world has finally begun to spill out into the streets.

  It's now Monday. Two days have passed.

 

  Liam returned to the machine shop after taking a day off to recuperate from the battle to work on his "secret project". Even as he builds it he wonders exactly what these components were made for.

  

  Saorshe has been working on a healing and locating spells, all while waiting patiently to hear back from her contact Sister Sunshine who is investigating her co-worker, Sissy.

  Now that it's Monday she has reported for her first day as Manager at the library. As she walks in she notices Sissy eying her furiously from behind the counter as she readies the library to open to the public. David is there too and he looks happy to see her.

  "Hey Saorshe! Gratz on the promotion!" he says.

  "Thanks." she replies.

  "So... is it a good time to ask about my raise?" he flirts.

  "Don't count on it." is all she comes up with.

  "How's about I take you out to lunch to celebrate? There's a nice diner around the corner."

  Saorshe thinks about it for a moment, then a smile spreads across her face. "Sure. Why not."

  Jack was on call all weekend. No rest for the wicked. While off duty he spent all his free time either sleeping or drinking.

  First thing Monday morning Jack responds to a call with his partner, Larissa.  It's an apartment fire in the Wicker Park area and there are a number of casualties. Some are suffering from smoke inhalation, some heat stroke and others are severely burned. It's these burn victims that begin to cause Jack to sweat profusely, breathe heavy and loose his breakfast burrito.

  "Are you okay?" Larissa Asks.

  "Yeah. Long night, I guess. Don't worry about it. I'm fine." he replies unconvincingly.

  "Whatever, war hero." she says with a sly grin.

  Jack smiles back, thankful that he has an understanding partner, although not so understanding when it comes to certain topics, like...

  "So what is the deal with those freaks you've been hanging out with lately? They give me the creeps." she blurts out with little pretense.

  "What makes them 'freaks', if you don't mind my asking?"

  "I don't know. They just don't seem... right. You know?"

  "Yeah, I know." he says to himself as they get into the ambulance and head off to the hospital with a casualty in back.

  Larissa is in the rear watching over the patient. "So what was that back there? Result of another night of binge drinking?"

  "Back off, will ya."

  "No, I will not back off. We're partners here, I rely on you as much as you rely on me. If you're hungover, or God forbid still drunk, you're a liability to not only me, but to every patient we help."

  "Fine. Is this what you want to see?" he asks as he pulls a hidden flask out of his sock and throws it out the window.

  "It's a start. I just wish that was a sincere gesture. I know there's another hidden in the glove compartment."

  The silence is deafening.

  "Look, I'm going to recommend a shrink that I want you to go see. He helped me out a lot and I'm sure he can help you deal with your problems too."

  "Really? Can he erase two hellish tours in Afghanistan and one in Iraq from my memory? Can he?! If you'd seen the things I've seen..."

  "Please. Just call him. That's all I ask."

  Jack sits in silence, deep in thought as the ambulance speeds down the street.

  Saorshe and David are sitting at a booth at the Cozy Corner Diner on Milwaukee. It's a cute little place that is modeled after an old school diner from back in the day. David is digging into his stack of pancakes while Saorshe picks at a place of fruit.

  "I've never been here before. It's nice." Saorshe manages to say in between David's loud mouthfuls of food.

  "I come here a lot. Good food." he replies.

  "So I see."

  "Mind if I ask you a question?"

  "Sure. Go ahead."

  "What's your fascination with the occult section? You're always wandering around in there." he asks.

  "I'm a witch." she responds.

  "Yeah. And I'm a cosmonaut." They both laugh.

  "It's just a subject I'm interested in. And it's a quiet area of the library away from Sissy and the whiny kids."

  "I hear ya. I take it you've noticed how pissy Sissy has been all day?" he asks.

  "I haven't noticed."

  "Bullshit."

  "I'm loving every evil eyed minute of it." she smiles.

  "Nice. That's my girl."

  Saorshe's phone rings. She looks at the caller and sees that it's Intel. She answers the call only to hear him say, "I need to see you all tonight at SubT. It's important."

  "Important call?" David asks.

  "Yeah, sort of." she replies.

  "Anyone I should be jealous of?"

  Saorshe stares at him blankly for a moment, then grins sheepishly.

  It's around 9pm and Saorshe, Liam and Jack all converge upon SubTerranean. Things seem a little somber today as they walk through the doors, as the standard pulsing hip-hop music has been replaced with low key trip-hop and some down-tempo Björk ditties. Intel is on the decks, but he doesn't seem like he's having any fun, just going through the motions. He notices the three in the center of the mostly empty dance floor and motions for them to go down to the HQ and wait for his set to end. They head downstairs and see that Cherice is already there waiting for them.

  "You noticed the wake going on upstairs?" Cherice asks sarcastically.

  "Yeah, no shit." Jack replies.

  Just then Intel enters and looks at the four heroes. "Where's Kayte?"

  "Couldn't make it. Didn't tell me why, but I assume it has something to do with her being unemployed at the moment." Saorshe responds.

  "Whatever. So, what the hell happened Friday night? Gil was my friend. How could you let this happen?" Intel screams.

  "We went to his restaurant, I met with him and before we could finish our conversation we were attacked by some semi-invisible thing that scared him to the point that he slit his own throat. Then some massive rock creature attacked us in the street. We took care of it..." Saorshe says before being cut off.

  "'I' took care of it." Cherice interjects.

  "...but not before it completely obliterated the remains of Gil." Saorshe finishes.

  "I'm sorry we let you down." Liam says.

  Intel is deeply saddened by this news. "So what information did he manage to give you before he died?"

  "He told me about the Pentacle of Solomon, and that there's some new player in town that's brought its own personal Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse with it. I think we, err, Cherice killed one of them Friday night and this unnamed creature is what forced Gil to kill himself."

  Intel looks down at his feet in shame. "If I didn't send you all to meet with Gil he might still be alive."

  Cherice steps up and says, "Yeah, he died. And what he told Saorshe brought us one step closer to finding my killer. It sucks that he had to die, but hey, that's life."

  Intel does not look pleased to hear this coming from her. "I understand your situation, and I can sympathize. But is revenge really that important in the grand scheme of things? There is some serious shit going down in the city, and I'm sorry, but stopping this apocalypse posse seems to take precedence over you wanting to find your killer."

  "You wouldn't be saying that if you were in my shoes." Cherice says through her teeth.

  "Maybe not, but you could at least have some respect for the dead."

  "I am 'the dead'!" she screams before storming out. "I don't need you. I don't need any of you!"

  After a moment of no one reacting to this spectacle, Jack stands up and heads out after Cherice.

  "Now then, back to business." Intel says without missing a beat. "Describe this demon that attacked you in the street outside the restaurant."

  Jack exits the club and sees Cherice heading down Milwaukee avenue attempting to hail a taxi. He runs up behind her and attempts to calm her down.

  "Look, Intel was out of line back there but his friend just died and you have to admit, your bedside manner is severely lacking in the extreme."

  "Yeah, well I guess my sense of sympathy was taken away from me at the same time my life was, so you'll have to excuse me." she says while still trying to hail a taxi.

  "I'm new to all of this crazy bullshit that you all are into, but I will say that in these past few days I've seen some insane things that would make an Army Ranger's hair turn white. And if this apocalypse thing is coming like Gil said it was, then I know we need you with us to stop it. And I know that you need us just as much as we need you, regardless of what you said down there. Now what do you say?" he says, extending his hand out to her.

  Cherice turns to look at him, a tear running down her cheek. She lowers her arm and takes his hand. "You tell anyone I cried and I'll gut you like a fish."

  Jack and Cherice re-enter the HQ just as Intel finishes up the remaining discussion. "Let me do some research and I'll get back to you on your demon. Liam, I have some good news for you. Jasper's contact called me last night. He wants to meet with you, but unfortunately he can't get here until next week... after the full moon."

  "Oh. Well, that's disappointing." Liam says.

  "I'm sorry. I have to get back upstairs, but feel free to stay and hang." he says turning seeing Cherice in the doorway. "All of you."

  As Intel leaves, Jack sits and pulls a beer from the ice tub in the back of the room. He offers some to the others. Liam takes one, as does Cherice. Soarshe takes a water.

  "Okay. I need some answers, and I need them now." Jack demands.

  "About?" Saorshe asks confused.

  "About?! Oh come on! The most exciting thing to happen to me before last week was checking some geriatric chick's blood pressure. And now I'm fighting some giant Gorignak looking mother fucker hand-to-hand in the street after it stomps on some day-glo demon's face. Just what have I gotten myself involved with?!"

  Over the course of the next hour Jack is told everything that's happened since Soarshe, Liam and the missing Justin first met in Humboldt Park all the way up to The conflict at Gil's.

  "So, Liam. You're a werewolf?!" Jack asks.

  "It would seem so. I still have a hard time believing it myself." Liam replies.

  "Oh yeah, I forgot!" Saorshe says. "I brought this along to prove it to you." She reaches into her bag and pulls out a plastic sandwich bag filled with a dried yellow flower. She removes one from the bag, shreds it and drops it into her bottle of water. "Drink that."

  Liam looks at it in confusion. "What is it?"

  "Wolf's Bane."

  "Come again?"

  "Arnica Montana, more commonly known as Wolf's Bane. According to the texts if someone afflicted with lycanthropy ingests some of this flower it causes a severe reaction."

  "What kind of reaction?"

  "I'm kind of curious about that myself..." Saorshe says.

  "I'm not drinking that."

  "Do it." Saorshe says forcefully.

  "No."

  "DO IT!"

  "NO!"

  Cherice pulls her sword from it's sheath and points the tip at Liam's throat. "Do it."

  Liam grabs the bottle and takes a long drink. He swallows and it appears to cause no reaction. "See, I knew it was a bunch of crap..." he is cut off by a spasm of violent coughs followed by a geyser of vomit. His eyes are watering profusely and his face is bright red. "I stand corrected." he wheezes.

  "So when's the next full moon?" Jack asks.

  "Two days." Saorshe replies.

  "And what are we going to do about Benji over there when he turns?" Cherice asks.

  "That's a new one. Funny." Liam says in a raspy voice.

  "I'm sure we could lock him up that night. Anyone know a place we could do that?" Jack queries. The others shake their heads.

  "Don't worry, I'll figure something out." Liam says, his voice returning to normal.

  "I have access to drugs. Sedatives and the like. I'm sure we could dope him up until the morning." Jack adds.

  "You okay with that, Skip?" Saorshe asks.

  "Sounds ducky."

  Liam is running down the street, being pursued by a nasty looking demon that is hurling massive bolts of fire at him. He manages to dodge the slow projectiles, but the thing throwing them is much faster. It catches up to Liam easily and lunges at him, tackling him to the pavement. With a flurry of powerful blows, Liam defeats the creature. As it dies it says softly, "Never Was..."

  Liam awakens from his nightmare in a cold sweat. He looks at the clock and sees that it's 5am.  Through the window he can see the sun rising in the distance. Only one more day until the full moon...

  Saorshe has come in to work early this morning to catch up on some important paperwork. As she fills out some forms she puts down her pen and looks around the room. Something's not right. She heads down from her office and into the lobby. As she nears the front desk she hears something moving in the back... the occult section!

  She heads into the rear of the building, down the long hallway to the occult books. As she approaches she sees that books are strewn about, but not like last time. Nothing is destroyed, just tossed around as if someone was looking for something. As she rounds the corner she sees that someone is still in the room and is looking through the books. She readies a spell and as she comes into view of the person she hurls a Bolt of Light at the intruder. He is struck in the chest and flies across the room.

  She moves over to the intruder and sees that it's... David! His head is bleeding and he looks dazed by the attack.

  "Oh my... what are you doing back here?!" Saorshe asks.

  "What did I get hit with? A truck?"

  "No, I know... karate. Why are you here so early?"

  "I've been here all night. We got slammed with returns before we closed, so I stayed behind to tidy up. I started reading a copy of "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" that someone returned and lost track of time. When I came back downstairs I heard sounds coming from the occult section. I found it like this. I was cleaning it up when you came in and kicked my ass."

  "I'm so sorry about that. Let me help you up." Saorshe bends over to help David to his feet when suddenly he grabs her by the arm. His face contorts into a grisly demonic visage. His mouth begins to open wider and wider until all she can see is down his endless gullet...

  In an instant everything around Soarshe changes. The books all appear back on their shelves, David is gone and the room appears to be back to normal. It was all an illusion, or a waking dream.  Then the pain hits her. She rolls up her sleeve to see a large burn where the demon grabbed her on her forearm in the shape of two words... "Never Was".

  Jack is in his dingy apartment sitting in front of the television on his ratty recliner watching late night infomercials. It's early in the morning and he's still drunk from last night's bender. He has to report to work in a few short hours, but it's doubtful he'll be sober by then.

  Out of the corner of his eye he sees a shadow move from the kitchen to the bedroom. He sits up and rubs his eyes, hoping it was just a trick of the light. He decides to investigate, mainly because he has to head to the toilet anyway and the bedroom is on the way. He stumbles a few times due to his lost equilibrium and once he makes it to the room he peeks inside.

  Something doesn't feel right. He enters the room and once inside he sees that there is a writhing black mass in the corner by his bed, almost like a living shadow. As he approaches it begins to shimmer and convulse... and a woman lunges out of the mass. She is covered in bleeding burns and clutches at Jack in a futile attempt to stop her descent. As she falls she mumbles through her horribly scarred lips "Help me!", and once she hits the ground she explodes into dust.

  Taken completely aback by this, Jack grabs his cell phone and calls Saorshe. "You are not going to believe what just happened."

  "I just might, considering tonight's events."

  "I just saw a burned girl who jumped out of some sort of shadow portal thingie in my bedroom turn to dust when she hit the ground."

  "You sure it wasn't a dream?"

  "Pretty sure since I'm calling you and the dust isn't going anywhere."

  "Can you bring me some?"

  "What? The dust?"

  "Yes. Please bring me some at the library and I can use my magicks to see what it is."

  "Yeah, I guess." Jack hangs up the phone and looks around for something he could transport the dust in. He looks at his storage closet and smiles...

  Jack opens the collection tray of his Dustbuster onto the table in Saorshe's office. Saorshe looks at it and prepares to use her Sight power to see what exactly this dust is and hopefully where it came from. She touches it with her hand, but no images appear in her mind.

  "Nothing. I get nothing, almost like this doesn't even exist." she says matter-of-factly.

  "Well I didn't imagine the whole thing, and I definitely didn't bring you the dust bunnies from under my bed." Jack retorts sarcastically.

  "I know. I believe you. Trust me, I've had a weird night myself." she says while rolling up her sleeve.

  "What the... where did these come from?" Jack gasps while looking at the burn scars on her arm.

  "My dream. I had a waking dream before you called and this is the result. What do you think 'Never Was' means?" she asks.

  "I have no idea. Sounds like something we should ask your friend Intel about."

  "So you see a woman made of dust in your bedroom, I see my co-worker David turn into a demon and burn my arm... you think Liam had a similar occurrence?" she asks.

  "Call him and find out." Jack replies.

  Saorshe dials Liam and hears his story about the demon dream and "Never Was". "This can't be a coincidence, Liam hearing 'Never Was' in a dream at the same time those words are burned into my arm. Only thing is, you didn't come across the words at all."

  "I wasn't asleep." he says.

  "You were drunk, still are from the smell of it. You were pretty close to being unconscious I'd assume. Still, no 'Never Was'."

  "Call the others too. See if they had any dreams."

  Saorshe calls Cherice only to be told that she doesn't sleep, being dead and all. No answer from Justin's phone and the same goes for Kayte. "Nada. From any of them." she says.

  "We can figure this out in the morning. I have work in two hours." Jack states. "Call me if you need anything else."

  She nods and wishes him a "Good night".

  An hour goes by and in that time Saorshe has given up on researching the "Never Was" and has focused on finishing up her spell work. She puts the final touches on her Locator Spell and takes a large map of Chicago out of her desk, spreading it out on the surface. She closes her eyes, mutters a few incantations and lastly says the words "Never Was". She opens her eyes to see a small red dot in the center of the map. As she watches the dot grows bigger and bigger and bigger until it covers the entire thing.

  "My God... it's everywhere..."

Season 1 - Episode 4: "Down the Rabbit Hole"

It’s been a week since the group broke into the morgue and discovered the mysterious symbol, “The Pentacle of Solomon”, Saorshe found out what it means and what it did to Cherice. She did let the others know what her research uncovered, and even returned to The Mutiny to attempt to glean more information about the person or thing attacking these women. Unfortunately she could learn nothing more than what she did from Cherice.

It would seem that the group is growing apart lately. Cherice has not been heard from since that night. Justin is still not answering his phone and no one knows why. He has not attempted to call anyone and they are starting to seriously worry about him. Liam has not heard from Intel about his werewolf connection since he’s been completely preoccupied with his DJing gigs. Saorshe has concentrated on work and preparing a few new spells to help her out in the future.

Kayte, on the other hand, has been busy with filling out police reports, being interviewed by the media and routine hospital visits to see her injured teammates. Earlier in the week she heard that the re-opening of the roller derby will be pushed back a whole month to allow the authorities to perform a thorough investigation of the incident that occurred there.

            Currently Kayte is at the hospital visiting her teammate Anna Heim Steamroller, whose back was severely injured during the pile up at the UIC Pavilion. She’s on powerful painkillers so she’s barely conscious, but that doesn’t stop Kayte from being the loyal friend that she is. After staying to watch over Anna for a few hours she is told by a nurse that visiting hours are over, so she leaves.

            As she reaches the front steps of the hospital she is hit by a massive migraine headache, a symptom of her telepathic abilities. As she clutches her head in pain she can distinctly hear a menacing voice saying, “All will be lambs to the slaughter. All will perish.”

            She is in such pain that she nearly collapses on the steps, and a paramedic named Jack Kaneshiro (player Noy) that was getting into his ambulance with his partner Larissa in the front parking lot sees her and rushes over to help. He picks her up, puts her into a wheelchair that his partner had fetched for him and takes her back inside.

            Upon entering the hospital he notices that the halls are empty. There’s not a doctor, nurse or patient to be found. He calls out for help, but none comes. It’s very unsettling.

            Kayte is hit by another wave of pain and doubles over screaming. Larissa rushes in with the medical kit from the ambulance and starts to check on Kayte’s vitals. It’s just then that the Jack hears strange noises coming from the room directly behind him. As his partner checks Kayte out he opens the door and looks inside.

            He sees an old, pale woman on a hospital bed, and a young, slender woman by her side.

            “What’s going on here? Where are the doctors?” he asks. He gets no response. As he heads into the room he notices that all the vital monitors are off, the patient is barely breathing and the young woman is looking at him as if he just interrupted something important.

            “What’s going on here?” he asks. As he steps closer the woman she, in a flash, moves from the patient’s side to behind him with a curved knife at his back. Jack instinctively lashes out at the woman, but he over swings and falls to the ground. She stabs at him, but he rolls out of the way and gets back to his feet. A few well-placed, powerful jabs knock the woman back, and as she rushes in to attack he lands a punch that collapses her face. She falls dead to the ground.

            “The pain! It’s gone!” Kayte says as she enters the room with Larissa. They see the corpse bleeding on the floor… and then the blood starts moving. It slowly creeps across the floor, up the legs of the hospital bed, across the bed sheets and into a wound on the lady’s arm…a wound big enough to have been caused by the knife Jack was attacked with. The corpse of the young woman dissolves into nothing once all the blood has left her body.

            Completely freaked out, the two paramedics step back as the color returns to the old woman’s face and her breathing starts to return to normal. Just as they exit the room they notice that the doctors and nurses have returned to their duties, and a nurse rushes down the hall and into the room they just left.

            “I need a drink. You coming?” he says to Kayte and Larissa.

            Saorshe is at work at the library, placing DVDs back onto shelves when Sissy comes up behind her.

            “Marcy just called me at the front desk. She wants me to tell her if I think you’re ready to come off probationary status or not. I’m headed up there now to give her my full report.” Sissy says with a slight smirk on her face.

            As she heads off to Marcy’s office, another of Saorshe’s co-workers, David, walks past with a cart of his own that’s covered with books from the history section. “Don’t listen to her. She’s just mad because some girl from Kansas dropped a house on her sister.”

            “Heh. Yeah.” Is all she can muster in reply.

            “So, umm, if you don’t mind my asking… what did happen in the Occult section a couple of weeks back? We usually work opposite shifts so I never had a chance to ask until now.”

            “Oh, it’s a long story.”

            “I have some time. Meet me in the break room later and I’d love to hear all about it.” he says.

            “Okay.” She answers, blushing a little.

            Sissy walks past looking slightly pleased with herself. “Marcy wants to see you.”

            Saorshe opens the door to Marcy’s office to see her boss sitting at her desk looking very professional; perfectly erect posture, hands folded on top of the desk, look of annoyance, etc. “So I just received a nice little progress report from Sissy in regards to your probationary status. Naturally she told me that you’re difficult to work with, rude and very unfocused.”

            “Naturally.” Saorshe mumbles to herself.

            “That’s what she says. I’ve been watching you after our last discussion and still find you to be the most diligent and consistent person on our staff. You know I respect you, but I couldn’t let you slide by so easily after that Occult section incident. It was for your own good. And even after I demoted you, you still continued to work your hardest regardless of what degrading task Sissy assigned to you. Therefore I’m lifting your probationary status and promoting you to the Operations Manager position, effective immediately. Which essentially means that you’re taking over my job.” Marcy says with a smile.

            “What?” Saorshe asks completely taken by surprise.

            “It’s about time I retired. I’m almost 70 and I’m not getting any younger. Congratulations.”

            Liam is working on the custom refrigeration unit he’s been commissioned to build, and it isn’t going so well. He’s distracted and for good reason; Intel hasn’t called with any information in regards to Jasper’s werewolf connection and it’s only 10 days until the next full moon. In his eyes time is running out.

            His boss, Big Mike, is out for the afternoon in an attempt to scrounge up some business across town and all his co-workers are out to lunch, so Liam is in charge for the moment. The front door buzzer goes off. He has a walk-in customer. He makes his way over to the office and sees a gruff man standing in the waiting area. He looks unkempt, grizzled and none-too-nice.

            “Do I talk to you about a custom job?” he asks.

            “Uhh, yes. You can talk to me.” Liam responds.

            “I am looking to get three individual pieces made. I have schematics. I would like them done within the week. Cost isn’t an issue.”

            “May I see the schematics, please?”

            The man hands them over. They are ratty and beat up, but Liam can plainly see that what the man wants him to construct isn’t too complicated. He could easily hand it off to another machinist in the shop and have it ready in time. Liam hands the man the forms he will need to fill out.

            “I’d like this done off the books if possible.” The man says. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a wad of hundred dollar bills, tossing three of them onto the counter. “Like I said, cost isn’t an issue.”

            Liam is conflicted. Sure he could use the money, but he doesn’t like the idea of stealing materials from Big Mike and using them for profit. But on the other hand, he gets to keep all the cash with no middleman and no taxes taking their cut. After mulling it over for a few moments he takes the three hundred dollars off the counter.

            “It will cost $3000. Half now.” Liam says.

            The man counts out the money and places it on the table. “Within the week, then?”

            They shake on it.

            Kayte, Jack and Larissa enter SubTerranean. They head straight for the bar and begin chatting amongst themselves about what just happened at the hospital. Drinks are flowing freely and Jack orders a few too many Jack & Cokes, as does Kayte. Within the first thirty minutes they are almost fall down drunk. Larissa, being the sensible one, stuck with water.

After the first hour Larissa looks at her watch and says, “Sorry folks. I’m outta here. I have a thing.”

Just then Intel walks in and sees Kayte at the bar. “Hey kiddo. How you doing?”

Smashed beyond belief she replies, “ACES!” and drunkenly introduces Jack and Larissa without drooling all over herself.

“Had a few too many, I see.” Intel says.

“Well, if you saw blood with a mind of it’s own you’d be drunk too.” Jack slobbers.

            Intel looks around wondering if anyone heard that. “Let’s take this downstairs.”

            “Sorry, I gotta go.” Larissa says as she heads out the door.

Intel, shrugging, leads them into the Green Room. “So what happened?”

Kayte manages to tell the whole story in a semi-coherent manner, and surprisingly remembers a lot of the details.

            “Sounds like a Shlosher Demon.” Intel says. “They look human, but are anything but. They can also cloak themselves from their surroundings so no one can watch them feed, which involves draining the life force from a person along with all their blood. When you killed her, everything she took from the victim returned to its rightful place.” He looks at Kayte. “Because you were able to hone in on her thoughts you must have gained an immunity from the cloaking spell and passed it along to anyone who touched you.”

            “I knew I was special!” Kayte exclaims a little too loudly.

            Saorshe is at home relaxing with a bottle of cheap wine, celebrating her promotion alone. Her cell phone rings and she looks at the name of the caller… its Cherice.

            “You watching the news?” Cherice asks bluntly.

            “No. Why?”

            “Another body was found, same as before. Same as me. Get the others. I’m done with this waiting game shit.” She says before disconnecting.

            Saorshe, shaken up, calls the others. There’s still no answer from Justin. And since Kayte is already at SubT all she has to do is wait for the rest to show up.

            Liam and Saorshe walk into the Green Room a few minutes apart and are hastily introduced to a blitzed Jack by an equally shitfaced Kayte. Intel manages to let the two new arrivals in on the little supernatural episode at the hospital since the two drunks are in the middle of a random laughing fit.

            Cherice enters looking frazzled and off her game. She has forgone the business attire she normally be wearing in favor of a simple t-shirt and jeans, although her poster case is still slung over her shoulder as usual. She also looks a lot paler than before, almost completely devoid of color.

            Cherice cuts to the chase. “I take it you’ve seen the news, or heard about it from Saorshe; another victim, same M.O. They had a picture of her on the television. Guess who she looked like?”

            “I wish I knew who was doing this, Cherice, but all of my contacts are at a loss. I’m sorry.”

            “Keep your apologies. All I want to know is where I can find this thing, and before I cut it’s fucking head off it’s going to answer a few questions.”

            “I do have some info on the Pentacle of Solomon.” Intel interjects. “Well, a pentacle is basically any magical talisman inscribed with a symbol or character, like a necklace or a ring. The Pentacle of Solomon doesn’t sound very familiar, but then again there are so many.” He reaches into his sachel and pulls out his iPad. He taps a few commands on the screen and brings up some information. “All I have is some info on Pentcles, which is that a Pentacle is one of four elemental ‘weapons’ or tools of an Adept. These weapons are ‘symbolical representations of the forces employed for the manifestation of the inner self, the elements required for the incarnation of the divine’. So it sounds like your attacker is using this Pentacle of Solomon to attempt to bring forth some sort of Godlike entity through his victims. But that’s just me. Don’t quote me on it.”

            “And because the brand on Cherice wasn’t complete the spell didn’t work. Her soul returned instead of this… entity.” Saorshe says.

            “So why are the others dying?” Liam asks.

            “I don’t know.” Intel says. “But I know someone that might. He’s… a demon, who can possibly lead you in the right direction. Only thing is that in order to talk to him you’ll have to pass a series of tests.”

            “What kind of tests?” Kayte asks.

            “Depends on what’s on the the menu.” Intel respods. Everyone looks at him confused, especially Jack who is at a complete loss. Intel writes down an address on a piece of paper and hands it to Liam. Above it the name “Gil” is written.

            The group heads to the address, which is located in the heart of Oldtown, a wealthy area of the city nestled between Wrigleyville and Lincoln Park. It looks like a crowded suburb rife with shops, restaurants, clubs and lots of snobby scarf wearing hipster types. According to Intel it also has the highest “friendly” demon concentration in the city.

            They arrive at the address with Jack in tow, mainly because he couldn’t take the hint that he wasn’t invited because of his level of intoxication. The place is a restaurant funnily enough called “Gil’s”. They step inside and and immediately notice that they’re  seriously underdressed. It’s a suit and tie type of place, and women are wearing some really revealing dresses and expensive jewelery. Basically they look like homeless people compared to this crowd and Cherice is a little pissed.

            “Of all the nights I decide to leave the business suit at home…” she mumbles.

            The Maitre d’ steps up to them, but doesn’t react the way they’d expect him to. “Intel, party of five. Right this way.” He leads them to the back of the restaurant, and as they follow him they all notice that the other patrons aren’t paying them any mind… it’s as if they’re invisible. They are led to a table next to a wall encompassing fresco and are seated. The maitre d’ hands them menus and says “Your server will be with you shortly”.

            As they look around the restaurant, completely taken aback by the fact that no one is paying attention to them except the staff, their server approaches with another following close behind who looks rather annoyed.

            “Hello, my name is Kenton, and I will be your server tonight.” He steps aside to allow him to introduce the other server. “And this is my trainer, Monty. Tonight is my first night serving here at Gil’s, so please bear with me as I learn the ropes. That would be great, thanks. So, can I interest the VIPs in a beverage? A glass of wine or something from the bar while you look over the menu?”

            “What a wiener.” Jack says a little too loudly.

            Liam orders a beer, Saorshe a water, Jack and Kayte get Jack and Cokes and Cherice just waives Kenton off.

            “Very good. And since you’re guests of Mr. Intel, your meals this evening are free of charge at the insistance of the management. Our specials tonight are a lovely organic spinach and arugula salad with locally grown strawberries tossed with a light homemade balsamic vinegrette, a delightful sushi pizza…” he holds his hand up to his mouth to block the other server from hearing him say “it’s as nasty as it sounds. A creamy and rich lobster risotto and a traditional duck confit.”

            “What do you recommend?” Kayte asks, still a little tipsy.

            “I highly recommend the duck confit. It’s superb.” Kenton replies.

            Kayte orders the duck confit, Liam a “rare” prime rib, Saorshe the salad, Jack a burger and Cherice a plate of “Fuck off, will ya!”

            “Very good, I will return with your dinner shortly.” Kenton says before he walks away to the kitchen.

            The drinks arrive and Jack tears into his. The others begin to chat amongst themselves, but Kayte seems a little disturbed. She is looking at the painting next to their table that takes up the wall. It begins changing.

            “You guys seeing this?”

            “What are you talking about?” Liam asks.

            “The painting. It’s changing.” She says.

            Saorshe looks at the painting, but doesn’t see anything like what Kayte is describing. She uses her magickal abilities to see past the illusion the painting is giving off, and the façade fades away revealing a long dark tunnel that looks like it’s part of a medieval dungeon. Saorshe and Kayte stand up and walk toward the tunnel, and the others see the two of them disappear into thin air.

            “What the hell?” Jack asks after requesting another drink.

            “Something’s not right…” Cherice says.

            Saorshe and Kayte make their way down the hall, toward a door at the far end. They reach it, but are hesitant to open it.

            “You ready?” Kayte asks. Saorshe shakes her head in agreement.

            The door opens and they walk into a room that is the complete opposite of the hallway outside. It’s the single most lavish, opulent sitting room they’ve ever seen. It’s so insane that it’s mind boggling. And at the center of the room is one of the fugliest demons they’ve ever seen… even though so far they’ve only seen 3 or 4 tops. The demon is male, maybe. Bright orange skin with dark green bony protrusions pushing through the flesh making the face look like an eerily scary halloween mask. Pitch black eyes, no hair but the scalp comes to a sharp point, like a bony mohawk… and the demon is about 3 feet tall… with the mohawk. And the teal Armani suit… wtf?! It looks like a massive trainwreck of mismatched colors and styles. It’s almost comical. No, it’s very comical. Borderline hysterical.

            Kayte snickers to herself at the sight of this bizarre demonic rainbow. Almost instantly she fades and disappears. Saorshe looks concerned, but the demon speaks…

            “Congratulations! You’ve passed my tests.” It says.

            “What tests?” Saorshe asks.

            “Well, first there was the test of Mutual Respect. You treated Kenton, your server, like an equal even though he was awkward and new to the job. Second, well, you failed the second one. Cheated in fact. It was about Trust. Kenton gave you his recommendation for dinner, but you didn’t trust his taste. You’re lucky… that magick of yours sort of bypassed that one. Lastly was Self Control. Sure, I know I look completely ridiculous in this getup. I don’t need you asshats rubbing my nose in it. You’re lucky I’m a good guy. Some of the dudes in my clan back home would eat your spleens just for making eye contact.”

            He snaps his fingers and the suit disappears, and is replaced by a Mötley Crüe t-shirt and a pair of worn blue jeans. “That’s more like it. Oh, and I’m Gil by the way. Nice to meet you.” He reaches out and shakes Saorshe’s hand.

            “I’m Saorshe Riley. Nice to meet you too. Your ‘tests’ weren’t exactly what I was expecting.”

            “What, did you think I was going to have you walk a plank over a sea of fire or something? That’s only on Christmas and certain bank holidays.” He stops to wait for a laugh that never comes. “Tough crowd. I try to teach my clients lessons on top of helping them out with whatever they need. I just gave you three skills you’ll need to survive in this new world you’re discovering a little more about every day.”

            “Ahh. Thanks? I guess. Anyway, I’m here to ask about…”

            “The Pentacle of Solomon.” Gil interrupts. “Its sole purpose is to prevent someone’s soul from returning to its body after being forcibly removed by black magicks. You see, some of the most powerful and forbidden black magicks aren’t as long-lasting as you might think. Tearing out someone’s soul in some cases can result in said soul eventually finding it’s way back to it’s body, thus reviving it. The Pentacle of Solomon is used when you want to completely put the kibbosh on the chances of that ever happening. Why? who knows. It really depends on the deal of the person, or demon, that’s using it.”

            “And why would someone use it?” Saorshe asks.

            “Personally, I’ve never seen it used, or know anyone that crazy or psychotically malevolent enough to use it. I mean, that’s just not cool. But, I will say that I’ve heard talk of a new player moving into town. Real old school. Real nasty SOB too. Only thing is… no one knows what it’s name is. And it’s suspected that it brought an entourage with it. Like it’s own personal Four Horsemen deal. And his arrival coincides with the Pentacle killings.”

            Just as he finishes speaking the electricity in the room starts to flicker, the lights dim and a gust of wind blows through the room. The lights completely go out and it’s dead slient.

            “I think I just peed a little.” Gil whispers.

            The lights come back on just as quickly as they went out.

            “Maybe it was a blackout?” Gil asks no one in particular.

            “I don’t think so.” Saorshe says while backing up.

Floating in the center of the room is what she can only describe as a “slight discoloration” in the air, almost like something is camouflaged and it’s hovering right above them. When they move they can make out the outline of something large, but no details.

            Gil starts to cry uncontrollably. And not girly crying. We’re talking in fear of your life crying. He’s pertrified. He runs to his desk and grabs a letter opener. He holds it like a knife, threatening whatever it is in the air.

A feeling of dread and uncertainty overcomes Saorshe, and she feels weakened just enough to not be able to stop what happeens next…

Gil starts crying again, runs and huddles in the far corner, covering his face screaming “I’M NOTHING! I’M NOTHING!” over and over again. Then he stabs himself in the throat with the letter opener, tearing open his neck like a ripe fruit.

            Unable to react in time, Saorshe runs over and picks up the bleeding demon and runs for the front door. She makes it out into the hallway as a massive gust of wind kicks up behind her.

            She exits the dungeon and appears rght where the others last saw her… her seat at the table. She materialized out of nowhere just as the painting closes up behind her.

            Kayte is back at her seat looking just as confused as the others.

            “What the hell is going on here?” Kayte asks. “What happeend to the disco godfather?”

            “NO TIME! RUN!” Saorshe screams.

            The invisibility spell seems to have worn off. The patrons of the restaurant can see the group, as well as the bloody demon Saorshe has in her arms. Panic sets in and people are screaming and running out of the restaurant. Some are being trampled on the way out. It’s chaos.

            They make their way through the confusion as quickly as they can without hurting anyone, and just as they reach the front door they can hear the sounds of tires screeching and cars crashing on the other side. They walk through the doors to see a massive 9 foot tall beast standing in the middle of the street… and it’s staring each of the Champions down with it’s bright red eyes. Drivers are attempting to swerve around the beast, but the street is narrow and there’s already a pile up forming. Some slam into the beast, but it’s built like a brick shithouse and the cars buckle upon impact. Others crash into more cars, some hit people, storefronts, fire hydrants, you name it. Before they can take another step outside there are cars piled up on each side of the beast, boxing them all in with it.

            As it takes a step toward them, Saorshe brings the barely breathing Gil back inside and hides him behind the Maitre d’ stand. When she exits once again she brandishes her blessed quarterstaff. Liam holds his sword at the ready. Jack, still a mite confused, takes out his boot knife just to part of the cool crowd. Cherice is attempting to get behind the beast with her katana in hand. Kayte only has her fists to defend her.

            The beast advances, and so do the Champions. It’s think, scaly hide is quite resilient to their attacks, and it is able to absorb a lot of damage without showing signs of pain or weakness. Saorshe fires a bolt of Light at it, but it only pushes it a few feet further away due to it’s increased bulk. It’s a slow swinger, and even thogh the others are quick to dodge it’s attacks, it does manage to land a few powerful hits on the Champions. Some end up being hurt quite badly.

            It continues to advance, not at the Champions, but at the restaurant. They can hardly stop it from making it’s way into the eatery, and once inside it quickly administers a lethal stomp to Gil’s head, crushing it to a bloody pulp.

            Enraged, Cherice dips her katana into a pool of gasoline coming from the nearby crashed cars, then runs at the beast, scraping the tip of her sword along the pavement. The sword sparks, igniting the fuel and setting her sword aflame. She jumps into the air as the beast exits the restaurant, and as she falls back to the ground she slashes the beast from it’s left shoulder down through it’s torso. It stops in it’s tracks, looking at this pale woman with a flaming sword as she lands in before it like a ninja. She stands just as the top half of the beast slides off the rest of it’s body, and it falls over dead.

            In shock, but still a paramedic to the last, Jack runs in to help his injured comrades as best he can. Cherice walks over to the remains of the beast and sets both halves of it on fire with her sword. As it burns she says to herself, “I never got to ask you any questions, you fucker.”

            “I have some answers!” Saorshe says as she puts her staff away. “But we need to get out of here now!”

            “Why?” Cherice asks beligerantly.

            “You want to explain this mess to the cops?” she says while pointing into the distance. The sound of distant police sirens can be heard over the screams and the twisting metal.  

            “I say we bolt. And I mean now.” Liam says as he puts his sword away.

            “Sounds like a plan.” Kayte says as she starts running in the opposite direction. The others follow, but Cherice stays behind for a few moments more. She stares at the burning remains of the beast, then spits on them.

            “This isn’t over. Not by a long shot.” She turns and runs after the others.

Character Introductions, Part 3 / Nocturnum Opening Credit Sequence

Name: Jack "Daniels" Kaneshiro
Player: Noy
Age: 28
Height/Weight: 5'8"/190 lbs.
Eyes/Hair: Brown/Black
Role: Paramedic/Ex-Army Ranger
Personality: Sullen, moody and jumpy, but loyal.
Strength: Combat Training
Weakness: The bottle
Short Term Goals: Work as best his skills will allow and find a lady friend.
Long Term Goals: Drink himself to death.
Character History: Joined the Army right out of HS. Became a combat medic and was shipped out to Iraq. Did one tour of duty which has left his emotionally scarred due to an unfortunate incident he was responsible for. Was honorably discharged and returned to Chicago where he took a job as a paramedic. Has slowly descended into the pit of alcoholism and the only thing that keeps him going is the saving of lives everyday. Is currently baffled by the death of a person he was trying to save... there was nothing wrong with her, she just died.

Season 1 - Episode 3: "Details"

            Cherice’s description of what happened to her before she was killed takes everyone aback. The three Champions decide that continuing to talk outside is a bad idea, and that they should go back to the Green Room instead. Justin, however, decides not to join them and heads home.

            Once inside Intel joins them and even though he knows about the majority of the supernatural shenanigans that happen within the city limits, he knows absolutely nothing about Cherice’s resurrection. He does mention that he has heard of a rare occurrence, not too dissimilar to what happened in “The Crow”, where someone returns from the grave to avenge their death, and once that task is complete they can finally be at rest. He’s not sure if that is what happened here or not, but “it sounds pretty legit”.

            Regardless, all Cherice knows it that she’s been undead for the past month or so, and in all that time she’s no closer to finding out anything about her death or her attacker. “I heard talk of a DJ who knew about these things. That DJ being you, of course.” Cherice says pointing at Intel. “And when I came to see you last night to get some answers I saw the fight outside between the three of you and that antler creature. I figured it was time to stop going at it alone and get some real help.”

            “We’re flattered.” Liam says.

            “Well, it’s not like you people have anything going on in your lives anyway. I’ve been watching you all. You have pathetic social lives. No offense.”

            “None taken.” Saorshe says through clenched teeth.

            Intel steps up and adds, “I know someone who might have some answers. His name is Jasper King. I’m supposed to meet him tomorrow night, but something’s come up. He’ll be at the UIC Pavilion at 6p. Tell him I sent you.”

            They all go their separate ways for the rest of the evening.

            The next day both Liam and Saorshe go to their jobs to make that kibble money. Saorshe keeps an eye on Sissy, while Liam walks on eggshells around his boss. Neither wants to cause any trouble at their place of employment… they all have bills to pay.

            It’s getting close to the time to meet at the UIC Pavilion, and both Liam and Saorshe have been trying to call Justin to give them the location of their meeting. His phone is either dead or off the hook because all they ever get is a busy signal.

            Cherice, looking no worse for the wear, joins them in front of the rather busy pavilion. It’s really packing them in tonight, and as they approach the front doors they can see why… tonight’s event is a Windy City Roller Derby bout between the Chicago team “Hell’s Belles” and the “Dairyland Dolls” of Madison, WI.

            They each pay the $20 admission fee (Liam spots Saorshe the cash since she’s, as she likes to call it, “po’”) and head inside. It’s a madhouse inside as the rowdy crowd cheers and jeers as the teams are introduced. They find some available bleacher seats and sit, realizing that they have no idea what Jasper King looks like and should wait for him to come to them.

           

The bout begins, and the Jammer for the Belles, a lithe lass that goes by the handle “The Nailer” (player Sarah), is kicking some serious ass. She stands at a miniscule 5’2”, but is fast and mean on the track. The bout only just started and she’s already on the verge of scoring a Grand Slam. The crowd goes wild as she makes her way toward the pack once again. She dives right through, and just as she’s about to clear the group, the opposing team’s Pivot lunges at her in an attempt to knock her down and put the kibosh on her ability to score. It’s almost as if The Nailer knew it was coming; she quickly dodges the Pivot’s attack and skates right past her as she falls to the ground. GRAND SLAM!!!

            It’s been 10 minutes since they arrived and there still is no sign of Jasper King. Getting a little impatient, Liam heads down to the concession stand to get a beer. While waiting in line he notices a ratty looking older man who is about 4’11”, 200 lbs. with the pimply complexion of a teenager watching the bout next to the alcohol vendor. His cheeks are deeply scarred from bad acne and there are strange tattoos peeping out from around the neckline of his dirty shirt. Something about him just seems off to Liam, so he keeps an eye on him. Just as he’s about to order his beer, the man turns to Liam and says “Meet me behind the bleachers with your friends in 5 minutes.”

            Liam takes his bottle of Goose Island and heads back to Saorshe and Cherice, tells them that he found Jasper and together they head off to meet him behind the bleachers.

            They see the man waiting for them and he immediately takes a liking to Saorshe, licking his lips and straightening his wild hair as they approach. The man introduces himself, “I’m Jasper King. Intel told me you’d be here. So what the hell do you want?”

            Liam speaks up first and asks, “You ever heard of someone being resurrected to avenge their death?”

            “That only happens in the movies, kid. I assume you’re talking about this pale ass broad over here.” Jasper says while pointing at Cherice.

            “This ‘pale ass broad’ will cut you in half if you ever call me that again, fat man.” Cherice retorts.

            “Sorry, sorry. It’s just that I’m missing the bout. I loves me come hot chicks on roller skates beating the crap out of each other.”

            “So, yes or no?” Saorshe asks.

            “No. Never heard of it happening before, sweet cheeks. Is that all?”

            “There’s one other thing… you notice anything strange going on in the city lately. Odd murders and such? Demons making random appearances and all that?” Liam asks.

            “Well, I’m more of a vampire expert so what you’re asking is outside my field of expertise. But I have heard mention of a few things. A close friend of mine told me about an “entity” of sorts that’s set up shop in the city, and its influence can be felt by all supernatural creatures, both local and non-local.”

            “This ‘entity’ have a name?” Liam inquires.

            “Not that I’ve heard, Lassie.” He jokes in reply.

            “Lassie?”

            “Don’t play dumb with me, Mr. Werewolf. Intel told me all about you three.” He slinks up to Saorshe in an awkward way, “Especially you.”

            “Umm… eww.” Saorshe manages to squeak out before a series of loud screams coming from behind her gets her attention.

            They all turn to see a group of six textbook Wrigleyville douchebags heading for them, throwing every spectator in their way like ragdolls. It’s a strange sight; these dudes are wearing flip flops, alligator tees with the collars popped, sideways baseball caps… the works, but their faces are contorted into a sinister visage. Their brows are deeply furrowed, the ones not searing cheap sunglasses have yellow eyes and are licking their fanged teeth with evil delight.

            “Ahh, shit. Not these guys again.” Jasper exhales.

            “Who are they?” Liam asks.

            “Vampires.” Cherice plainly states.

            “What do they want?” Saorshe asks.

            “Me, most likely.” Jasper replies.

One of the vamps grabs two spectators by their collars and hurls them at the track. They land right in the path of the oncoming pack. Roller derby girls are flying everywhere as the have no time to stop and crash one after another into the fallen spectators. A pile of eight derby girls are covering the entire width of the track. The Nailer comes around the corner, sees the pile-up, and since she’s going so fast has no time to stop. She slams into the pile, flips head over heels twice and lands painfully on her back.

            “These guys were making my street a living hell! So I directed the fuzz to their hideout… told them it was a meth lab. The pigs trashed the place. I figured they’d turn up sooner or later. They know my weakness is the derby.” Jasper explains.

            “Awesome. And they’re coming right for us.” Liam says.

            “If you help me I can make it worth your while.” He says to Liam.

            The vamps are all standing before them. “Come here fat man. Payback’s a bitch!” one of them proclaims.

            “Go to hell, d-bag!” Jasper yells while hiding behind Saorshe.

            The vamps move in for the kill and a massive battle ensues. Saorshe’s Ball of Light manages to throw one vamp through the front door of the pavilion and into the street, while another smashes two more against a brick wall enough times that they crumble. Liam manages to decapitate one with his sword, then heads out into the street to finish off the straggler. Cherice beheads another, and with an assist from The Nailer, who uppercuts the last vamp right into the path of Cherice’s katana, the bloodsuckers are dust.

            “Oh my god! Intel was right! You guys are the goods!” Jasper screams.

            The remaining spectators have fled and all that remains in the pavilion are the banged up derby girls, the corpses of the spectators the vamps killed and the heroes.

            “Who the hell is this?” Jasper asks pointing to The Nailer.

“The name’s Kayte. Kaye Conklin. But my derby name is ‘The Nailer’. Now can someone please tell me what the hell just happened here?”

            “Long story.” Liam says matter-of-factly.

            “Nice uppercut.” Cherice manages to say without her usual acerbic tone.

            “Thanks.” Kayte says, still in shock.

            “Look, enough with the making friends shit. I need to see Intel. Can you three escort me back to SubTerranean before more of those turds or the cops show up?”

            The three nod at Kayte as they head out. Liam says, “Can you deal with the cops, please?” to Kayte before heading out the door.

            “Yeah, sure. I guess.” She mumbles to herself as she looks around at all the carnage surrounding her.

            The three manage to escort Jasper back to SubT without incident and hook up with Intel in the Green Room.

            “I knew those vamps would come looking for you, which is why I sent my peeps here to deal with it.” Intel informs.

            “Nice of you to warn us in advance.” Cherice says.

            “No problem.” Intel says as he heads back into the hallway with Jasper to talk.

            “Has anyone tried to call Justin again?” Saorshe asks.

            “Hang on…” Liam takes out his cell phone, dials Justin’s number and ends up with the same result they’ve been getting all day… busy signal. “Maybe we should have gotten his address too.”

            “How does all this help me find my killer?” Cherice bitches.

            “It’s not our fault Jasper didn’t know anything about your ‘condition’.” Saorshe replies.

            “Well then, lets get back out there and look for some answers.” Cherice states.

            “We will, I just have to ask Jasper something…” Liam trails off when Jasper and Intel come back in the room… with Kayte in tow.

            “I found something you lost.” Intel proclaims.

            “Hey. I heard you guys mention SubTerranean back at the Pavilion, so I thought I’d come by and see what was going on.” Kayte says.

            “So what happened with the cops?” Saorshe asks.

            “I told them what I saw. A bunch of crackheads showed up, trashed the place and ran. Only thing is, I know they weren’t crackheads. They were vampires.” She replies.

            “Yes they were. And you all took care of them real good.” Jasper interjects.

            “You OK?” Saorshe asks.

            “I’m dealing. I knew they were out there somewhere, I just never thought I’d end up seeing one face to face, let alone cold cocking one.”

            “Join the club.” Liam says. "I thought vampires weren't from around here?"
            "They usually aren't. You'd most likely find vamps on the far south side, but you could run into a few in Wrigleyville too. They love their Cubs games."
            Liam nods, then asks, “Jasper, can I see you in the hallway for a minute please?” They head out to the hallway. “What did you mean when you said if I helped you you’d make it ‘worth my while’?”

            “Oh yeah. I’m well aware of your ‘condition’, and know a fella in the same boat. He can help you learn to control the werewolf instead of letting it control you. Interested?” Jasper asks.

            “You bet your ass!”

            “I’ll talk to him and will contact you through Intel. I don’t have a cell phone.”

            “Lose it?”

            “Can’t afford one.”

            “Ahh.”

            Jasper leaves as Liam returns to the Green Room with a big grin on his face. He sits down and joins in on the rest of the group becoming acquainted with their new friend, Kayte.

            The next day, Saturday.

            All the current media is atwitter with talk of a brutal sexual assault that ended in death last night in Logan Square. The body of the victim was found behind a bar called The Mutiny on Western. Even though the sexual assault was considered “Brutal”, there is no official cause of death being given by the coroner’s office. This, of course, has attained the complete attention of Cherice.

            She calls Saorhse and tells her that she wants to go down to the morgue tonight, and to call the others and ask them to come too. Saorshe agrees and calls Liam, Kayte and Justin. Justin’s phone is still off the hook making her worry about him all the more.
            "Due to the 'incident' at the pavilion, the roller derby is shut down for the next week to allow for a full investigation. Pretty much means I have no plans." Kayte says.
            Saorshe does a little research, and finds that there are two morgues in the area: one in Wicker Park and another in Andersonville. She has no idea which one the victim was taken to, so she puts it to a vote. Everyone chooses Andersonville.

            Everyone meets up at SubT first to go over the plan. Saorshe performs a glamour spell over a few old work badges to make them look like UIC Med Student IDs. They also practice their cover story before heading out.

            Once at the Andersonville Morgue they can see that there are a bunch of employees outside smoking, eating and chitchatting away the evening. Must be break time. Perfect! However there is still a security guard inside the lobby that they’ll have to deal with. They slip inside, speak to the guard and tell him they’re a bunch of UIC med students that are here to tour the facility as part of their job interview process. The guard, not being too bright, believes their story and lets them sign in and they head off into the back to a break room where they’ll meet their tour guide. They, of course, don’t wait and head off to where the bodies are kept. They find three rooms that could possibly hold the corpse of the victim, so they split up.

In the first room Liam finds a large walk in cooler that contains the body of the victim from last night’s assault. He calls the others to come and join him, and when they do they all notice that she shares a strange resemblance to Cherice; the same hairstyle, same basic body type and height/weight ratio. It’s odd. And Soarshe notices something else too… below the woman’s naval is a mark. A brand…

            Cherice lifts her shirt and finds the exact same brand below her naval, only hers looks incomplete; sections are missing. This visibly upsets Cherice beyond belief, and the others decide that it’s time they left before their tour guide comes looking for them. Before they depart, Saorshe touches the mark on the corpse. Using her psychometry ability she can only glean a name… “The Pentacle of Solomon”.

            After they leave the morgue, Liam begins to chat with the others outside about wanting to check out the other morgue in Wicker Park. Liam’s reason is that he wants to see if the body he found outside his apartment the other night is there and if there’s some sort of explanation as to how it happened. Everyone agrees except for Cherice, who is so shaken that she decides to call it a night.

            The others arrive at the Wicker Park morgue and find a totally different situation awaiting them. This place’s security is a lot tighter; there are three guards at the front desk and it looks like there are security cameras everywhere. If they want in they’re going to have to play this one cool as a cucumber.

            They head in and speak to the guard, giving the same reason they used at the last morgue as their excuse for being there so late. It doesn’t seem to be working this time however.

            “You’re not on the guest list, and it’s nearly midnight.” The main guard says.

            “Well, we got sidetracked. Tonight hasn’t exactly gone according to plan. We should have been here hours ago but we had dinner meetings, hit traffic, you name it. This is the earliest we could get here. You sure there’s no one here that can give us a tour?” Kayte asks.

            At that very moment one of the interns comes out to see if his pizza delivery has arrived and sees the three “students”. He introduces himself as Dave and offers to give them a tour. The guard isn’t cool with it, but basically tells him that if anything happens it’s going to be on his head. Dave agrees and takes the three students into the back.

            They bring up the “mysterious deaths” that have been plaguing the area, and Dave replies with, “We have one of them here. Want to see?”

            Dave takes them into an examination room where the body of a man is lying on a gurney under a number of lights. It appears perfect in every way; no cuts, bruises, discoloration. Nothing.

            “So how did he die?” Saorshe asks.

            “We can’t figure it out. We’ve done everything except an autopsy and can find nothing wrong with the body. It’s in perfect shape. We perform the autopsy tomorrow if you want to come back and observe. I’m sure it would look great on your resume.” Dave replies with a grin.

            “Maybe.” Liam says walking toward a large wall of pull out freezers for individual corpses. “I am interested in a case I read about yesterday. A body found in a dumpster. Supposedly turned inside out from what the newscaster said. You wouldn’t have happened to have received that corpse, would you?”

            Dave walks over to the coolers and opens one, pulling out the shelf with a large garbage bag sitting atop it. “You mean this one?”

            Liam looks pale as Dave opens the bag. When he shows everyone what’s inside they all step back in disgust.

            “Nasty!” Kayte exclaims.

            “You got that right. Looks like someone put a grenade in this dude’s chest. Only thing is there’s no burn marks or anything like that. From what we can tell the dude just popped.” Dave explains.

            “Lovely.” Saorshe says with her hand over her mouth. She looks at Liam and says, “Can we go now?”

            Liam nods his head in agreement. They all shake Dave’s hand as he offers to continue the tour, but they all want to get the hell out of there before they barf all over the joint. They hurry out and once they are a significant distance from the morgue they stop and take a few deep breaths.

            “I don’t know what the hell is going on around here, but this is some fucking crazy shit you people are into.” Kayte proclaims.

            “Yeah, we kind of just fell into it.” Saorshe says.

            Liam looks drained and tells them, “I think I need to go home. I’m not feeling too well.”

            “Me too.” Kayte says.

            “No problem, I’m going to head over to the library and do some research on that symbol we found.”

            They say their goodbyes for the evening and separate.

            About an hour later Saorshe is sitting in the Occult section of the library flipping through some of her family’s books looking for information on the “Pentacle of Solomon”. She finds what she’s looking for in one of her ancestor’s diaries. The entry reads “The Pentacle of Solomon is from the 17^th century grimoire The Lesser Key of Solomon. Its purpose is to prevent a soul from returning to its original vessel after it’s removal through magical evocation.”

            “Well now. That explains a lot.” Saorshe says to herself.

Character Introductions, Part 2

Name: Kayte "The Nailer" Conklin
Player: Sarah
Age: 24
Height/Weight: 5'2"/120 lbs.
Eyes/Hair: Blue/Black
Role: Roller Derby Jammer
Personality: Sassy, a little snarky and a whole lotta tough.
Strength: Not afraid to get physical.
Weakness: A lonely romantic.
Short Term Goals: Help her team win the WCR Championship.
Long Term Goals: Settle down and start a family.
Character History: A troubled teen growing up; hung with the wrong crowd, smoked, drank, did some drugs... just really didn't fit in anywhere. Her natural ability to hear other people's thoughts didn't help either. Got stuck chaperoning at a birthday party for her kid sister at a roller rink after she (sort of) graduated High School. Saw some derby girls practicing and fell in love with the sport. She discovered that she is a natural on skates. The Windy City Rollergirls picked her up right away when they saw how fast and agile she was (she always figured it was traces of the speed still racing through her system), and her telepathic abilities gave her an edge on the track. She moved out of her parents' house into a crap-shack apartment overlooking the practice rink. She spends her days working at the rink, and her nights checking out the midnight shows at The Music Box.

Name: Cherice Carpenter
Player: Chris (NPC)
Age: 31
Height/Weight: 5'4"/115 lbs.
Eyes/Hair: Black/Auburn
Role: Undead Businesswoman
Personality: Condescending ex-Socialite out for Revenge
Strength: Her newfound abilities.
Weakness: Her newfound death.
Short Term Goals: Avenge her murder.
Long Term Goals: Find a cure to "this being dead thing".
Character History: While working late one night at a major Fortune 500 company in the downtown area, Cherice was on her way to her car when someone grabbed her from behind and murdered her. Miraculously she did not die. Instead she returned from the grave by unseen forces with augmented strength and agility in order to allow her to avenge her own death. But what raised her from her eternal slumber, and for what reason other than revenge...?

Name: DJ Intel
Player: Chris (NPC)
Age: 30
Height/Weight: 5'11"
Eyes/Hair: Brown/Black
Role: Disc Jockey/Demon Encyclopedia
Personality: Your friendly neighborhood supernatural know-it-all.
Strength: As smart as he is a talented DJ.
Weakness: Way too trusting.
Short Term Goals: Stop demons from ruining his late night roundtable gigs.
Long Term Goals: Live long and prosper.
Character History: While Intel might seem like your average nightowl hip-hop club disc jockey, he is in fact the city's foremost expert on all the supernatural shenanigans within Cook County. He is sought after for his knowledge as much as his spinning skillz, and that makes him a target for anyone who doesn't want to be known to demon hunters and the like. Still, it's a great way to meet chicks.