Hugo realizes that the group has been caught in the twisted mindscape of Gersic the whole time. He’s not sure how deep it goes, but does realize that things have spiraled out of Gersic’s control, and these beings they’ve been running into are trying to take Gersic over. The Civil War battle below is a representation of Gersic’s defenses, and understanding the battle is key to finding out a way for them to escape.

Though they are not in the battle, stray shots still threaten them, and the rest of the group wants to leave their elevated point- but with what Hugo has told them, Kassandra wants to study it a bit longer. So with shells and bullets landing around them, she studies intently ignoring the very present danger. It only takes a few moments for her to remember the battle, or battles as the case may be.

Fort Fisher was a Confederate fort during the American Civil War. It protected the vital trading routes of the port at Wilmington, North Carolina, from 1861 until its capture by the Union in 1865. The fort was located on one of Cape Fear River’s two outlets to the Atlantic Ocean on what was then known as Federal Point and today is known as Pleasure Island.

It was key to note that there were two battles – one which the Confederacy held the fort against Union forces, and the other in which the Fort fell. But which battle was this?

A cannonball let them know that their luck was starting to run out, so the group descended into the chaos of the battlefield. Hugo’s burgeoning mental abilities helped more than a little to keep them out of the heat of the battle, though Alucard was less lucky than the others, and fell in battle. They didn’t let this deter them, continuing to gather much needed intelligence as they raced across the field of battle. It was from this that Kassandra was able to figure out that it didn’t matter which battle that it was- that was a red herring. The true thing about the whole dreamscape was that there was a pocket where there was no fighting – indeed it was quite the peaceful location amongst the storms of war. The apparitions weren’t able to see that, and indeed without the combination of Kassandra’s knowledge and Hugo’s powers, the group would not have been able to either.

Making their way to the clearing, they came upon a most strange scene – a humble trailer in a haunted wood. It was then that Hugo began to get a more full appreciation of Gersic’s tactics – the Fort was a decoy, and very likely, the apparitions would have a nasty surprise once they reached the center. With an application of mental force, Hugo blasted the door to the trailer open. Kassandra was in quickly, and for the third time put boot to skull, knocking out Gersic in one well placed blow. This, of course, dropped the decoy, and the apparitions now knew exactly where Gersic was. But Hugo had prepared for this. While Kassandra and Soup rifled his brain for information to take back with them to the real world, Hugo prepared for the onslaught of apparitions, taking them by surprise and absorbing their power. Utilizing this power in one outrushing wave, he was able to wake them up, and pull along Nickodemus on the same wave.

When they awoke, they saw a very disconcerting sight- the apartment looked nothing like what they had seen before, and Alucard stood over a prone Tracy, blood all over the man’s face. A woman they didn’t recognize was there also, and of course Gersic’s prone form, his brain burnt out from their rapid exit and the release of the apparitions’ energy in his mind.

The group took what evidence they could, and left out the back door, sneaking away in the dim light from the flashing sirens. Soup did see that someone saw their exit, and followed him, though he found out little about the man before he had to turn around to meet the others at the Sanctum.

Note: Significant Milestone

With the sudden disappearance of their quarry, the sorcerer Gersic, and their companions Alucard and Kassandra, Hugo, Nickodemus, and Soup attempted to work out how they might follow them.

Nickodemus immediately tried to sense the echo of the rift- even if Gersic was able to completely seal the rift, there should have be some remnants of the initial tear he reasoned from his studies. He was able to find it, sure enough, though it was faint enough that he knew that if they didn’t go at that moment, he wouldn’t be able to hold onto it. As a result, his first world walking experience was a harrowing one. He summoned the power of spirit to outline the location of the rift, then gradually increasing the power he put into it, he was able to hopefully tear a rift to the exact same location- the only way to know was to try it, as he was having a hard time keeping it open for some inexplicable reason. So they jumped into the rift, throwing caution to the wind…

…and fell into open air, the ground rushing up towards them. Soup hit the ground, hard. Hugo was only a little more fortunate, having the relatively softer surface of a car cushion his fall. He bounced from it to the ground, taking stock of his pains. A shadow screamed from the sky towards the still dazed Hugo, and Soup tackled him, taking the hit instead.

He found that the impact was not solid, as the shadow passed through him. It was a strange sensation- cold and chilling. But that wasn’t the worst part- he knew that he was missing something, but wasn’t sure what it was! As the shadow came for a second pass, the pair got down- Soup not so sure anymore that his changeling nature could actually protect him against these… beings. As they stayed closer to the ground, trying to hide from the attacks, the wailing of the shadows began to fade, and they were able to hear a whispering.

Gotta stay quiet. Gotta stay down.

Something was familiar about the whispering. It was hard to place but…

Stay down. Come this way. Gotta get under cover before they come back.

…it was Kassandra! Her clothes were rags, her modesty only intact by the barest of margins. But she didn’t seem so much aware of that, as she was of the shadows and of survival. After talking to her, they came to realize that though only moments had passed for them, she’d been here for a longer time. And she’d gone through a lot in the meantime.

Not wanting to stay here any longer than they needed, they wanted to pierce the veil and try to return home- but in addition to not knowing where Alucard was, Nickodemus hadn’t made the transition with them. In her time here, she’d tried to venture out as little as possible, but they decided that they needed to try to find Gersic, since they knew he was here. He might be able to shed some light on where they were/how they could get back. Kassandra had her doubts about him being alive, but led them to him anyway. It was a harrowing trek through the empty streets. Though they only saw the shadows overhead, they knew that they were diving and attacking them. Small touches, and the forgetting of little things. Nothing as bad as the hit that Soup had taken, but the theft of the memories that made them who they were was a disconcerting thing.

Finally making it to the cab, they saw the remnants of Gersic’s bindings in the vehicle, but no sign of the sorcerer. Searching the immediate vicinity, they did see that the door to one of the high rise offices in the area was ajar, and saw that there was a scrap of cloth that matched the ripped remainder of Kassandra’s clothes – the scrap that she’d used to blindfold or gag him, most likely.

Heading into the building, Soup heard someone whispering. He tried to call the others’ attention to it, but they heard nothing, so they forged on into the building, finding that someone had apparently toppled something glass from one of the tables, and there was blood mingled in with it- footprints it seemed. The bloody footprints led further into the building, towards the elevator bank and stairwell. Following it, they noted that one of the elevator doors was open. Checking it out, it seemed that the door wasn’t open, but that part of it was just missing, as if it had been cut off. And the darkness beyond wasn’t a lack of light, but something else.

At that point, Soup again heard whispering, and tried to call the others’ attention to it. But again nothing. It was disconcerting as it seemed to come from right next to him, but further away, and closer- as if in his head. He shook his head to clear it, and tried to open the door. As his hand approached it, he heard the voice again- this time calling his name. He pulled his hand back as if it had been burned, and looked around wildly. The others questioned his actions, but saying nothing, he tried again. This time, as his hand approached the bar to open the door, time itself seemed to slow down, making it impossible for his hand to open the door. Looking around again, he told the others that the voice had called his name, and he wasn’t able to touch the door handle. Hugo offered to open the door, but Soup vehemently said no, and that he could do it. Kassandra offered her opinion that it might be George or the Shadows, delivered with gravitas and a grim expression. Soup laughed hysterically, and turned and plunged his hand towards the bar, expecting resistance, or a voice, or something to try to stop him.

But there was nothing, and as he touched the bar, a loud gong sounded and reverberated. He panicked, and turned to run, and saw the others staring at him questioningly. He asked if they’d heard it- but neither of them had. Soup finally relented and let Hugo open the door… which he did, with no problems, looking askance at Soup as he did so. Soup had no response, so brushed past Hugo, heading down the stairwell.

Stopping at the next landing, they listened at the door, and heard the sound of a chair creaking, and someone muttering. Preparing for an attack, they yanked open the door- but no one was there. There was, however, a chair facing the door, and as Hugo checked, they found that the seat of the chair was warm. Soup crept down the hall, expecting something at any time. The floor looked to be the maintenance area- one that would fit the large building above them. But they wondered what was in the lower levels if that was the case. Putting that aside, Soup looked around the corner at the t-intersection, and was rewarded with the sight of a ball of sizzling light headed his way. Dodging back, he saw that the ball was lightning as it streaked past- and it looked very similar to the ball that had been thrown at Nickodemus at the hospital. Ready now, he ran around the corner in the direction that the ball had come from, and saw Gersic, bedraggled and wide-eyed, preparing to cast again. Soup leapt for him, and was hit with a lesser bolt of lightning. It singed as it sizzled off of his skin, but his faerie nature ground out most of it, and he was able to absorb the rest. Tackling Gersic to the ground, he winced as Kassandra- who had followed Soup’s charge- kicked Gersic soundly in the head, bouncing his head off the ground. This put the sorcerer out, once again. But this had the unfortunate effect that they couldn’t use nor question him until he came around. And in his fragile state there was no telling when this would happen, so they decided to continue their search of the level.

Awakening after a sudden unconsciousness is disconcerting in the best of times. So Alucard didn’t feel charitable awakening blind, deaf, and with the uncomfortable feeling of being surrounded by squishy softness. And what was that sucking sensation?!? So he did what he knew best… he struggled, he squirmed, and he pulled and pressed, and didn’t give up. It seemed like it took forever- whatever was holding him didn’t seem to want to let him go, and as he pulled, it pushed. As he struggled it soothed, trying to seemingly caress his skin. But he continued to struggle, finally with a hand breaking free, followed by the arm, his supernatural strength winning out over whatever held him. But such pain! His arm felt like it had been stripped of skin as he felt the cold air run over it. But that was the point; the pain fueled his rage at being trapped and let him know that he was alive! Straining with renewed fervor, he ripped from that fleshy embrace, naked, and covered in blood, more violently than any child had ever come into this world.

Alucard saw tendrils withdrawing from his skin, and though they left behind only puckered traces of where they were connected to him, the intrusion stoked the fires of his rage once again and he looked around for anything to strike back at his captor. He noticed that he was in what looked like a janitor’s closet, lit only by faint luminescence that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere- just barely enough to see by. But he did find what he was looking for… grabbing the broom from the corner, he charged the fleshy wall, driving the wooden end of the broom deeply into his former captor. Though it felt as if he hit flesh, and the wall undulated, there was no sound nor resistance. That lack of response didn’t stop him, as he continued to thrust the broom into the flesh of the wall, ignoring the ichor and blood that flowed over his bare flesh. He stopped only when he began to feel faint, and realized that there was a miasma of smoke rising from the bloody floor; the ichor had mixed with chemicals and created some sort of noxious cloud. He flipped the light switch on and off with no effect, then when no more light was forthcoming, he tried to open the door, but found it locked. Realizing that he was fast losing his fight with unconsciousness, he looked around feverishly, his eyes settling on a janitor’s coveralls hanging on the far wall. He took the shirt and ripped it into strips, covering his mouth, and buying him a little time as the dirty fabric feebly filtered the air. Grabbing the coveralls, he ran at the door, careening into it with all the speed he could muster in the enclosed space. He hit solidly, and felt the door buckle, if not break. He backed up and repeated the action- feeling the door move fractionally more. He felt a breeze on his face, and took a deep breath of fresh air, restoring his strength enough to apply all of his considerable might to the task, breaking through the door into the hall.

Soup had the idea of calling for help- and found out inexplicably that he had a cell signal. He called Lumin, and talked to him momentarily, explaining the situation. Lumin assured him that he’d look into it. They arranged to call back as they explored the hallway more.

As the group walked down the hall, they were plunged into darkness. The light came back on- then the darkness came again. It was as if some cosmic force was turning the lights on and off- each time plunging them into pitch black. Before they could respond to that event, the light came on and stayed on. Then they began to hear an ominous sound- crashing of some seemingly irresistible force into some immovable object with a resounding crash of metal and the screaming of over-stressed metal.

As they made their way down the hall, they saw a door crash open, and some lumbering nude hulk covered in gore and greenish red blood. It turned towards them, and they prepared for an attack- but found out that it was Alucard! After some measure of catching up (and clothing Alucard) they decided to continue down the hallway, Alucard shouldering the weight of Gersic’s unconscious form. They continued down the corridor, coming to another door that looked very similar to the first that they encountered on the level. Opening the door, they saw that it led into a void- one that seemed to totally devour anything tossed into it!

At this point, out of options, they called Lumin back, but again, had no signal on the cell phone. Remembering what Alucard said about flipping a switch, they decided that this must be what caused the signal to disappear, but soon found out that this was not only not the case, but the mix of viscous fluids from the janitor’s closet had created a noxious cloud barring them from the stairway they had originally entered from. They protected themselves from exposure the best they could, and ran through the cloud- though it was a close call, they made it successfully! But they had forgotten about Gersic, who seemed to be on the verge of expiring from his exposure!

As he gasped for breath, the building began to shake and go out of focus- it was then that Hugo put together that his mental state was somehow driving this whole demented world. As they reached the stairs, Hugo stretched his senses downward and outward, trying to find out what was going on… he found himself walking through the world, seeing his friends and himself, pulling the strings and manipulating the world. He also saw another dark presence fighting him- and the fact that he was losing! There was also a section of himself that was walled off- and when he regained his own body, that’s where he raced.

Down the group went, finally coming to a locked and barred door that Hugo opened with a thought- his own abilities were somehow transformed in this mindscape. Keeping hold of this knowledge and belief, when they walked through the door into what he could only describe as emptiness- a complete white with no features other than another locked door- he thrust forward again with his mind, splintering that obstacle as he had the first.

As they walked through, they found themselves in an even stranger location… a civil war battle scene. It was at this point that Hugo began to figure out exactly what had happened… and what they had to do to break free…!

Everything had gone crazy.

First, they had a simple plan. Corner this sorcerer and beat him until he talked. That plan had proved effective in the past. But this time…

All she remembered was Gersic screaming one word – Aparttum. She recognized it from Arcas. And then the sounds of the fight- the sounds of the world- disappeared. That word reverberated, as the world seemingly split apart in a kaleidoscopic display as the ground itself disappeared from beneath her.

She didn’t remember blacking out, but she must have. For the next thing she remembered was being in the street. Lying beside her, unmoving, was Gersic. Her first instinct was to check to make sure he was alive. He was alive- and stirring. So she kicked him. Hard. Every bit of her confusion at what was going on came out in that kick, and it was considerable. She might have kicked him too hard. But he was still alive.

The world looked different. It was washed out, like on a morning after a long rain, with the sun just coming over the horizon. It wasn’t dark, but it wasn’t light either. And the trees in the background thrust their limbs to the sky, backlit, with no details. It was like a scene from a Tim Burton movie. And cars were stopped in the street. Some intact, just sitting there. Others wrecked, like the drivers had been pulled while they were in motion, creating these surreal sculptures of twisted metal.

Her first instinct was to find a place to get out of the street- to find somewhere to regroup and secure Gersic. So she checked a cab near her, and found the door unlocked. Throwing Gersic into the back seat, she took his belt and tied his legs, and her own to tie his arms. Then she sat in the front seat, and tried to turn the key in the ignition.

Nothing.

Not just that it didn’t start. There was no sound whatsoever. The lights wouldn’t come on, and there was no response. As she sat there, she heard the first sound that didn’t come from her since she’d arrived. At first a whisper, too low for her to make out. Straining, she struggled to be ready in case it was repeated.

Get Down. Gotta get down.

She didn’t know where the voice came from, but she immediately flattened herself in the car, both to get out of vision of whomever or whatever was outside, and to heed the cry.

A wind blew over her from above, chilling her skin, and bringing goosebumps. As a shadow blocked out what little light there was.

A wind! And inside of the closed car! Accompanied by a shadow?

Stay quiet. Too much noise.

The whispers came again. Insistent. Under other circumstances, she’d think it would have been a yell of exclamation. But the voice was even and quiet.

Can’t make noise. Draw them to you. If I can hear you, they can.

Carefully, she opened the door, looking out. Seeing nothing, she scrabbled out away from the car, staying down, making as little noise as possible.

Better.

That voice again, but this time, she saw the movement of a shadow. Drawing on her vampiric nature, she drew in a breath and closed her eyes. When she opened them again, she saw things differently… heard things differently. She could hear the sound of someone breathing, low and steady. Looking in that direction, she saw rags, and advanced towards them. Though she wasn’t sure that something was there, when the pile started moving, she wasn’t caught off-guard as she might otherwise have been, and shuffled backwards.

Gotta get out of the open.

She was now sure that the whispers came from the rags, even before the primitive ghillie suit parted and she saw the blackened face peering out from amongst the shredded cloth.

Follow. Or not.

The shape turned to leave.

But be quiet if you do. Always gotta be quiet.

They traveled through the blasted landscape, seeing buildings burned out because of cars crashing into them, and a downed helicopter at one point. The figure picked its way carefully through the wreckage, headed towards a goal that Kassandra couldn’t fathom. But not knowing the landscape, it was better than being alone. The figure made no conversation, and almost as little noise, familiarity with the path giving its motions a fluid quality as he oozed further into the city center. She had so many questions. But remembering the shadow, she kept them to herself, being content to follow.

Finally, they reached a stairway headed down; she recognized the signs as pointing to a subway entrance. But that was also how she knew that this was not Charlottesville, nor anywhere in the surrounding area.

Though they went downward, the light neither decreased nor increased, staying that same washed out intensity. Finally, though, the light started to die, and he reached for a stick wrapped in rags on that flight of stairs, lighting it somehow. The burning smoke from the makeshift torch wafted up; her enhanced senses could smell some sort of tallow in the fumes, made from some sort of animal.

As they made it to the bottom landing, she could see that there was some sort of makeshift camp. It was nothing permanent; probably one of many that had scattered was her first thought. She heard him muttering under his breath as he rifled through the items looking for something- seemed like a two-sided conversation.

“Who are you?” she ventured.

“Me?” he whispered looking up at her as if he’d forgotten her presence. Then a bewildered look crossed his face as he thought. “Grimes,” he whispered at last, tasting the word.

“Yeah,” he whispered, a smile splitting his face. “Grimes.”

His dark face showed the lines of much stress; it was hard to guess how old he was. As he divested himself of his ghillie suit, it was apparent that he was fit; muscles rippled beneath the faded green wifebeater he wore. It was also apparent that he’d had a hard time of it from the scars that crisscrossed his arms.

“Where are we?” she asked, keeping a good distance between herself and the larger man.

He looked up from opening the can he had in his hands, first to an empty space, then to her. “Hell,” he whispered, matter-of-factly, before taking out a spoon and starting to eat silently if voraciously from the can.

From questioning, she was able to find out that he’d been there a while- he’d lost track of time, but said he’d been there through twelve rounds of people- people that had come at regular intervals- people that hadn’t known how to survive. People that had been eaten by the ‘black wings’, shadows that ate your mind, and zeroed in on sounds. But they didn’t come underground. George kept him company, and was who he talked to. But she was never able to figure out of George was product of his own insanities, or if he was real. She also found out that he’d survived any way he could, and that her arrival had been different- off schedule, and alone.

He taught her about survival, and she’d talked about going to get Gersic, but he’d been pretty sure that if she’d left him tied up as she did, he was dead by now. So they stayed, as she waited for her friends to come for her. And she came to trust him, her guard dropping. And that was her mistake.

She awoke one morning to the smell of smoke, coughing. She stumbled to her feet, and tried to make her way to the exit, calling for Grimes. Taking off her shirt, she held it up to her nose to keep the smoke out, and ran into the gate leading into the subway, now pulled down. Looking through the gate, she saw the outline of someone in the distance, and called out to him, but received no answer. Looking around for the source of the fire, she found it. Burning orderly in a ventilation tract, it was just out of her reach, and other than one can left from her dinner, she had no way to put the fire out. Going back to the grate, her strength flagging, she threw the can at the figure. Her aim wasn’t off, and she heard Grimes exclaim his surprise.

“Grimes! Let me out!” she yelled.

“Be over soon enough,” he replied. “Be over soon enough.”

“Why?” she asked.

“Making me too weak. Too much to be responsible for. Gotta use what I can to survive. Just like the others. Can’t keep you around.” he babbled, whispering in the dark.

“What about George,” she asked, thinking fast, her strength flagging. “You getting rid of him too?”

“What?” he asked, the disbelief heavy in his voice.

“George!” she shouted back. “You left him, he’s down here with me!”

“No he’s not,” Grimes responded. But she could see him shuffle from foot to foot.

“I saw him. Tried to pull him to the gate. But he was too heavy.”

“NO!” he yelled. “Trying to fool me. George told me I had to do it.”

“George,” she asked. “Tell him. Call him! That’s the only way we’ll get out!”

Little by little, Grimes approached, shuffling towards the gate. She cajoled through coughs and through flagging strength, and was finally able to get Grimes close enough. Every instinct in her told her to go for his neck- that his strength would fuel her, and make her strong again.

She grabbed him, and could feel her incisors with her tongue, but fought her instincts, and instead kissed him.

Finally he pulled free, but too late.

“George is in here. You have to rescue him,” she said, and Grimes quickly winched the gate up. They passed each other as she ran up the stairs.

She heard the gate fall heavily behind her as she gasped for breath, finally coming into the dim light cast from above.

After causing a little arson, and tricking a druggie into letting them into his apartment, the team searches for any indication of what their tail was doing here, and wait for him to return from checking on his car in order to subdue him. A simple enough plan…

As Tom Gersic entered the apartment, Alucard and Kassandra immediately jumped him, attempting to beat him into submission so that they could get some answers. Soup became tangled up with Tracy as the drug dealer blearily tried to get them to stop the violence because they were ‘harshing’ his high, so it was left to Nickodemus and Hugo to lock the sorceror down long enough for Alucard and Kassandra to disable him.

Gersic was stronger than they’d imagined, and the battle was touch and go; the sorceror’s use of wind magic was able to shield him and keep them at bay, and Hugo had a harder time touching his mind than he’d had with most people before, and it seemed that it might go badly for the heroes until Soup noticed a vial of what looked like blood on the table, and some faintly red colored powder. He tried to gather samples, and seeing this Gersic yelled in frustration as he gestured towards the vial, pulling it towards him. But with the combat, he miscalculated, and watched in dismay as it shattered against Kassandra’s arm. Her skin absorbed the liquid within, and her eyes became momentarily unfocused as a feeling of power overwhelmed her senses. Crying out in anger, Gersic made a slashing motion, and a great rent opened in the ground, swallowing the three combatants.

Nickodemus clawed at the location in reality where the trio had disappeared with all of the magic at his command- but found only a trace of the rip between the worlds; apparently the sorcerer was not just powerful, but skilled, as the hole was already closed, and little trace of Kassandra and Alucard remained.

Leaving Kassandra and Alucard behind to guard the still-confused Jefferson Green, Soup, Nickodemus, and Hugo responded to Killian’s call that he’d found where their nemesis had gone to ground- the Belmont area of Charlottesville. This unassuming area was neither high-priced nor slum-ready, but depressingly middle class, with the old houses of a bygone area with their bright red bricks gone to dull shades of washed out houses containing people left behind by their washed out dreams of upward mobility and the American Dream.

Hugo talked to Killian for a bit finding out what he had seen. Apparently, he’d been able to trace the man that hired him to this location using some of his police contacts and a liberal donation to the Police Benevolent Foundation, and had also been able to find out that the house was owned by an out-of-town party, and manged by a property management firm in town- neither of those seemed interesting, though he dutifully gave over the details. What was interesting was that the house had been leased through a LLC, and Killian had been able to trace it further to Tom Gersic, an independent contractor. More impressive in the short time he’d been given was that he was able to verify that Gersic was active in the supernatural community.

Beyond that, he’d not been able to find out much- it had been too late to do his typical information gathering from the neighbors, and he’d not wanted to jeopardize his clandestine surveillance by doing any close-in work. Settling up with Killian, Hugo did ask him to contact them if he was able to find out anything with more time, but that they would take up the surveillance. Of course, their definition of clandestine differed from Killian’s- but then again, they had resources that he did not.

Scouting out the area, they were able to find that the car that was in the driveway was warm, verifying Killian’s statement that the person had just arrived. It was from an earlier time- a 70’s era Ford, tricked out with rims and lights, and though a bit bare in its electronics, definitely kitted for looks and intimidation factor. They cased the rest of the house, seeing that there had been some recent alterations to the house, and the lower level was a communal level with some disturbing ritualistic aspects. They were not able, however, to find any presence of human life. Just as they were deciding on whether to go in, they heard the tell-tale sound of a car with loud music pulling into the driveway back in the front of the house. Deciding to hunker down where they were and wait, they soon were rewarded by the sounds of many people coming into the house. After a few minutes, the people started to migrate downstairs. The group was able to get a look at them as they did, and didn’t like the look of them; they were of the more unsavory type- tattooed, pierced, seemingly drunk, boisterous, muscled, and full of menace.

Taking this time to move to the front of the house, they saw that the car was now gone, and a truck was there- a more recent Toyota, built for the urban landscape rather than a true truck, riding low to the ground, again decked out for looks and intimidation factor rather than function or utility. Seeing that the car was gone, Hugo was glad that he had taken the time to get one of the tire caps, and handed it to Nickodemus so that they could follow the driver.

Calling Kassandra and Alucard for backup, they tailed the man to downtown Charlottesville- a rundown set of apartments seemed to be his destination. This rundown set of apartments was conveniently near the warehouse they had raided only a few nights before. Seeign this as reason enough to move in, they went to the car and searched it, finding papers that gave them more information on Gersic, and confirmed that he was probably the one there. But they didn’t know what apartment he’d gone in… torching the vehicle would get him out to them though, and give them a chance to see what he’d been up to. Nickodemus was a bit overzealous with the fire, however, and they found themselves with a fireball going off in the middle of the parking lot, lights going on in the apartments around the area, and people running out into the courtyard. They scanned for any sign of which apartment was the likely suspect; they’d never actually seen Gersic, so they had to make a calculated guess. This was made easier when a gaunt, hard looking man ran out of a corner apartment, making a beeline for the car rather than standing off as the other people had done.

Having Soup veil the group, they made their way to the apartment, finding it still occupied. The man was luckily very intoxicated from some combination of drugs and alcohol, and after a moment, Alucard was able to trick him into inviting them in. Gratified that they’d been able to get around the trouble of the threshold, they entered the apartment, confident that they’d be able to ambush Gersic as he came back into the apartment. Searching and waiting, this scenario did indeed unfold as they’d wanted…

…but then everything went strange…

After an alarmed call from Soup, Hugo called Alucard to tell him to head for the hospital to keep Jefferson Green safe and to take Nickodemus for backup. Then he went to the police precinct to get the changeling out of trouble.

After a harrowing ride to the police station as Nickodemus takes Hugo’s urgency a bit too literally, Hugo entered the police station, leaving Nickodemus with the Rolls, ‘just in case’. Walking to the duty station, he presented Blackthorne’s card that he’d been given by the hapless lawyer, convincing the officer that he was ‘Mr. Ginnell’s counsel’. He’d actually arrived before the changeling, but after a moment, saw him being seated by another officer. The presence of a lawyer changed the proceedings quite a bit; with a bit of applied deceit, the pair saw the outside of the police station before the hour was up. Hurrying from the scene, they made haste towards the hospital.

Alucard and Kassandra arrived at Martha Jefferson, but found no trace of Green. After a moment’s consideration, Alucard suggested that they head for the University of Virginia hospital, leaving a message with Hugo informing him where they were headed. Considering that Soup had said something about rescuing Green, he correctly deduced that they might take trauma victims to UVA, even if Martha Jefferson was closer (and don’t ask him how he knew this). In the emergency room, they were still unable to get information on Green, but Kassandra was able to slip about and catch sight of Green after Alucard made a quite convincing diversion with Nickodemus’ help.

At that point things became a bit crazy.

Darkness decended upon the hospital. Not a natural darkness, but an inky blackness that light would not penetrate. At the same time, electrical equipment started to sputter and die, with the backups helping not at all. Hospital staff ran about trying to make sense of the situation, unknowing giving cover to an attempted murder in their midst. For as Kassandra ran in, she saw a man in a suit threatening Green, while another man in a hulking suit stood guard. She fought the brute, calling for Alucard as she did- his protective instincts kicked in and he barreled through the hysterical crowd to her side. Soup and Hugo arrived on the scene at this time, and entered the emergency room in time to see Nickodemus light up like a candle, only to be almost electrocuted as a previously hidden practitioner used this light to home in on him, casting a ball of electricity in his direction. Mayhem ensued, and in the combat, they figured out that the hulking brute was a Hob, protecting the White Court Vampire as he attempted to make Green’s death look like an accident, feeding off his fears. They were able to stop them, though the practitioner made his escape.

Taking Green from the hospital to the sanctum, the group questioned him, trying to make sense out of the murder attempt. While they were doing this, Hugo, arriving at the Sanctum a bit after the group as he’d had errands which to attend, felt a probing at the wards, which alerted him to the fact that there was someone lurking on the property. After making sure that an attack wasn’t in progress, he and Soup scouted around the perimeter, finding a man lurking in the topiaries. He saw that it was a familiar face- John Killian, a private investigator that he’d had dealings with for the warden. He confronted him, and pieced together that the practitioner that had escaped the hospital had employed the PI to gather information on them. Hugo turned him with the promise of money and the information about whom his client really was- and the fact that a murder had just been attempted. Killian provided them the information that he had- a number scribbled on one of his business cards. Then Hugo had him go to spy on their enemy- to hoist them with their own petard…

GM Summary

With no lack of threads to follow, and no lack of questions to go along with them, the group decides to chase down the last place that they knew Kane had gone- to Boar’s Head to check on his meeting with Jefferson Green. They found out that Haring and Drake actually maintained a room there, and were having a Holiday dinner for their employees the next night, so planned to be at Boar’s Head at the same time.

Driving in two cars, Alucard and Kassandra decided to arrive together in her Prius, while the others took the Rolls, with Nickodemus acting as chauffeur to hopefully be able to question some of the regular workers at the inn. They arrived on the lush grounds, pulling directly into the restaurant. Kassandra pulled around and parked their car, while Nickodemus dropped the others off at the front door. After a short wait, they procured a table, with Hugo’s influence greasing the way past their lack of a reservation.

Shortly after arriving at the table, Soup excused himself, and with a short trip to the men’s facilities, veiled himself to walk unimpeded past the hosts outside of the Haring and Drake party room. It seemed relatively urbane; pretty people well-dressed in their tailored attire (a bit above business dress, but less than black tie), making inconsequential talk and carefully calculated gossip, as they tried to ignore the cut-throat realities of their normal day-to-day interactions. The faces of the women definitely paid testament to the ‘plastic’ in plastic surgery, as they flashed their too white teeth as the ‘Old Boys’ played their games in between talks of visits to spas and shopping.

In the meantime, Nickodemus moved among a social structure of a different kind- the working class that drove their employers around, guarded their secrets, and served their food. And they engaged in the oldest of ways to pass the time until they were called upon to rush to duty again- gossiping and cigarettes. Nickodemus talked to them, but something in his mannerisms must have tipped them off to the fact that he didn’t do this for a living, for they didn’t warm to him as he’d hoped, eventually making their excuses before taking their leave.

Soup didn’t appear to be having much more luck. But just as he despaired of finding out anything of import, Green, obviously disturbed beyond his ability to fake it, and more than a little loosened by the alcohol that flowed freely began to get more agitated. Declaring that he couldn’t do it anymore, and that the facades had to stop, he railed against the nature of the firm, declaring that this party and parties like it were why he moved on to his own law firm. And that the corruption of Kane by his ‘friend’, Eric Cord, was too much to handle. He asked why there wasn’t more internal oversight over the happenings surrounding Kane? And why was it just business as usual? Cord tried to calm him down, but Green took off through the silent room that parted for him as he made his way to the door. Soup followed hurriedly, and was just able to slip into the limo after Green on a hunch.

It turned out that his hunch was right; after a call on his cell phone, the driver looked a bit more grim and determined. Green didn’t notice in the back seat of the limo, stuck in his own thoughts- at least not until it was too late. He noticed that they were heading out of town, rather into it, and questioned his driver as to the reason why. The driver pulled over and opened the window between the driver’s area and the back seat. Green demanded to know what was going on, and the driver merely apologized, pulling out a gun and aiming at his boss. Though Green was paralyzed by the import of the gun, Soup was not, and grabbed it just as an eruption of flame licked towards the hapless man. Green yelled out as the bullet struck him, and the driver tried to pull back into the front seat, but Soup was having none of that. Striking the driver, he managed to hit his wrist before he could get another shot off, disarming him as the gun fell heavily to the floorboards in the front seat. But to get to his target, Soup had to jump through the small area in between the two areas, and the driver took this opportunity to spit into the open space. Soup couldn’t help but be hit by it, but was more revolted than anything else…

…that is, until the driver commanded him to show himself. Soup found himself confused and visible, the Red Court venom coursing through his veins. The fight grew more intense in the small space, as Soup tried to fight the now revealed Red Court Infected and his mind. Green took this time to kick the window, finally getting the door to the limo open. He ran into the night. The driver, seeing his prey escaping, feinted to spit at Soup, then took the opportunity this gave him to open the door and chase after Green. Soup picked up the gun and caught up with the pair just as the driver was about to bash Green’s head open with a rock. Soup didn’t hesitate, and a heartbeat later, the driver lay unmoving on top of Green’s prone form.

Fearing the worst, Soup checked on Green, but he was just unconscious with a possible concussion. Soup proceeded to pull out one of his restorative potions, and also a magical roofie, putting Green out. He then shot the chauffeur again- just to make sure- and put Green into the back of the limo. Heading back towards the city, he received a call on the chauffeur’s cell phone. Deciding to answer it, he bluffed his way through a status report on Green’s hit- at least that’s what he assumed. Then, calling the others, he headed back to the Sanctum. But that wasn’t to be the end of his problems.

On the way back to the Sanctum, he was stopped by the police. Things were friendly enough, though the policeman asked Soup to step from the vehicle. It was only then that he noticed how wary they were, and was informed that the car had been reported stolen. He engaged with the police, and seemed to have them convinced- until one of them noticed Jefferson Green in the back seat. He maintained the veil on Green, preventing the situation from spiraling out of control with the bullet wound and the bullet in the upholstery. But they still insisted on taking him down to the station, as they could not make Green coherent enough to question him on the story. As the situation wasn’t antagonistic, Soup was able to convince them to let him call Hugo by telling them he was his lawyer. That done, Soup headed to the station, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Player Log

GM Summary

Now that the group knows that they are the only sheriff in town, they decide to take care of some personal issues before taking inventory of the larger issues and deciding what to tackle.

Hugo stays at the Sanctum, working on his newfound uses of his abilities, and trying to meditate on the ramifications of them. While doing so, his use of his True Memory shows him again that his perceptions have been tampered with, and his memories altered. Delving deeper into them, he comes upon a frightening realization.

Soup, meanwhile, comes to an agreement to stay at the Sanctum. There is plenty of room, and with him just arriving in the city, that makes a reasonable accommodation, and the planning of their outings easier.

Nickodemus also formalizes his stay at the Sanctum. His former living arrangements could get quite dangerous given their new focus, and he could become a target. In addition, he uses the facilities of the Sanctum to start on a new focus for himself – a staff.

Alucard takes Kassandra to Kai’s dojo to introduce her more formally. She decides that she wants to tool her abilities more closely to her function within the group, and to be of more aid- and that involves learning more hand-to-hand techniques, and learning to increase her speed more. If she can act on the enemies before they ever act, then Alucard can clean up. She works out for a while, and Kai develops a regimen for her improvement. He finds that she is not only committed to the change, but very adept, and able to handily defeat one of his trainers in the ring with her newfound skills.

Leaving Kassandra in capable hands, Alucard heads back to Monticello to see how things have been going. As he arrives Monticello, he is met by his boss, Ronald Rothstein, who informs him that he is going to have to let him go. Alucard tries to convince him that he should be kept on, but Rothstein is adamant in the face of Alucard’s disappearance after the strange happenings and the death of the other guard on duty. Though Alucard isn’t able to overcome Rothstein’s misgivings, he is able to sway him enough not to be barred from the property. Between that, and his friendship with John Coffey, another guard, he is able to keep access to the property. But there is still the matter of the lack of a job…

After picking Kassandra up, and heading back to the Sanctum, Hugo puts forth that there is enough room at the Sanctum for Alucard to stay there also. He accepts, and with that done, they decide to get a bit more information from Snoddy while they can before setting out mapping out their information.

They head down to the downtown mall, meeting Snoddy in the middle of the day in a crowded area. “Safer for everyone,” he calls it. After a bit of haggling, and giving evidence that Harris is not the philanthropist that everyone thinks that he is, they are able to come to an agreement with Snoddy in regards to the information about the security on the location. One that focuses on “Remuneration for Services”, another Snoddy-ism.

A little later, with that information in hand delivered by a courier, they set out mapping out what information, and more importantly, what questions still remain.

Kane killed the Warden with the help of goblins from the NeverNever. He did so under orders from some shadowy individual(s), that he was trying to betray. The shadowy individual(s) are apparently associated with the City Council and/or Haring and Drake.

Jefferson Green met with Christian Kane at Boar’s Head before Kane was killed.

Christian Kane and Fiona McIver were somehow connected, and traded information regularly.

Soup’s uncle/mentor was also killed by Goblins from the NeverNever about the same time.

Raith is playing some sort of game with the City Council, that River is not a part of, and doesn’t like.

Raymond Harris has a charity affiliated with a warehouse where some thralls were employed. The same warehouse has some major thaumaturgic security, layered with mundane security.

Sir Windsor Beck is a figure of power that arrived in town conveniently at the same time the warden was killed.

The warden’s death spurred the end of some truce or treaty agreement that kept powers in check.

With a lot of questions, and no answers apparent, the group decides to try to get an inside man at Harris’ charity as a long term play, and in the short term, check out Boar’s Head.

Using some magical augmentation, and some creative routing of references, the group is able to get Alucard hired as security at Harris’ charity. That plan in place, they decide that it is time to head to Boar’s Head…

Player Log

GM Summary

The group has scored a major win, putting a major league warlock out of business and avenging the Warden’s death. They know there is much to be done, but that will be left to the next Warden. Or at least that’s the plan…

Using the amulet Warden Bennett gave him, Hugo contacts Edinburgh, specifically Timothy Beatley. Beatley was a contemporary of the Warden, not just a contact, and his loss hits the wizard hard. He does his job, however, and takes down the details of Bennett’s death and the subsequent activities of the group, growing more impressed as he does so.

Hugo asks about the Warden’s replacement, and confirms that he will be able to keep the Sanctum as the Warden wanted, and watch out for the smaller area of the UVA campus that the Warden had come to treasure over his several years of using it as a cover and growing to know the mortals that worked and lived there. Not only is this confirmed, but given the lack of availability of trained Wardens, and the fact that all things point to more troubles in the area, Beatley asks if Hugo will accept a limited commission as the Warden’s Special Envoy in the area, and use this authority to assemble those that he deems appropriate to watch out for the area until a Warden can be assigned. He states that he will render all aid that he is capable of, and to use the amulet liberally if he has questions or difficulties.

He also asks that Hugo chronicle the things that happen, so that the eventual Warden for the area will have those to fall back on to know of the things that happen in the meantime, and that he files these with Beatley on a regular basis, to be stored as The Shenandoah Reports.

Note: Significant Milestone (Played as this and the prior – the adventures had been quite long)

Player Log

GM Summary

Having gone to the corn field where the warden’s body was found, Arcas realizes that the battle didn’t happen on this side of the nevernever. With that in mind, he quickly steps to the other side, finding himself in a frigid white version of the field that he just left, the corn covered in rimes of frost and piles of snow. In the distance he hears the baying of hounds, and with his previous dealings with the Winter Court, decides that discretion is the better part of valor, and tries to go back to our reality. But he is met with the grim truth that there exists a barrier to his exit, created by someone with more power than he. Summoning power so that he can give a good accounting, he creates a magnetic shield before him. Through the translucent field of force, he sees an open carriage pulled by huge dogs approach. As it closes, he lets the field down, stunned that The Leanansidhe would be concerned with him, and not wanting to give offense, for he’s sure that his shield would be no match for anything she could do. It appears that the warden knew he was being chased, and called in a favor from The Leanansidhe, to stop anyone from going through the veil at this point. He could not, thankfully, extract the promise that she would actually attack them, which gives her a bit of leeway in dealing with Arcas. Of course, how she will use that leeway is the big question. After a bit of quibbling, she extracts the promise of a favor from Arcas in exchange for letting him go- though she can’t take him across at this point, and takes him to another point in the nevernever, opening a rift and letting him cross.

Knowing that the pause would be too long in the conversation before he was able to get to Hugo, Soup tries to put off the voice on the other end of the cell phone with guttural grunts and one word replies. It seems to be working at first, and Soup finds out too late that he’s been had. He hears the voice talking on the other end of the line in low tones, and realizes as more thugs round the corner at the light at 7th and Market that the person on the other end of the line is talking to them. They notice each other at the same time, and the two groups begin to run towards the inevitable altercation. But something happens as they run towards the fight.

The group fights a mental invasion, only Hugo escaping unscathed. Kassandra and Nickodemus lock into mental combat with an unseen foe, struggling to keep tendrils of thought from invading their minds. In the meantime, Alucard and Soup have already given up the fight. A rift between worlds opens up behind Kassandra, and Soup shoves her through, under control of some unseen force. In the meantime Alucard swings on Soup, but misses. Hugo tries to figure out what is going on as his companions seemingly for no reason start attacking each other in the face of onrushing bad guys.

Arcas recognizes where he emerges from the rift- it’s Kai’s studio. He calls out to Kai, not wanting to alarm him with his appearance, but gets no response. Walking down to the bottom floor, he sees a fight going outside, and cautiously goes to the door. Looking out, he sees Alucard and Soup in a pitched battle with each other, and makes the assumption that Alucard has finally snapped. Calling on his powers, he freezes Alucard in place. Thankfully, Soup has recovered his senses, and doesn’t take advantage of the spell, but instead helps with finishing off the other thugs. The battle continues, and quickly the thugs are whittled down by the combined group, Kai joining in. They regroup in Kai’s studio after the battle, all but one of the thugs dead. They interrogate him- or attempt to; Arcas’ ordeal has left him with little patience for the prevarication of the thug, and he freezes and snaps off one of the hapless man’s fingers. The man goes into shock, but they are able to get out of him that he knows nothing- one of the other thugs that perished was the one that dealt with their employer. It is about this time that they realize that Kassandra is missing. Soup struggles to remember, the betrayal of what he has done finally shattering the mindlock on the memory. He reluctantly tells what he’s done, and Alucard is only restrained from his rage at Soup by the immediate need to find out what has happened to Kassandra. After getting assurances from Kai that he will take care of the cleanup, the group heads into the NeverNever to find Kassandra.

The area on the other side is as Arcas remembers it- a clearing in a snowy forest. They find the tracks of Kassandra’s passing, and follow them across a tundra, until they come to the lip of a sheltered valley in the frozen waste, green forested area surrounding a plain in the middle. They exit the NeverNever instead of going to the center, figuring that if Kassandra was brought across here, that the point of exit would be heavily guarded. They orient as they exit, and Soup is almost crushed by an oncoming car as they cross in the middle of an intersection! Thankfully it’s night, and the traffic is not too thick. They find that they are not far from the house of their primary suspect- Christian Kane. They know that he had a hand in the Warden’s death, and decide to confront him in his home, knowing that coincidence is too much that Kassandra would have been brought here and he not be responsible.

As they come to the house, Nickodemus opens his sight, assessing the house, and seeing a dark miasma surrounding it. He realizes that it is a good thing that they hadn’t exited at this point- there are dark forces in effect, not the least of which is a ritual in progress! He struggles, and is finally able to close his sight, but not after gaining new scars at the horrors he sees. Calling upon that horror, he summons power, and blasts a hole in the barrier around the house at the garage area, to open a way for the group to enter. The meet heavy resistance in the house- trained guards with automatic weapons who have apparently been instructed to keep anyone from what Kane is doing upstairs.

Alucard and Soup fight a delaying action as the others rush to see what the guards are protecting, but they are not prepared for what they see. Their very reasoning is affected by the monstrosity they see before them, something called up from beyond the outer gates. It’s very form defies description, other than it is hulking, and the more they stare at it, the more its angular rocky shape seems to defy the very rules of orthogonal space. A split opens in its form, and they realize that is its mouth, yawning wide. But as they adjust to the sight, they see it’s yawning wide in boredom. At least Hugo and Arcas see this. Nickodemus is made a little unstable by what he sees, and in his panic decides to unleash a bolt of power against it. He may as well have shot a stream of water at it for as much as it does to it- other than make it mad.

Arcas calms it down, as he tries to talk to it after realizing that it is not coming past, especially as they look past it into the room and see Kane sitting in a ritual circle with a dead rabbit lying in a smaller circle with a dragon crouching over it. They also see Kassandra, tied and naked, dangling from the ceiling in some diabolical contraption. It pierces and cuts her skin whenever she moves, but only deep enough to cause even more blood to wash down her crimson stained body. Across from her dangles a little girl, obviously scared. Kassandra fights against her inner demon, struggling not to go after the girl that reminds her so of her own dead daughter. Its obvious that Kane is using her anguish- both physical and mental- to fuel his dark arts.

Arcas is able to deduce that Kane made a very bad mistake in setting up his ritual chamber and guardians- the demon is constrained to the room, and does not particularly want to fight. It would rather rend Kane (and now Nickodemus) limb from limb. Nickodemus summons power to break Kane’s circle, but Arcas quickly stops him, realizing that if he does, the amount of power that is in the circle will be the end of all of them. Hugo helps him to figure out how much power Kane is channeling, and by extension, how much time they have until the ritual goes off. He also reads the signature of the spell- it is the equivalent of a blunt force weapon, aimed to kill someone, though they can’t tell who that might be.

Arcas knows that they need to shut down the ritual, and gets help from Hugo and Nickodemus pulling the power together to counterspell it. At the last moment before Kane can grasp the power, Arcas redirects it. But they cannot get past the demon in order to kill Kane, so they are at an impasse as he has something that grounds out Nickodemus’ powers and Lumin is occupied trying to keep the ritual’s power at bay.

Alucard and Soup finish with the mercenaries, and arrive at the door of the room just at this time. Taking a brief moment to assess the situation, Alucard sees Kassandra in distress, and without asking, takes the shovel that he’s been using against the guards and throws it like a harpoon, breaching the circle as it disembowels Kane. Arcas screams in agony as the full brunt of the spell falls upon him, but before he can take the backlash, Nickodemus senses his opening, and channels all of the rage and fear that he feels into a beam of light, boring into Kane’s soul. That’s all of the opening the demon needs as it screams in triumph, jumping on Kane savagely.

The group grabs Kassandra and the girl, and jump out of the second story window onto the lawn outside just as the house is consumed by a horrendous implosion. The very sounds of the night are absorbed into the house as nothingness exists in our realm for a brief moment, before the demon takes its prize back beyond the gates. Before it leaves, Nickodemus hears the whispered promise of future encounters with the demon.

Kassandra is in pretty bad shape, dying on the lawn. Hugo makes the decision to help her instead of Alucard, knowing that if things go wrong, Alucard can pull her off of him in time… hopefully. But for once, things go as planned, and Kassandra is saved. As Hugo tries to get his mind together after being subjected to her feeding and his feelings about the experience, he looks towards the Mercedes in the driveway. A BMW and a Mercedes. Something seems wrong about having both of those cars. And something else gnaws at him…

He opens the door, and finds a man cowering in the back. His name is revealed to be Jeremy Blackthorne, and he was handling some legal matters for Kane. He’s able to shed some light on what happened at the house, especially when they align what they know with what he tells them. Kane’s master was the ultimate person behind Warden Bennett’s death. Kane was but the weapon, along with goblins lent to him by some Fae contact. But he had become disillusioned with his master, and had planned to kill him, and his partners. But the group stopped it. Unfortunately, they also created their own dead end, as they don’t know who the master is. But that’s the story for another time.

Player Log