Quotes:
"I used to work in a Triad, but now I work for Justice!" - Dana
"Why don't you just go to sleep?" - Susan
"Because I have an Infernal Video Camera!" - Steve
"I will duct tape you to Heaven!" - Dana (in reference to what, I dunno.)
"To us, caffeine is a depressant." - Dylan, referring to Windies on Drugs.
12:00 PM
Dana makes her way from the recording studio to the cafe specified so she can 'do lunch' with the Dominican who had called on the phone. She went to the cafe, a small out doors Mediterreanian place. Dana found the blond woman in the prim proper business suit who was looking at her watch, sitting all alone, and figured this was the woman she was here to meet. They introduced each other. The woman was named 'Deborah Daniels', and she was the kind who wanted to get right to business. Deborah is definite ly still one of the Judgment-based Dominicans (vs. the chocolate flavored), and covered several subjects. Yes, she was a little concerned about how Dana's group went about attracting attention to themselves. Deborah talked about the Underground Dominica n Railroad - which she wasn't sure she wanted Dana involved in, considering exposure. She talked about that there was a plan in motion to get Judgment Hearts out of the Spires and to someplace else but it is, as she described it, a 'tricky business', and that they would need to employ the Windies to pull this off, somehow. She mentioned the Malakim, or lack thereof, and the fact that they seem to be 'conspicuously missing'. Dana followed up on this, mentioning her attack. Deborah talked about what was 'left' in DC, and how few Judgment Dominicans were left there, that she knew of, 'although a few might have gone underground'. Deborah finally brought up the topic of a resistance, and of removing the present Archangel and putting someone new in. It's just that they don't have anyone near that kind of power right now, and everyone that was is now a fruitcake. Dana talked about her plans to hold rallies and suchlike, and once again, Deborah was convinced that she didn't need the exposure to try to get loyal Dominicans out of hot spots. They eat lunch, and the conversation falls into normal Law based conversation, somthing that was more then just refreshing for Dana. After the lunch, Deborah gave many important phone numbers, and they parted. Dana wa s a little bugged at Deborah's use of the word 'Need', with the obviously implied capitol letter.
Dylan was still sitting at the Media recording studio, left alone with his thoughts and some infernal recording equipment. He dug up a phone book, and started searching for probable Dream tethers, thinking that it would be such a good idea to go up to th e Marches... except if he sleeps, he can't take the camera. He needs to go up there physically. He found a small place in the phone book, a small sleep disorder clinic associated with one of the local hospitals. Dylan figured this was his best bet, cro ssed his fingers, and hoped that it wasn't a tether to Nightmares. He drove over there at breakneck speed, and then lay low, observing people walking in and out. And, without a doubt, people walked in and out, although it was few and it looked like norm al humans. Dylan cursed the continuous Symphony churning haze over NYC, and entered the clinic. He talked the the receptionist, and sure he could get an appointment, for six weeks in the future. Okay, well, he didn't have six weeks. He had to go to th e Marches _now_. He asked if he could speak to the doctor for a few minutes. The receptionist waffled, gave Dylan a hard time, and finally said that he could, but he'd have to wait. Dr. Weishaupt (of undoubtedly the Bavarian Illuminati) would see him, but does Dylan have an insurance card? Dylan, luckily, had a big enough Role to do this thing, so the receptionist took it, and charged him for an office visit anyway. Then Dylan waited in the lobby for an hour, reading badly drawn pamphlets on 'So you can't sleep' and very old out of date copies of Time and Newsweek. People came into the office, and got in to see the doctor. Dylan paced. He was just starting to believe this was a bad idea when the doctor emerged from the back room. Dr. Weishaupt wa s a small bald bland looking man behind a pair of spectacles. He shook Dylan's hand, and immediately led him into a back office. He sat in his desk chair and wanted to know why Dylan had to use the tether, and why he couldn't just sleep. Dylan made up some warbling excuse about the War and needing to be there in person to help support the Wind. Dr. Weishaupt seemed to buy Dylan's story, and led him to a small locked room. The doctor unlocked the door with a key he wears around his neck, and led Dylan to a room flooded with white light, where the ceiling and the walls seemed to flow in a dazzling array of liquid color. And Dylan stepped in...
Dylan still had the camera when he emerged in a small asymmetric room with an even smaller door at one end. He emerged, and found himself standing on a tiled floor at the base of an enormous winding staircase which soared high into the air and disappeare d into mists above him. Angels were coming in through the huge main doors and going down tethers. Dylan stumbled his way out of the doors, and stared at the massive encampment below. Soaring off to one side was Gabriel's Volcano, and far on the horizon was the black smudge of the demonic hordes and the thin line of Beleth's tower. As a good geased angel, he turned on the camera and stood out of the way of traffic while he video taped the entire spectacle.
Dylan made his way down to the triage area, trying to avoid angels who kept asking him who he was and on what authorization he was doing there. He filmed the wounded, missing forces manifesting like missing limbs or deep wounds. He filmed angels of War, Fire, Wind (who blessedly didn't recognize him), Flowers, the Sword, and some others. He slowly made his way to the main encampment, running into more angels of War with their huge heavy axes. He tried to interview a few people, but they weren't very co operative. When he was in the middle of one interview, he felt a heavy hand on his shoulder. He turned too look into the eyes of a female Mercurian... of War, by the look of her, complete with her NC Wings. She asks him what he thinks he's doing, and D ylan tries to come up with a line of bullshit, which fails. She asks him again on what authorization he's doing there. He makes up another story about photography. She asks him if he'd like to hand over the video tapes. He makes up another story about being on assignment. She points out that she's never seen him. He's a little surprised until she introduces herself as Victoria... the Angel of Combat Journalism. Oops. So Dylan goes into cute mode to try to con her into allowing him to work for her. 'My lord Janus _forgot_ to give me an assignment.' He convinces Victoria to NOT take him to Lord Michael, and she says that if he has no assignment, he's going to get one now. She takes him over to her tent in the Officer's part of the encampment, and proceeds to start whipping out paperwork to get him transferred to answer directly to her. Boy, won't she be surprised when she finds out Dylan is an Outcast, but what she doesn't know won't hurt him, yet. And she gives him a Celestial Press Pass - an artifact with no powers whatsoever, but it does contain a really crappy celestial photograph of the holder. Dylan blesses his good luck.
1:00 PM
Dana finishes up lunch, and hugs Deborah the only way that a Cherub can. Mmmm... cuddles... much better. She leaves to go follow her attunement to Daimon. This takes her into Soho, passing many an art district, and to a small brownstone house which has a small sign by the door indicating the hours for teaching class. She goes in, and sees Daimon sitting in a neat living room talking to a young, bland looking woman. He gets up and introduces Dana to Elle, with no other moniker. Elle asks Dana if she would like tea, and Dana accepts. As soon as Elle is out of the room, Dana starts accosting Daimon.
Dana gets a cup of tea, and starts to calm down again. She listens to Daimon and Elle talk about music for a while, and Elle brings up some of the things they have done, and mentions she knows some Creationer Soldiers - and that the Village is really a p retty good Creationer Enclave. She has already gotten a commitment from several soldiers to form the backup band for Daimon, but she had heard that Dana needed some 'creative help' that was not 'media based'. Dana sort of agreed, and then worked on a sp eech while she listened to Daimon and Elle talk for hours. Then she finally gets a call from Dylan...
4:00 PM
Dylan is still in the Marches with the Press Pass. He can get around better, and less people give him dirty looks. He filled a video tape before he descened back down into the Dream Tether. He thanked the Doctor/Seneschal, and noticed when Dr. Weishaup t made note of him in a black book at the receptionists desk. ('Hmmmm... can I steal that book?') Dylan calls Dana and tells him that he's around. She says that she'll bail out of here as soon as she gets bored. "So I'll see you in 5 minutes, then?" D ylan asks. Then Dylan uses his laptop and his phone to upload his Rolling Stone interview from his Jeep.
4:30 PM
Dana pries Daimon out of the Elohite's home, and calls up Dylan to say they are on the move. She spots a Starbucks (are there coffee shops in Soho? Just MAYBE) and tells Dylan to meet them there. The two get coffee, find a window seat, and start talkin g... about gender roles. Daimon informs Dana that he doesn't shave his legs, and then announces that he's a "Woman trapped in a Man's body" - a statement that, as mindboggling as it is, is 100% true, literally. Dylan appears, and Daimon attempts to drag him kicking and screaming into the gender roles argument.
They're getting goofy, when a wild hair man in long silver hair in grayish clothing bursts into the door, and then comes right over to them and sits in the unoccupied chair. He twitches continuously. "Hi," he says, "my name is Neil. I'm Neil. Right? Neil." He informs them that he's the messanger who has been running back and forth between HIS Lord and... Dominic. His lord happens to be David. Neil was speeding along from a meeting place to pick up documentation and he heard that Song on the radio. He thought that something might be wrong, and he tracked them down. What he held in his pouch was a final document of a pact between the two Archangels. Should he deliver it? Dana almost freaked out. No, she said. Don't deliver the message. We hav e proof. Big proof. Arrange for us to talk to the servitors of Stone. Okay, Neil said, and he disappeared as fast as he appeared. Zip.
Dana, a little shaken, looks at Daimon and asks if the messanger was telling the truth. A little baffled on how he ended up a Seraph, he gets up and talks to the person behind the front counter. He comes back with four slices of tomato, and lays them on his face, so he looks like he has three sets of eyes. With great solemnity, he says, "The Symphony tells me that what he spoke was Truth." Then he reached up to squeeze the tomatoes so they looked like they were blinking. Yeah, okay, Dana gets the hin t, but at least it was a tension breaker.
The three of them decide to return to the hotel in Boston. On the way back, they stop again at the T-Shirt store, and more shirts with stylized fish are procured.
6:00 PM
The group returns to the hotel. In the lobby waiting for them are two guys in cheap suits. One is a smallish skinny guy with a nervous tic. The other is a very large, very solid man. And they accost the trio. The skinny guys tells the group that they are 'Guido' and 'Vinnie', and if everyone goes out to the parking lot, no one will get hurt. Dana looks at Daimon, and he shrugs and says, sure, the parking lot will do. And when they get out there...
Daimon blows two essence and Pranks. A spotlight winks on from nowhere, and illuminates the two 'mobsters', who are suddenly in stereotypical mobster outfits sporting tommy guns. Daimon is now in some sort of cheezy white leisure suit, and he announces in a nice game show announcer voice, "Here are our two grand winners! And what have they won? An all expense paid trip Straight to Trauma! That's right! Our two winners will be able to lose their vessels and find themselves in Hell, curled around thei r Hearts wimpering, and with any luck, for all eternity!"
** Hee. The GM giggles, and says it's NICE to be a Lilim who can get Needs with a nice high check digit sometimes.
Well destracted, Dana and Dylan tear into the demons. Dana has a fun time with her NC: Claws, and Dylan Song of Motions their guns... into his hands. Somewhere in there the Prank wears off, Daimon disappears into invisibility, and starts playing Funny I nvisible Lilim Wedgie tricks (which gets him backhanded.)
Between a little celestial combat, wedgies, claws, resonances that failed, bad rolls on the part of the demons, and Dylan finding that firing into someone's gut point blank is fun, the demons are dispatched. The three stand back, looking at the empty ves sels, when two cars pull up into the parking lot. Four large, very bulky, very earthy, and very all around solid looking individuals pile out, and approach the trio. They're big fans of the Song, you see, and it's made it up to Heaven. Of course it sou nds different up there, but the message is the same. (What message did Daimon embed in it? A mystery.) And they'd like more, because they see it as a sign that the Creationers are once again supporting the right side of Heaven and making weapons for th em once again. (Of course, they think the creator of the Song is a Mercurian of Creation...)
So the groupie servitors of Stone, who turn out to be COMPLETELY unrelated to the Messager Neil, help the trio explain that this was all a theatrical stunt. Some humans even applauded. (Hey, there was a spotlight and some pyrotechnics, you know...) The Stonies loaded the dead bodies of the servitors of Factions into their trunks, help the trio check out of the hotel, and speed off to relative safety. Hopefully.
GM NOTE: There is still a music video to make, photo shoots to be had, an album to cut, video tapes of the fighting to fill, Michaelites to talk to, Creationers to enlist for making things to help Dana, speeches to give, Judgment Dominicans to raise into a revolutionary force.... all this, and they look good too!
Now if they could only find Eli...
