Quotes:
"Hey, I'll see you later. We're attacking the Spires." - Blitzen to the Archangel Laurence.
"He rolls an infernal intervention, and Kobal pants him!" - Allen
"That was my Johnson! Johnson of WRATH!" - Jason
IN HEAVEN
Blitzen xeroxes the information in the Halls of Progress he hauled up from Ron Gardner's apartment. He makes three copies, so that none of the information can be lost. While he's working on that...
Maxwell walks into the Cathedral, intending on getting in to see Archangel Laurence, carrying his bag of evidence. He finds out quickly that Laurence is in the Seraphim Council. Maxwell locates Joduthun fairly easily, and he gives the spreadsheet to the young Seraph. Joduthun flips through the information. Then he flips through the information again. Then he tells Maxwell that they better show this to Laurence immediately. Joduthun leads Max through the Cathedral and through the annex that connects to the Seraphim Council Chambers. As they walk through the arch, they can hear one of Blandine's Menumin speaking to the council, pleading with them to withdrawl the armies staked out there, because it is adversely affecting the human dreams, and the Dreaming is starting to drag more and more of the Marches under the eye of Beleth. But the Menumin's words were largely falling deaf ears. Laurence was sitting on a table across the room, and Joduthun and Maxwell's enterance drew stares. They bowed before their Archangel, and gave him the spreadsheet. Laurence flipped through it, then flipped through it again, and then demanded that they follow him to his office. Joined by the only other Archangel in the Council at the time, Jean, they go to Laurence's large office. Laurence hands the document to Jean, sits on his desk, and demands that Maxwell gives a full report about how this document was attained and what else is going on in DC. Maxwell reports everything he knows.
Blitzen is xeroxing like mad in the Halls of Progress. He bounces around, since there are many papers to copy and he's making three full copies. Finished, Blitzen goes flying over to the Volcano to share his new find with his Archangel. She's not in at the moment. Blitzen tracks down Soldekai, who warns him that Gabriel is not in one of her sane moods at the moment. Blitzen doesn't care, and demands to know where she is. Soldekai points him to an active volcano off the coast of Iceland. Since it is a tetherpoint, Blitzen goes screaming down to Earth, information in tow. When he gets there, he sees the two Cherubim of Destiny standing at the lip of the volcano, watching this enormous screaming spinning disk go jumping in and out of the lava flows, yelling something about trying to be "clensed of the evil which is inhabiting Heaven in flames." Blitzen approaches her, and she screams that he needs to be baptized and cleansed in the lava flows. Blitzen, knowing when he just needs to do what he's told, leaves his information with the Cherubim and goes jumping in and out of the lava. Done with that, Gabriel forms into her flaming woman form, and Blitzen explains that he has information to share. He stands there while the Cherubim read the spreadsheet off to her. Then Gabriel, mad gleam in her eye, screams, "The Spires must be cleansed of all evil with purifying Flame! Dominic will burn! BURN!" Then, off like a shot, she goes streaming upwards for Heaven. Blitzen, wondering what he's just done, follows, and tracks down Soldekai, explaining what happened. The older Cherub looks nervous at this. As Blitzen leaves, the last thing he hears are the hundreds of voices of Fire servitors in chorus with their Archangel, "We must BURN! We must BURN!" And the strength of the crowd was growing.
Blitzen zips back to the Halls of Progress. He wants to give his information over to Jean, but he finds that this requires filling out more forms in triplicate. Not having the patience for this nonsense, he finds an Ofanite of Jean who is working in the data processing center. He hands the data over, and the Ofanite, bobbing, tells him, "I must process! I must process!" The data begins to disappear into Jean's computers, as Blitzen zips along to Laurences Cathedral. He appears, and starts to accost people. "Hi, I have information and I need to see Archangel Laurence" He gets strange looks, but pointed in the right direction.
As Max is finishing up his report, Blitzen bursts through the door. He announces that he's here to drop of information. "I'll see you later," Blitzen says to Laurence, "We're attacking the Spires." Blitzen gets exactly as far as the two Malakim outside the door, before he is sent back in to explain. In detail. Exacting detail. Laurence looks decidedly upset about Gabriel deciding to light most of Heaven on fire. He learns about the Creationers still locked in the Spires. "Where did you get this information from?" he asks Maxwell. "From Eli," is the reply. It doesn't get too much more authentic then that, mostly, if Eli wasn't lying. Laurence decides that stopping Gabriel would be a good plan, but the only one who might be able to do that is Michael. Then Jean speaks up, and notices a corrospondance between the spreadsheet in his hands, and the database that the crew delivered to his people in, say, session 4 or 5. The GM points out that yes, there is apparently a plot to this game, and gets Blitzen to cough up how the got this information. This is how Jean and Laurence actually hear about a possible third faction in Heaven, other things going on, and that yes, there was some sort of movement against this war business long before it started. Weird. Maxwell requests of Jean to get all the phone records of the calls to and from Ron Gardner's apartment. Jean says it will be provided to him. Laurence dismisses Maxwell, Blitzen, and Joduthun who had been quiet through all of this so he can go have a conversation with Michael, saying that they'll be contacted as soon as all the information they gathered could be checked, organized, and analyzed. Before they leave, Laurence fills them back up with essence.
As soon as Maxwell and Blitzen step out the door, there is an Elohite of Lightning armed with a laptop ready to give them their information. If there's one thing to be said about Heaven's data processing units, it's that they're damn fast and efficient. Blitzen grabs the laptop, and sends Jean an email about the guy they met in the monestary, Fr. Remy, and the missing Malakite, Machmay.
Day 5. 3:30 PM
The two of them descend to Earth, into the parking lot of the Monestary. They're discussing some things, when a smallish, waiflike chick comes running out of the bushes toward the two of them, looking like she's been through a war. She makes a beeling straight for the two angels, and says, "Maxwell of the Sword, I am so glad I found you" She explains that she is Karen, Mercurian of the Sword. She had been ordered to do pretty much the exact same thing that Maxwell was doing in DC, and during the tether war the night before, she had gotten captured by the Inquisition. They had dragged her to a compound and did some nasty things to her. But while she was escaping and fighting her way out, she had overheard that the demons there knew of Maxwell and Blitzen, and their Tether of the Sword, and they planned on attacking them there. She pointed them down the road to a compound, probably 2 miles away. She explained that it seemed to be some sort of holding prison, and that it was covered in demons. Maxwell heals some of Karen's worse wounds, and gives her his knife, because she has long since lost her weapon.
Blitzen calls the tether of the Sword to warn the Seneschal about the attack. The Seneschal is fairly certain, tactically, from what is described to him, that Blitzen and Maxwell cannot take this place alone. He convinces Blitzen to accept reinforcements. Blitzen suggests that they all meet at a corner store down the road. And, in doing so, they go to the store and wait.
The three of them aren't there more then ten minutes before the windows are blown in with automatic weapon fire from the three attacking Calabim. Max and Blitzen dive for cover, and then the combat starts. Karen gets the humans out of the store intact. Max gets outside and starts hacking with Soulpiercer, and he relieves some demons of their forces, because heck, they didn't need them anyway. Maxwell also relieves the car the Calabim arrived in of one of its front tires. Blitzen got hit with some Calabite resonance, and he dived back behind some shelving. Then, jacked up on enough resonance and attunements to kill a moose, starts pelting his target with anything handy. This included, apparently, doing damage via flying pickle jars, exploding cans of hair spray as makeshift grenades, a complete 6 pack of Sam Adams, a bag full of dried beans, marbles, bottles of Canada Dry, and cleaning solutions. This makes for much exploding walls, shelves, glass cases full of pop, and roof of the story. The term for the day is Property Damage. Halfway through the fight, a man in black arrives on his motorcycle, and also starts taking shots at the Calabim. Eventually all but one are utterly destroyed, and that one Blitzen captures.
Maxwell, relieving a dead vessel of it's car keys, opens the trunk of the car to get the spare tire. Inside there are a few dead bodies they were transporting. Um. Okay. Maxwell takes the bodies out so that Blitzen can immolate them in flames, and changes the now flat. Blitzen comes over and changes the flat, and they start to accost the stranger. I mean, he's cruel and all, just not in a real direct sense. He introduces himself as Michael Coburn, and he's been sent by 'interested parties' to help keep and eye on them. Why, they have no idea. They get out of him that he's an Impudite, and he weathers Blitzen's "Why you should change sides" speech.
They wake the captured Calabite up, and he goes celestial to escape his bonds. Blitzen goes celestial after him and grabs him. Blitzen does some nice celestial damage to the calabite, and it screams. He shakes it and informs it that if he doesn't speak, Blitzen is going to take a force. The calabite acts indolent again, so Blitzen takes out a little more, while weathering a ripple of resonance and a celestial song of Entropy. The Calabite starts to cough up information most notably where Kezef's main compound is. Blitzen rips the guy asunder.
Day 5, 4:00 PM
Karen, in the real world, makes a tactical suggestion that sitting around outside a destroyed convenience store waiting for Malakim who may or may not ever find them is not such a hot plan. Blitzen says he's going up to Heaven to report this newest find. Maxwell suggests meeting at Ron Gardner's house. Their new companion will follow along behind on his motorcycle. They part ways.
Maxwell starts driving into the city of DC. But he doesn't make it to Ron Gardner's house...... (To Be Continued!)
IN HEAVEN
Blitzen goes screaming up to Heaven. He goes to the Cathedral, but Laurence is not there. He's in the Marches, talking to Michael. Blitzen learns that the slice of time between when they left Heaven and returned is very very small. Blitzen goes flying to the Volcano, and the chanting has gotten louder, the sheer number of servitors who have coalesced around Gabriel has seriously grown. "Cleanse the Evil! Burn the Spires! Cleanse the Evil! Burn the Spires!" The entire thing is starting to sound like Waiting for the Worms by Pink Floyd off of The Wall. Blitzen tears through the hallways beehived into the Volcano, and locates Soldekai. Soldekai cannot talk Gabriel down. He's becoming paranoid that she's really going to do this. Blitzen assures him that he has information that might change her mind.
Blitzen goes running out into the Marches. He stands on the lip of the Volcano, and stares, down, locating the one bright blob of light among the servitors of War, which can only be the Archangel Laurence. Blitzen enters the encampment. He's readily recognized by the Michaelites, and waved on through. He gets into the press of frantic servitors surrounding Laurence and Michael.
Michael was in full celestial Seraph form, six eyes, wings, and all. One thing of note. Laurence next to Michael in celestial form looks like, well, Maxwell next to Laurence. The power levels were compared as such: Maxwell, in power, looks like Mercury, which looks fairly puny if sitting on a cosmically sized shelf next to Mars, and Mars looks pretty impressive. But Mars gets lost next to, say, Jupiter. Michael, celestially, isn't just frightening, he's awe inspiring.
Blitzen hears the following rumors while waiting in the press of servitors:
Blitzen mentions that he has information for Michael which may stop Gabriel temporarily, and this brings Michael's immediate, unwavering attention, unnerving as it is. Blitzen recants what he knows, and Michael gives him half a dozen large Malakim as an official, private hit squad, and sends him off to go talk to Gabriel. Now. Right now.
Blitzen, followed by the Malakim, goes tearing back off to the Volcano, and finds Soldekai again, and this time he has to push his way through the crowd of servitors. He waves the Malakim at Soldekai, and then goes off to join his Archangel. She's standing, in firey woman form, on an immense stage of rock at the front of a huge, long, valley like depression within the Volcano, stuffed as far as the eye could see before the stage and to the horizon with servitors of Fire, pressed shoulder to shoulder.
Blitzen, knowing nothing else to do, coming from behind, walks right out on stage next to Gabriel. (Well, floats. He is an Ofanite.) She spins to glare at him, and announces to the crowd, "AND BLITZEN WILL LEAD US TO THE DESTRUCTION OF DOMINIC! HE WILL LEAD THE SERVITORS OF FIRE TO BLESSED CLEANSING OF HEAVEN!" The servitors go wild. And then Blitzen, realizing he's just been made the head of this mad army ready to burn heaven to the ground, decides to go with this.
Blitzen's speech came at the crucial moment, as he had everyone's attention. He implored his fellow servitors of Fire that right now, at this very moment, they could take out one of Dominic's crucial lieutenants. They could destroy a demon prince, one who has stolen a Word from them, the one who embodies WRATH. They'll show him Wrath, and cripple the Fallen.
Blitzen starts to hear the chants to follow him down to Earth to burn Kezef, to destroy him utterly, steering them away from the Spires, at least for now. "DESTROY WRATH! DESTROY WRATH! DESTROY WRATH...." (To Be Continued.)
Note: On stage, after the speech, Blitzen was elevated to be a Friend of the Divine Spark.
[The GM makes a note here. In 1992, she went and saw Clinton, when he was running for the President for the first time, in front of the Rackham Graduate Studies building at the University of Michigan. There was hardly any breathing room, and it was packed with nearly 10,000 people, from the foot of Rackham back across three blocks. It was amazing. She was only 10 feet from the front.]
