Session 22A / Messiah 7 - An Incident in Iowa

Dana drives back to the building where the pure Judgment Dominicans are interred from the local police station. As she pulls up, she can see the first few media trucks arriving, apparently attempting to find out the source of the public demonstration an hour ago which had resulted in arrests. Dana is there early enough to look like just another person going to work, and she gets back into the building largely unmolested. Before she enters the building, she pulls the 4x4's phone out and tucks it into her pocket. She goes up to where she was before, and sits down to make some phone calls. Knowing that all objects which pass through Eli's hands become relics of a sort, she inspects the phone, and discovers that not only is it a Relic, it is a Super Secret Hyper Powerful Amazing Relic Cellphone with Undisclosed Powers! All of which she can't actually figure out, but she figures that the phone must be like Eli's world destroying koosh ball. And worse, it starts talking to her. Dana is a little rattled by this, but she uses the phone to call Terry. And then Terry starts laying on the nasty Balseraph hurt on Dana in big thick globs. He wants her to come out there, he needs her to come out there, shouldn't all this Armageddon stuff be left to the professionals? Come on, come to LA, come lay out in the sun. She'll love it. Dana does a lot of bobbing her head and laughing. She tells Terry they're in Omaha, and he tells her he'll arrange a car to come get her and take her to LA, right now. She tells him that he'll find out where they are and what is going on soon enough, and ends the conversation. Then Dana waits for Tweedledum and Tweedledee to wander their way from Point A to Point B without getting confused in between.

They get confused. But not much. Daimon tends to stop, stare at things and go "Wow" a lot, because his brain has been turned into a pastry by the redemption process and it's just settling in that he's not a demon anymore. Dylan, luckily, has an innate sense of direction and can get them, on foot, back to the office building. When they get there, they spot the media vans before they are in turn spotted. Dylan, in a burst of Windy ingenuity, gets them around the building to a side door without being spotted. Beyond the door are stairs, remarkably enough. They go up, and eventually locate Dana of the Phone, and collect her. Dana says her goodbyes to all the Dominicans, and then joins them. They're spotted on the way out, in the parking lot between the door and the media vans. Dylan praises God, who saw fit to put a nice big V8 under the hood of their vehicle, and they lost the pursuit down I-80.

They give the big goodbye to Omaha, and then spend some quality time discussing where to go. The decision became obvious: Chicago. But that meant a straight shot across Iowa. Daimon ended up staring out the back window, and loudly announcing what he believed the cows were doing.

There is nothing in Iowa. Well, there is corn, and some wheat. But that's pretty much it. Thank god the 4x4 has air conditioning and an evil CD player, or the angels would never survive.

About half way across, Dylan, speeding mightily at a good clip, sees the ominous flashing lights of a cop car in his back window. After some discussion of what to do, and the realization that not only is the Lilim laden down with illegal substances, mainly a baggy full of joints and maybe a few tabs of various things, Dylan has his guns, which are undoubtedly unregistered and totally illegal. Dana taps into Incarnate Law, and it tells her all about the speeding ticket that is to come, the arrest and prosecution in the state of Iowa for the possession of illicit substances, and the gun laws. She figures that they are in a bad way. Dylan, who is still going way too fast for anyone's health, notices that a second cop car has joined the first. He pulls over in a massive skid, and the two cars park. A third one, coming from the other way, slows down, and pulls up near the first two.

Out of the first car comes a very large traffic cop. He has to be at least 6'4", built like a linebacker and looking like he can really do damage. Dylan's resonance just picks up that this is a man who radiates fear. And he taps on the window and says, "License and Registration, son." Dylan hands them over, and the cop says, "Would you mind stepping out of the car, son? You too. Everyone out of the car, hands on the hood. Spread 'em." And then they are searched, and drugs and toys are found. Cops come to put on the handcuffs. Dylan starts resisting, and the cop brings down a blackjack across the back of his knees. Dylan goes down in a heap. Dana starts being handcuffed, and decides this is bad. She uses a Celestial Song of Motion to teleport out of there, and does so, appearing in the middle of a corn field back down the road a bit the way they came. Daimon doesn't resist - there will come a time later to escape. They start putting on something that looks like dog collars on them. Dylan rolls and spots a tall thin guy getting out of one of the cars to watch all this. Dylan has enough time to resonate on him - getting that he is Focalor, Balseraph of the Game, before the collar goes on and he loses any ability to use his resonance. He rolls over and tries to knee the guy who is collaring him, but the guy is much bigger, and much more resilient then that, and all he does is smack Dylan upside the head. Daimon and Dylan end up in the back of one of the cop cars, where Daimon says, conversationally, "I didn't know the Game was into kink. I'd always suspected, but it's nice to know these things."

Dana fumbles the SuperPhone out of her pocket and tries to call Terry. All she gets is his secretary, who assures Dana that Mr. Jackson is in a very important meeting. Sure, he'll call right back. What, you are stuck in some sort of game? Sure, I'll give him that message. Dana hangs up and hides. She can hear the cop cars going back and forth up and down the road, searching for her. She can hear one stop, and the doors slam as two cops get out of the cars, and start searching the cornfield. She blows her last points of essence on a Corporeal Song of Motion, to hover and fly out of the corn field in an effort to get away. No dice, she's shot by a tranquilizer dart. She starts to lose coherence, and the cops get in their car to follow her, literally through the corn field. It was just a matter of time, and when she came down, they decided to work her over some, not breaking anything or leaving visible marks on her face, but enough that she's going to remember that running from the Game is not always a good plan. They toss her into the back seat.

Another cop takes Dylan's keys and follows along in their 4x4. They drive for a good long time. The entire caravan ends up at a small, run down hotel in the middle of nowhere. The three are taken out of the cars, and dragged into a room. The room has in it, one TV with a VCR, three highbacked chairs wired with straps and dubious devices, and a chair for viewing at the back. The three are strapped into the highback chairs, and it is made very clear that any mouthing off from one will result in pain to all three. Zot. They can feel the presence of something very large, very powerful, and very nasty sitting behind them.

And then they are shown videos. Oh yes, the Game knows all about their little romp through Hell. Anyone who collaborated has been 'dealt with'. Oh yes, they know all about what is going on in Heaven. And you see, they would rather it stopped. They have a video of Victoria, the Angel of Combat Journalism, being murdered and dismembered in the Marches. They have it all on tape. Focalor starts to explain how he wants David to stop fighting Laurence, and why these three really need to take care of this problem. They can think of themselves as extending their life spans a bit by working with them. Although Dana was shrugging every suggestion off, Dylan was starting to agree, thinking yeah, we have the power, and the Game isn't so bad. But then, zingo, enlightenment. Hey man, this is The Game. This is bad. These guys are bad. And he felt he could resist the rest of the lies.

After a nice mental working over, it was made clear that the video was going to be left for them as evidence to do whatever they wished with it. On the way out, the Presence leaves a packet on Dana's lap and says, "Consider." Then It tells Daimon, "We will see you later" and leaves. The three are left strapped to the chairs, alone, and the keys are left on a table some 10 ft. away. Luckily, Dylan doesn't have too much problem getting out of his bonds. At least the Game was kind enough to return their Ids, and Dana's phone that she left back in Omaha.

So they take the video tape, and get back on the road, slightly worse for wear, but not too bad. Dana calls Terry up, and he's in a panic about them being captured by the Game. She talks him down, and he's really pissed off, because she didn't get into the car he had sent for her, and if she did, none of it would have happened. She gets him offtrack and talks him down for a bit, and assures him that she will contact him when they get to their destination, wherever that is.

There is talk in the back of the car, and sex, and goofiness.

So the radio kicks in and tells them the news: Kezef is dead. And seconds later, they are hit by the shockwave of disturbance coming at them from Pennsylvania. The disturbance in the Symphony is so large that it is literally moving across the globe. Dana is happy this isn't her problem.

They cross the Mississippi after fighting traffic, and pull into the not real attractive town of Davenport. They find an Italian Resturant, and discuss what to do next. Dylan still has the problem of the Geas on him, and sooner or later they are going to have to deal with Terry. There is the matter of Daimon's rising popularity, considering that his song is being played over and over again on the radio, and that pretty soon people are going to wonder where the hell he's disappeared to. They talk about sex, and gender, and Kobalites, and Hell, and what has been happening to them, and Maxwell's house, and all sorts of goofiness. When the bill is paid, they start to head to Chicago.

And on Day 7, the 4x4 entered the City Limits of Chicago.

Flaming edge graphics from Our Domain Gallery of Graphics
The "In Nomine" and "flaming feather" graphics are
(C) 1997 Steve Jackson Games, Incorporated.
Used with fnord.