The group sits on the side of the Volcano, overlooking the Marches, and discusses their plans about what they are going to do next. The obvious thing is to get some information on what Dominic has planned, but they’re going to have to go somewhere to get it, that somewhere being other then Heaven. The realize that there will be big concentrations of Dominicans in either DC or New York. Dana knows New York, but Blitzen and Maxwell have had more recent interactions with DC. The plan comes down to splitting into two groups – Maxwell, Blitzen and Dana vs. the Creationers, and going down to try to find something. The Creationers will talk to humans while the others grab a demon and interrogate it. Although DC is a giant Tether to Corruption, they decide to head there.

The group heads across Heaven toward the Eternal City. The Spires – or what used to be the Spires – are nothing more then a big pile of slag. The side of the Cathedral facing the Spires is blackened with char and ash. Most of the buildings in the Ci ty are burnt to the ground, and the front of the Library is boarded closed. There is no sign of Gabriel. They enter the Cathedral, and the place is dead silent. Maxwell leads the group over to the entrance to the Laurentine tether in DC, and drops them off. He takes a small side trip to the Heart Room, and finds the Kyriotate who is minding the place. He asks to see Karin’s Heart, and it’s broken, shattered. Maxwell explains that, when he last saw her, her body was possessed by a Shedite and she was wandering around in the Marches. The Kyrio takes Maxwell over to her Heart, but it’s no more – shattered. The Kyrio explains that she’s either dead or fallen, and hopes that, if dead, it was an honorable death in the service to Heaven. Maxwell tries t o agree, and goes back to joining the group. They descend the tether.

The group descends to the Byzantine Orthodox Church, and the first thing they notice is that the place is basically barricaded. They locate Dumiel, the Elohite Seneschal, and he explains that the place was attacked and fire bombed from the outside, an d he couldn’t afford another attack. And, the demons were acting openly now. The entire Symphony was jangling around their ears. Dumiel fills all the angels with essence, straight from the Tether, and talks a little about all the factions running aroun d. Blitzen finds a window and peers at his car, which he left parked around back. From his angle, he can see the windows smashed and the tires knifed.

Blitzen decides to send Dylan out to go check on his car. They don’t have black overcoats, they have cassocks. So they dress Dylan up as a priest to go out and search the car for anything that even looks like a gun. But the car has been totally rans acked. There’s nothing left. Dylan comes back in and returns the cassock to the Seneschal.

The group splits into two parts at this point: Star, Dylan and Daimon (better known as just The Creationers) and Maxwell, Blitzen and Dana in the other. Maxwell is attuned to Star and Dana is attuned to Daimon, so they’re positive they can come runnin g when the Creationers get into trouble, not if. Dana gives Daimon a finger waggling lecture about getting hurt and into trouble. She gets rewarded with Big Eyes ™.

Star, Dylan and Daimon decide, as they leave the group that they are in dire need of a gun, a condom and a rubber chicken. Thus the quest for one begins. The group walks, wholy unmolested, into a much ickier section of downtown DC in search of a Pawn shop, which is easily found. They go in, and Dylan casts an eye over the guns. He finds a serviceable .45, that’s not great but has an enormous markup on it – it’s $450. It costs big for a gun with no background check and no questions asked. The Creat ioners, being Creationers, have no money. Daimon tells them to wait a sec, and he goes around back to Abracadabra some cash – a cubic foot of $20s. He shoves a wad into his coat pocket, and hands the rest out to homeless that are around, and stuffs a do nation box to the top. Then he goes back in, and haggles with the owner of the pawnshop because Lilim are Lilim no matter what you do to them. Dylan gets his gun, and it’s time to stop in Perry Drugs for both a pack of condoms and a rubber chicken.

Dana, Maxwell, and Blitzen walk down the block to the doctor that Maxwell saw the last time he was in DC, with hopes of getting more of his vessel patched up. Dana promptly gets called by the Media, informing her that they were coming to get her views on everything that was happening, where can they meet her? Dana fast talks them and sends them off on a wild goose chase. They get there, and fast talk the doctor’s secretary into seeing Maxwell right away. Maxwell gets seen, and the doctor pulls more bullets out of his vessel. Blitzen also fast talks himself some medical attention. When they get done, the secretary informs them both that Maxwell’s medical insurance has turned out to be faulty. It seems that the insurance company has never heard of him. Maxwell explains that this happens "all the time" and gets them to send the bill to his now non-existant house. Outside, Dana goes to sit and wait, and the Media van pulls up. They climb out and shove a microphone and a camera in her fa ce, demanding to know about her relationship with Mr. Lightner. Dana starts giving them non-answers.

Daimon, Dylan and Star walk into what could only be termed the ickiest place they possibly could have gone. It looks normal enough, and the Mercurians start resonating. Dylan instantly picks up on the true relationships of all beings – who is hum an, who is soldier, who is demon, who is working for whom. He can see the people, and he can see them all as part of some infernal machine. And without a doubt, none of this place is any fun. Dylan is just in tune with his Mercurianness as he walks thr ough the door.

Dylan spots someone who might know some decent information, a paralegal loaded down with papers, trying to hussle from one side of the building to another. Dylan knows her name is Barbara, and the group approaches her. She’s not very talkative or fri endly, but Star starts being friendly and making Big Eyes ™. Barbara caves, and agrees to sneak them up to her office. The paralegal is convinced that the three are really underground reporters who are there to get the dirt on all the corruption g oing down – no matter how much they protest. Barbara starts whipping out papers, and Dylan spots a name – Joseph Darkon. He remembers a Darkon. He remembers him as the Seraph who was the head of the Triad who prosecuted him when he was Outcast from Hea ven a year ago. Dylan grabs the papers and finds a Xerox machine.

On the way out, the group of three Creationers get stopped and hassled by the cops, who tell them to empty their pockets and answer a few questions about what they were up to…

Maxwell and Blitzen walk out of the Doctor’s office to see Dana taping. Blitzen decides to make the interviewer obsess about the Prophet Mohammad – which he does, on tape, to the consternation of the rest of the media group. This allows them to get D ana out of there and, oddly, they decide to also head toward the Supreme Court to get their hands on a demon. So the group stops and tries to make a plan. They need to get inside, inconspicuously. Someone remembers that there is a tour, and it’s simple enough to get on it. So they go up to the Court, and sign in for a tour. After a fifteen minute wait, they’re on their way inside. The group sneaks off and over to the cafeteria, and no one gives them a second look. As they circulate the cafeterian l ooking for an empty spot, Dana overhears someone say the word "Belial" she thinks, but isn’t totally sure. Blitzen notes that he is literally surrounded by cruelty, no matter where he looks. While Dana and Maxwell sit and talk, their cherubic resonances start to go off as the attuned come into trouble. They walk purposefully through the building and up to where the Creationers are being hassled. Blitzen makes a quick survey of the cafeteria before he leaves, checking for electrical outlets. He hears a snatch of something that could be Helltongue as he makes his way out.

As Maxwell, Blitzen, and Dana arrive, Dylan is teleporting the guns away from the cops. This causes them to resonate and start blowing up the floor. Mayhem ensues between five calabim of Corruption and the avenging angels. Star causes one of the Cal abim to fall in love with Dana via the Song of Attraction, and now he feels the need to get her out of danger as soon as possible. This ends up with Dana getting her demon after all, as he drags her out of the Supreme Court and off to somewhere they can be ‘private’ and ‘intimate’ – namely a Howard Johnsons, because everyone knows demons are secretly tacky. Maxwell slices and dices, Blitzen burns, and Daimon summons up cubic feet of various interesting substances, including coating Blitzen and his targe t with petroleum. When the Calabim are near enough to dead, the group runs, knowing that they had been seen by humans and video cameras alike.

A few blocks away, when they are catching their breath, Maxwell calls Dana. "If everything is alright," he says, "say spaghetti." "Oh," Dana responds, "so this is about the spaghetti?" Maxwell hangs up and the n talks about where to go next. They decide to go to a donut shop, but not the same donut shop where they met the game. Maxwell points out that the Game might actually be on their side and someone worth talking to, but Blitzen thinks this is a poor idea . So they go to a generic shop.

The angels talk about stuff, and Star gets Daimon to show off Abracadabra. He summons up a cubic foot of donut holes, and starts making donut based sculpture. They talk about what to do next, and Dylan mentions the Darkon guy that he came across in t he Courts. Daimon and Maxwell arm wrestle (Maxwell’s left arm to Daimon sitting on the table trying to push him over) so Maxwell can FINALLY find out if anyone is on the side of good and evil. Daimon is firmly on the side of good, so Maxwell "Lets him live for now".

The group relocates to the Laurentine Tether, to await Dana’s return.

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.