The group is assembled in the silence surrounding the post Sermon on the Stump speech given by Daimon Lightner, who is looking vaguely like a being who has just been hit around the head. As the mob moves toward the entrance to the Labyrinth, there is some heated discussion about how the group is going to split up. Maxwell and Blitzen get their hands on a prophecy spewing, hope slinging Lilim while Dana, Star and Dylan agree to wait outside.

Star tells everything she knows to Dana about Gabriel and the servitors of Fire planning on going down to DC to burn the place to the ground. Dana comments that Star has now basically told Dominic. Star becomes upset, and she stalks off to a secluded area of the trees and blows six essence on summoning Eli. Nothing happens. Star comes back upset, and the group decides to just wait.

Maxwell, Blitzen, Daimon, and Midian trail behind the large group which has entered into the Labyrinth to ‘free Laurence’. The Labyrinth is a cold, dark place with twisting passages shooting off in every conceivable direction, and gems set into the wa lls. While the Stonies can manuever through here by instinct, some torches have been set for visitors. The mob, in an effort to get through the Labyrinth broke apart, split, and became seperated from each other in the clausterphobic tunnels. The group had a Stone Ofanite and a Stone Malakite as guides to get them through.

Nearing the end of one tunnel, there was a glow of light. The group hunkered down in the shaft and they could hear chanting and some sort of rally. The Malakite explained that this was another one of the rallys for the New Heavenly Order, which will be in place once the dawn comes. Blitzen asks if they know about the horn, and the Malakite explains that there is no way that these servitors could know that Gabriel was about to blow it. The Ofanite plots a course through the ever-changing Labyrinth a round this huge room.

Dana, Star and Dylan are getting occasionally harrassed by servitors of Stone, while they listen to the sounds of combat around them. Dana describes who went into the Labyrinth, including Maxwell, Blitzen, Daimon and Midian in some detail. The Stonie s thank them, and enter the maw of the cavern.

In the Labyrinth, the gems start flickering on and off in some pattern, and the distant sound of something which could be an alarm claxon. The group stops dead, and they look around. The Ofanite of Stone lead them into this small round pocket which, it claims, is perfectly safe because no one will ever look here because no one ever puts anything in here. So they all squeeze in, and when the Labyrinth changes sweep through, the enterance to the room closes and leaves the angels in darkness illuminate d only by their innate glows. Daimon asks the Stone Malakite about the Needs of the Symphony, and hearing those Needs.

Dana, Star and Dylan decide to take a look at the state of the corporeal world, and head for the Halls of Creation in search of a tether. When they get there, they discover a disturbing lack of Domincan Malakim, who seem to have decided en masse to de cend to Earth and get themselves some serious Divine Retribution. This is only mildly disturbing. They discover that the creation tether has long since been destroyed. So they make for the Glade, and there the Flowers tether seneschal is wrapped around her Heart – another tether destroyed. Trying to decide what to do, they decide to go find Novalis. So they descend a Flowers tether to DC where the seneschal pounces on them and tells them that she needs immediate help. The city has been hit by some s ort of plague, and people are dying left and right…

The coast seems to be clear up in the Labyrinth as the changes come through again and a new way out of the stuffy little room opens. The group gets out of the room, and sneaks around groups of guards to get to a large iron door. The ofanite of stone offered to go scout, and while Blitzen and Maxwell tried to get through the door, the ofanite came back and announced there were "Lots of guards". Ofanim being what they were, this one had a little trouble concentrating after the number 5 – it just took too much hesitation and pondering. So lots could mean six or a thousand. And then the door was yanked open from the other side, revealing six stone guards. Blitzen sped up his running skill and he fled past the Stonies… and right past them. The others moved in to do some subduing damage.

The angels in New York were watching humans get eaten by some sort of Ebola like disease, and it wasn’t a pretty sight. Dana disappeared into a back room, and called Terry. Terry, all the way in LA and four hours behind Dana, sounded more then a litt le flustered on the phone. But eventually he fell into his normal Terry mannerisms. When Dana attempted to explain to him that the Media might lose an audience if humans die everywhere, Terry answered that "People are gonna need cable after Armaged don." No real information was exchanged except for a sort of laundry list of cities being destroyed, but Dana felt better. Dylan noticed that the clock had hit 10:51pm, and helped Star heal people, or at least make them more comfortable. Dylan tri es to summon Eli, and it fails.

Star eventually decides that the group really needs to inform Novalis about what is going on down here. They discuss how to do this at length, as no one has a lightning attunement or any other way to get around the Halls of Technology. They decide to just go up there and see what happens. The three angels go out onto the street, and Star looks up. The sky above her looks to her to be churning like blood. They walk through a sea of dying and dead human beings on their way down the street to the Int ernet Café. Even there, the Seneschal isn’t even interested in talking to them. He figures if they’re demons, they’ll just fry, and it’s no time to be picky. The angels ascend to the Halls of Technology.

They come up into an empty lab with a small terminal. Dana sends off some mail to Jean to go in to see Novalis. The response is very short and very to the point. The three angels go out into the hallway where there is a kiosk in the wall. The k iosk provides the group with a handy three dimensional map and tells them, "Have a nice eternity".

In the Labyrinth, subduing combat continues. The group hits group after group of Stony guards. Daimon takes to standing in the back, and trying to shout sanity at them, about working together and being angels, and not working against. While this doe s not work on all of the opposition, they begin to gather more people. The hallway they are in is large, square, with no offshoots. It just keeps spiriling inexoribly downward.

Dana, Dylan and Star follow the 3D map up to the Infirmary, where they make their way to a private back room. There are two Malakim standing at the door, who demand to know identities. They are given, and the group is admitted. Inside, Novalis is st anding over a rapidly expiring Archangel Marc. Star explains what she’s seen, and she gets a hug (and a subsequent choir attunement for the Seraph of Novalis). Novalis, rapidly becoming angry, goes off to get Jean, and then agrees to move onward and foc us her eyes on the corporeal realm. The three angels follow Novalis as she gathers her servitors in the Glade and descends.

Following Novalis in celestial form, the angels fly over NYC, past the tunnel which has cars backed up for miles and miles, above the carnage, and toward the slowly rumbling army which is cutting a swath right through the suburban countryside. As they approach the army, they see soldiers walking into houses, pulling humans out, and shooting them. Or businesses being set alight. Or cars being destroyed. The soldiers don’t even try to disguise the face that they are demons. Star manifests like a bri ght star in the sky, and forms a shield of peace all around herself. Dana starts getting this feeling that there is something very bad about to happen to her attuned. She asks Star to Song of Tongues a warning.

In the Labyrinth, they’ve collected fifteen new Stone Servitors as a sort of honor guard. The group stands before enormous double doors which are closed – and locked. Blitzen sends the Ofanite of Stone to zip around to see what is on the other side, but he never comes back. Blitzen sets the group to mining a tunnel around the doors. Daimon informs Blitzen that he’s just received a message from Star about danger and the doors, but they decide to disregard it. "So, do you want to live forever? Really?" Minutes tick by as attunements and songs are used to blast the rock around the doorway, and a tunnel opens up. Bright white light floods from where the hole was opened and illuminates the tunnel beyond. Angels push their way through the tunnel.

The room beyond the doors is one filled with bright white light. There are high vaulted ceilings of white and walls with stained glass windows. The floor is a pattern of white and dark brown tile, with the pictures of a cross set in. Beyond on the f ar side of the room is a towering cross of gold. Hanging suspended from the ceiling by hundreds of little hooks through his wings and his skin is Laurence, unconscious. Dominic faces them, and six red eyes beat down on the group of angels.

Gabriel blows her horn. One single pure note echos and reverbs through the symphony.

Silence descended upon the army, and everyone came to a sudden, complete halt as all celestial faces turned toward the sky. Star took that moment to get closer to Novalis, and resonate on the large, strong, solid looking man in a General’s uniform who m Novalis was speaking to, and she gets extreme pain through her head and through her entire being. The next thing to be heard is the order from the Man himself, "Kill all these angels!"

The Angels scramble out of the room and back into the hallway. Behind them, Blitzen and Maxwell can hear screams. They get out and there is Dominic, waiting for them. "I’ve let you live once," he says. "This time you will not be so luc ky." Maxwell throws up the only song he can think of at the time, celestial shields, and Blitzen hides behind it. As Dominic moves to sing the song that will finish them off for good, the tip of a lance comes through his sternum and pulls back out. Behind Dominic is standing Eli in all of his Archangel of Creation glory with the Spear of Destiny in hand. The only thing Eli has to say to Dominic is, "Bring it."

Maxwell and Blitzen scramble back through the tunnel, and they see Daimon trying to pull the hooks out of Laurence’s flesh, one by one. Maxwell and Blitzen rush over to help while dubious sounds are coming from beyond the doors. Maxwell, noting that his Archangel is literally coated with Discord, ascends to his Heart. The other two follow him.

Star, Dana and Dylan try to get closer to this dubious sounding conversation going on between Novalis and who Star now knows without a doubt is Baal, although they are getting attacked by demons from every side. Dana tries to holds them off with her c laws. They can hear snippets of "Renegade… Gehenna… Hades… problems…" Finally, Novalis just says over the din, "If you would have just asked for help!" The attacks continue, and finally Novalis decides she’s had enough of this, and an aura of peace just eminates from her body into the throngs of fighting celestials.

At Max’s heart, things weren’t looking too good. Blitzen went off to find someone – anyone – who could help and had a song of healing. But the Cathedral was largely abandoned of all life. He finally digs up a Mercurian, and brings him back. In the mean time, Laurence has regained something that resembles consciousness and has started holding his head and screaming. Daimon notes that he’s picked up Needs to do all sorts of pretty awful things, and doesn’t really want to know any more. The Mercuria n heals its Archangel a little, and Max talks about relocation. They decide to relocate to the Glade, in hopes of finding Novalis. It takes some doing, but they got the incoherent Archangel of the Sword out of the Cathedral and across heaven with fairly little difficulty.

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.