Session Five: A Matter of Free Will
"I wanna live, I wanna love,
But it's a long hard road out of hell."
- Marilyn Manson
It's the middle of the night, and Malcolm nee Danzig is stalking the streets of Alpena, looking for sinners. He decides to check out Meijer's. While there aren't too many sinners in Meijer's, there are shotguns to be bought. He buys one. Early in the morning, when the sun has just risen, he goes off to accost Jered instead.
Dana in the morning goes off to 9 am Mass. She's feeling the need to attone for some sins.
Maxwell decides to stay up all night with a rapidly getting more depressed demon, who doesn't feel like talking. Star wakes up in the morning to see how everyone is doing, and talks to Maxwell about going up to the store to sell her baskets. There's some talk about cute little tags versus a pricing gun. Then there is some talk about love and other goofiness between the lovy duo. Daimon Geases himself to Star, not realizing what it is he's just done. Then he makes breakfast, commenting that angels just aren't very good at materialistic things. They eat. And there is bacon.
Jered and Malcolm nee Danzig rearrange Jered's living room to do some Tai Chi. They demonstrate this in reality a little later on the GM's couch. Then, after talking about kids and good lifelong habits, they go over to Maxwell's house, because that's where it's happenin'.
When everyone gets there, the argument on Free Will is in full swing. Luckily, the resident demon thought ahead of time, and made bacon, so all is not lost. Daimon is convinced that becoming divine vs. diabolical means giving up your free will, although there's a good chance that this is a Lilim things. There's some argument over if Lilim ARE in fact Demons, and Daimon hasn't a clue either, always assuming he HAD one...
Getting bored of this silliness, Maxwell and Star go to Max's store so that Star can sell her little baskets. It takes them some time to get set up.
Dana, coming out of Mass, narcs to the cops about Nakir. She knows only his True Name, his cellphone number, and his description. She wonders how dumb he is as she hangs up the phone. Then Dana, feeling like she's done her Dominican best for the day, goes to Maxwell's house.
While Jered sits in the Malcolm drags Daimon down into the basement, so that Malcolm can saw off his shotgun. Daimon makes some sort of comment about being shot in the head, but it deters Malcolm not at all. They do not hear Dana show up.
Dana and Jered talk for a bit about what each of them knows, and Daimon's options. Malcolm, finishing up, drags Daimon upstairs so he can hear this first hand.
Maxwell and Star get ready to just leave the baskets and go home. Out in the parking lot, they see two chicks drive up on motorcycles, one with a black helmet, one with a white helmet. One license plate reads "JAL 111" the other one reads "ZRL 666", both california. They walk into the store, and Maxwell follows. He talks to the chick in the black helmet first, then with the white. Except for hair color, they are physically identical. Maxwell, shrugs, and leaves with Star.
They all regroup back at the house, and lay out Daimon's option before him. He looks like he is choosing choice D, the one that involves the three stewardesses from Sweden, a container of JELLO pudding and a cucumber. After more arguing and Star's comment about a bug under glass, Daimon gets up and walks out onto the porch. Maxwell follows him.
Jered and Malcolm leave to get to a pay phone, because Maxwell had his long distance turned off. Jered goes out to call the Angel of Synchronicity, to report the goings on. The music when he is on hold is pretty cheesy.
There's a long silence, and then Daimon sits bolt up, looks at Maxwell, and says, "I'm sorry, I have to go."
This is the time when people should have ran.
Daimon gets up and tries to, quite literally, just walk away. Maxwell grabs him and guides him into the car. Dana and Star get in. They start driving in the direction that Daimon indicates, with Daimon making a comment that he has been summoned by his Master. People start getting really really really creepy feelings. Really bad. Something very nasty has taken up residence in Alpena.
There are snide comments about Free Will. At a stop sign, Jered and Malcolm in Malcolm's truck pulls up next to Maxwell's vehicle, and Daimon reaches over to just get out of the car. Maxwell decks him, and Daimon slumps unconscious. They all go out to a field, unload Daimon, and talk about what to do next. The nearest tether anyone knows of is the Tether of Gabriel where Malcolm descended from in Saginaw. They load Daimon, Star, and Tyrone the Wonder Dog into the truck, and head there at speeds that couldn't possibly be lawful.
Maxwell, Dana, and Jered head back to Maxwell's place. The creepy feeling has yet to go away. When they get there, the two chicks on motorcycles are waiting for them, and accosting them about what happened to their friend. They go inside, and they introduce themselves as Minnie and Mickey. And they "borrow" things. Continuously. The angels make the chick duo wait until they tell them where Daimon was taken too. Oh, and Minnie has a minor problems with pronouns when she talks about her friend. See... he has two vessels... When the time is up, they split.
And when it was too late to run...
Malcolm and Star are on a major adventure. Daimon starts to come around, and Malcolm handcuffs one of his hands up to the roof of the truck somewhere. Daimon informs them that their mission has changed, they are going to the tether of Andrealphus in Caro. He's got this weird crazy go for the blood look in his eyes. Daimon tries to get out of the handcuff once, but this gets a pretty good wack from Malcolm. Star asks him about geases and gets him all conflicted and, when the two he's under conflict, he starts fighting the dissonance. Then, deciding on a course of action, he tries to take control of the truck. Malcolm tells him that someone would hurt Star, and Daimon backs off. He seeths, then tries to get out of the handcuff again. This gets another good hit.
They get into Saginaw, and head right for the steel mill. They literally drive through the loading dock into it. They pulls Daimon bodily out of the truck, and he tries to do some sort of Song to get away. This fails, and the handcuffs go on both hands behind his back. They drag him into the tether, where the Seneshal, Vanessa, stands there looking a bit perplexed.
Everyone goes into the Tether, and they gag Daimon so he can't try any more Songs. There is some weird sort of message passing between Malcolm and Gabriel, where Gabriel points out that she knew none of what was going on.
Star starts to freak out, saying they're hurting Daimon, and can't they talk about this just outside the Tether? Really? They consent, dragging him outside. And when they get out there, Lilith is waiting.
Funny thing about Lilim, sometimes...
"I don't like it when someone harms my Daughters," she says.
There's some talk about Geas, and who is beginning to owe whom, when Malcolm walks back into the Tether, and with plusses that would scare anyone, summons Gabriel. Gabe, in all her glory, decides to comment on Lilith's hair. Because, hell, that's what Superiors do.
There's alot of talk and mincing words. Star wants to get the geas off of Daimon that is making him seek out Andre. Gabriel wants one of them to get all the information. And Lilith sees an opportunity to have some fun. There are trades and talk and alot of people wondering what the hell is going on.
Gabriel almost promises Malcolm a distinction, or at least some goodie, if he comes through. Then she splits, after telling her Seneshal Vanessa that she'll have a little chat with her later, and leaves amazingly geas free.
At last count, Lilith looked like she was leaving, Daimon and Star were on the floor of the mill, and Malcolm was wondering what just hit him....
Geas Total
----------
Lilith ->
Geas/3 on Malcolm, traded from Gabriel for the Geas on Daimon
Geas/6 on Star, to compensate for the active Geas on Daimon
from Andrealphus
Star ->
Geas/3 on Daimon, the original geas Daimon used to summon
Lilith
Geas/6 on Daimon, the original geas Daimon was under from Andre
Daimon -> Geas/3 on himself to be "faithful" and "protect" Star
It worked like this:
Daimon was under a Geas/6 from Andrealphus to show up to the Italian Resturant (where he was going in Alpena) for a little chat. Daimon has not revealed how he ended up with a bunch of Geas/6's on him from Andre in the first place.
Then he was stopped, and in Saginaw, he spent another Geas/3 to Lilith to summon her. She showed up (it's a favor, you know.) Gabriel, seeing this as a chance to get the information she was left out of, asked for that in return for a favor from her new all-time favorite servant, Malcolm. Lilith granted this, and made the trade. Gabriel, not wanting to spend the time dealing with getting information out of a Lilim, handed the Geas off to Star, because it looked like she would like it.
Then Star begged Lilith to remove the Geas/6 from Daimon. It's under her power to remove it, but it will cost equal to Star to get it. Star agrees, and Lilith hands the unfulfilled Geas/6 to Star. In return, Star is under a Geas/6 herself at any time that it can be invoked.
Now, the problem is that Lilith has to go offer something to Andrealphus of equal worth....
Game Quote: "Stupid God, made me kill all my customers. I'll show him!"
