Are you logging?

Yep.

It'll look just as messy as last time.

Okay, coolness.

That's fine. As long as I can mostly make out what happens. Or we can get on the mush, and I can make a clear log. No thanks. I hate the parser there and it hates me.

Okay. No problem.
Okay, this is the story. There are two Calabites and a Djinn standing over you. You are feeling suddenly very very warm and fuzzy. It seems like these guys are very nice guys, especially one of the Calabites. It's like he's the greatest guy in the world, and you'd do _anything_ for him, anything he asked. And they're all grinning down at you. The Djinn says something, and the two Calabites start digging you out from under the tree that fell on you. It takes them a few minutes of heaving and swearing...

I can just lift it off, no?

You could just lift it off, sure.

I do that. Less heaving and swearing that way. I'll stand to the left and slightly behind Caleb.

Mr. Gray says something in a language which really grates on your ears, and they start leading you in a direction through the forest. In a few minutes, you emerge out by a dirt road. There is a large black car, looks to be a Mercedes, parked by the side there. Calib, the Calabite, is joking with his other calabite bud, who is carrying the dead vessel.

I get the door for Caleb.

I could carry it for him if he wants.

They'll give it to you to carry.

Why'd I have to kill this guy..... *sigh*

When they get to the car, they'll tell you to put it in the trunk.

OK. In the trunk he goes.

Calib tells you to get in the car..

Sure thing.

You get into the car between Mr. Gray and Calib. The other calabite is driving. The car pulls out from it's parking spot and starts going down the road. Mr. Gray picks up a bag from off the floor, and pulls out two shiny gold hoops. They look like collars, with locking clasps. He grins at you. "Wouldn't want you to... leave on us, now, if you happen to feel the urge. That would be a shame." He gets this really nasty grin, and Calib laughs. Mr. Gray hands the two collars over to Calib, who tells you to lean forward.

Are they actually made of gold?

It's hard to tell. They are very shiny, and gold-colored. You get bad vibes off these things.

I'll wait til Caleb puts them on me, then I'll pinch it to test if it's gold. (*** Later learned that this test proved the were not gold ***)

When he puts on the first one, it snaps locked with a nice solid snick. You suddenly feel very dizzy, very ill, and then very heavy. Like you are encased in your flesh.

What's the locking mechanism?

One side snaps into a hatch, and it's like an ingrained padlock.

I slump onto Caleb, all out-of-energy like.

He laughs, and snaps on the other one. This one sort of narrows your vision, like all your free will is just sapped right out of your body.

Was there any?

So you have two thin gold bands around your throat, both that lock in the back.

Er... you need to roll Int...

Curses! Where are the d666 when you need them? Let's use TOO for the dice rolls.

I have a Max sheet here.

roll d666
<> Maxwell rolls the d666 and gets 5 5 CHECK: 3.

Well, I have your sheet and rolled on the MUSH. You failed, unless your Int is higher then 4.
You still fail. :) You can guess that these are relics, but not what they do.

OK. My guess is they are charms.

Probably. So they lean back, and discuss things in the demonic tongue over your head. Every once in a while, Calib strokes your hair, or pats you on the back, and giggles. Mr. Gray says in English, "I don't want you doing that in my car, I don't think I'll be able to get it out of the floormats if he misses."

I just ignore Grey and stay slumped in Caleb's lap.

So they drive into Caro. No problem. They drive very fast, and get there in an hour.

What disregard for public safety!

They drive all the way through Caro, and down a side road outside, and up to a huge sprawling mansion.

It's Reverand Horton Heat's House!

Calib takes something from Mr. Gray, and snaps a leather leash onto one of your collars. When the car stops, he leads you out. Yep. It is. The mansion is *huge*. There is a gate, and surveliecem and dogs and people patrolling and the whole works.

"Nice house."

Calib says, "It certainly is. The Master has done well by himself." Calib leads you into the House.

"Oh I get to meet the master. That's great." (no sarcasm)

"No, you don't. Well, maybe if you are *very* good."

"I will be."

"Well, don't be too good, you hear?" He laughs.

"Whatever you say. Show me the ropes."

He laughs loudly at that. "Certainly, my pet."

He leads you through a corridor, down a flight of stairs, and down another hallway. He uses a key to open a door, and leads you into a large room.

Is Grey still around?

No, Mr. Gray is no longer around.

Before we get where we're going.... "What is the story of that Mr Grey guy? Is he nutty? You know he tried to warn that you guys were after me."

"No, I didn't know." Calib frowns, then shrugs. "Maybe he was a little obsessed with you. You know them. Always weird. But I doubt he gives a shit about you, kid. But you don't have to worry about that any more." He grins a little more, and it turns into a leer. "You don't have to worry any more at all."

"Alright. Already forgotten."

"Do you see me worrying?"

"The only thing that bothers me is What can I do for you?"

He just leers. "You can enter this room, pet."

"So simple." I go in.

You enter what is clearly a bondage dungeon. There is a rack of whips hanging off to the side, cuffs and such hanging from the walls, shelves of all sorts of interesting toys, and that sort of thing. There are some plush throws on the floor. Inside there are five women. Two of which are naked and in some sort of bondage. (four women, sorry.) One is in full severe dominatrix getup. The other is Buttercup, the Impudite you saw before, blond with the torpedoing breasts.

"This is not so different from an armoury. This place will do nicely."

"Hello ladies. I'm here at Caleb's request."

The Dominatrix, who had been applying a paddle to one of the women in bondage, grins fully "Ah, Calib, a new toy. How... kind of you."

I say to Caleb "You think I'm going to be good at this???"

Calib nods, and grins. "You certainly will be."

"Such confidence!" "A ringing endorsement!"

He waves a hand. "Let the Lilim out of their bondage. We'll need them to help with this."

Calib says, "Slave, remove your clothing. I will return in a moment."

"Fine I didn't like this outfit."

Calib disappears into a side room.

The Dom eyes you with interest, while she lets the two naked women out of their bondage. Free, they grin at each other, and eye you with obvious interest.

"Wanna wrestle?"

One of the Lilim crawls up to you, and says, "Ohhhh any time, sweet wings." The other says, "He has such delicious Needs to serve. This is so marvelous."

"Hey do you Lilim all know each other?"

The first one shrugs. "Yeah, mostly."

"I've got this one crawling around me all the time lately. I like you two better."

Calib comes out, and he's wearing these leather chaps, a jock strap, and nothing else.

The two Lilim grin. The second one says, "Oh, but you're so sexy."

"Looks good on you, Caleb." I lie.

Calib yells at them, "Did I tell you two whores that you could play with him? Back, or you'll both be punished."

"Opps, sorry ladies."

They look at each other, giggle, and make to look suitably cowed.

"Thems the breaks. He's the man."

The Dom grins down at you, and slowly waves her leather whip around. Calib looks down at you. "You're going to be my pet for a long long time." He grins. "And you'll enjoy it. I'm going to ask Prince Andrealphus to make you _permenantly_ mine. Won't that be wonderful? But since I'll own you, I think we should start off with a little sign of ownership, don't you think?"

"That's sounds like a good idea. The Prince is a little preoccupied, though. He won't care about me. Only you care."

"Oh, I think I can get his attention for this one minor detail. For now on, you will only respond to the name 'Pet'."

The Dom says, "Heh."

"That's easy enough."

Calib looks down at you, making sure you aren't wearing a scrap of clothing. When he's satisfied, he nods to the Lilim. "Whores, hang him on the wall and make sure he's secure."

I assume you're standing there.

How's he look down. Is wearing the Spice Girls' shoes or something? Oh well. Point's mute. I go hang on the wall.

He's about your height. He just looks you over.

"I work out." I comment.

The Lilim happily chain you to the wall, standing up, and they make a big point of rubbing themselves all over you.

"I was in a dungeon a lot drearier than this, once. This place is nice."

Calib laughs.

Calib goes over to the shelf and looks around. He picks up some sort of gun with a needle, and something else.

"Oh you are those body piercing people."

He comes over and grins at you. "Ownership" he says. He nods. "A little violence never hurt anyone. Well, at least not me."

"It's a violent world. Gotta look the part."

He grins. "Definitely."

"Not that anyone cares what I look like."

He proceeds to pierce both of your nipples. It hurts like hell.

I've felt worse. I don't even grunt or anything. I just watch sort of interested like.

Calib orders the Lilim to turn you around, so you are facing the wall. Buttercup, in the corner, just bites her finger. Roll your Will.

roll d666
<> Maxwell rolls the d666 and gets 5 3 CHECK: 3.

Made my unmodified will.

Well, you fail this roll with your current Will. You suddenly start feeling very very aroused.

By what?

By nothing. Your emotions start taking a definite, very strong, very sexual bent. It's all of your emotions at once.

"Thanks Buttercup."

"Oh deary," she says over chewing her fingernail, "It wasn't me."

"Caleb? Are you multi-talented?"

He laughs. "I am in ... certain respects."

So they had to re-chain me to turn me around, right?

The Lilim start unchaining you to take you to chaining your hands together and over a hook in the ceiling. You know, chain from ceiling, hook, drape cuffs over the hook so you're standing upright but not blocked by a wall.

Right.

They lock your ankles apart to little eyelits sticking out of the carpet.

"What? Do I just go from place to place?"

"Oh no," Calib says, "Now we're going to start."

"Oh good. It's about time."

The Dominatrix laughs, and says, "I finally get to work on such a fine body."

The Lilim go to play with each other off to one side of the room.

"What's you name?"

The Dom walks behind you and slips a blindfold over your eyes.

"My vision wasn't very good anyhow. Thanks."

"You can call me," she hisses in your ear, "Mistriss Samara."

"That slides off the tongue very nicely."

You get another dose of the arousal again, and you can feel someone touching you.

Can I tell who?

Not anymore.

"Want me to do anything, like flex or something? Seems like you all are doing all the work."

Calib hisses in your ear, "Pet, if you speak again, I'll have to do something about it."

Oh OK. I don't say anything else.

So they start 'torturing' you. You can feel the bite of the whip across your back, which starts out very slowly and works its way up to a frenzy. While this happens, you can feel warm hands caressing you can arousing you. You can hear the Lilim start moaning loudly, as the continue to play with each other, and the hiss of the whip.

The Dom will lean in your ear, and hiss, "It's okay to scream, pet."

OK, I'll do bad acting screams.

That seems to placate them.

I won't time the right either.

Well, no it doesn't.

I'll try to get them just slight ly before the lashes.

Calib will wrap his hands around your balls and pull very hard if you aren't cooperating. He's going to work on evoking real screams of pain.

Ok OK. I'll just fake scream at reasonable on time intervals.

That keeps you from being mutilated in any really nasty way.

They sure are touchy about this screaming.

this goes on for a while, punctuated by Lilim cries of orgasm.

Yes, they are.

Well we all take our business very seriously.

This goes on for at least an hour, probably more. Every once in a while it stops so that the dominants can take advantage of their Lilim, and then turn back to you.

Hey you never answered about the gold...

It's not real gold.

It's poser gold. I knew it! (*** See? told you we'd find out later ***)

Yep. After a while, the dominiants get tired of playing with the Lilim, and decide to play with you instead. They take your arms down, force you to your knees, and force you to pleasure them (Calib and Mistress Samara both) with your mouth.

I'll bet this is based off precision.

*laugh* Roll your will.

roll d666
<> Maxwell rolls the d666 and gets 6 4 CHECK: 4.

You are really starting to get a rise out of this. This is really getting you hot and heavy, and you're getting to the point where you want a certain amount of attention as well.

I'll make non-vocal cues to that effect.

This seems to please them, so they set you to the task of pleasing the Lilim as well, who seem to be really enjoying you. Buttercup takes no part in all this.

Shrug. Maybe she's like Jered... just there to witness it.

While you're put to the task of sucking on breasts, and you've been down in the dungeon for some time, a few hours, a knock comes at the door.

Party poopers.

You can hear someone walk over there, open the door, and talk to someone outside. Then that person comes back, and from the sounds of the footfalls, with someone else. The second, new voice, says, "Hey, you got a new slave, baby. That's sort of cool."

Calib's voice says, "Yeah, bagged a Laurentine. How's that for style?"

There's a momentary pause, a scream, and something wet splatters your back. The Lilim start screaming, and the answer is, "I don't think it has any style at all, baby. Really." You can hear a few more people enter the room, and a few more screams.

I'm saved.

You're hit with some more blood.

Too bad I can't help Caleb.

You no longer feel the compulsion to help Calib, or do anything for Calib anymore.

Oh well in that case I start trying to get the blindfold off.

You are still very very weak of Will, but you don't feel the need to serve. You're handcuffed behind your back. So you'll need to scoot on the floor to do so.

I rub my head on the wall or floor

It comes off.

I roll over, what do I see?

In the room, the dominatrix is cut almost in two. Calib seems to be missing a head.

Daimonique?

There's a Balseraph with a Katana in the middle of the room, looking pretty damn menacing. And pissed that there is blood on his suit.

Oh. Not what I expected. "Who are you?"

It's pretty obvious it's Terry by the good hair. He moves to start searching the bodies for keys. There are two.

"I mean - Thanks."

Even with his back turned and covered with gore.

Is anyone around still alive?

The Lilim are still alive, and they're cowering in the back of the room. There is Terry, and two bodyguards, and some chick trying to disable the camera up in the corner of the room.

I slide the handcuffs under my feet so they're in front.

He comes over, kneels in front of you, and starts unlocking you. "You're a stupid fucking kid," he says. "But it's something we can work on."

"Got any bolt cutters?"

He leans forward and peers at your collars, and mumbles, "Fuck."

Is my strength sapped? To what point?

He lets you out of the cuffs, no sweat.

Your strength is not sapped. Your WILL is like, nothing. You have little motivation to make decisions for yourself.

Can I break the collars one at a time?

You can't seem to break them.

I hand Soulpiercer to Terry.

I kneel down. "Cut 'em open."

He looks at your sword, and nods. "Okay, hold still." He carefully cuts through the locks on the relics. Both collars fall off. He waits for you to get up, to hand you your sword back.

"Thanks again." I put on some clothes and pocket the collars.

He grabs his sword. "We're not out of here yet, kiddo.

I turn to the lilims. "I'm doing you a favor."

You can hear gunfire in the hallway.

They stare blankly at you, but you can see the geas bands form. You have Geas/4's on both of them.

Any other demons alive of the lustites?

No. The rest of the people seem to be Terry's people.

"How far do we need to go? I can shield us all."

"We need to get out to the car. Out the door, up the stairs, and through the guards. This place is pretty secure, for a Lustie hangout."

"A minute? Two?"

He thinks for a moment. "Two minutes we can get out of here."

"No problem."

One second while I check my page... OK it'll cost 3 for a 6 foot radius. Here goes the song...

roll d666
<> Maxwell rolls the d666 and gets 3 3 CHECK: 2.

First song lasts 45 seconds. "Let's go!"

You get into the hallway. You are standing between two skinny guys with guns in good suits. On the other end a other guys, in white shirts with grey armbands, also holding guns. Behind them is Mr. Gray, Billy Ray Horton, and some chick. Everyone looks to be at a standoff.

I'm following Terry.

Horton says, "Teraphim, I was under the impression that we had a contract."

Terry grabs your shoulder, narrows his eyes, and says, "I wasn't aware the contract included capturing and molesting my people."

Horton laughs. "Your people. That's an angel, you fool."

Terry says, "And he's under my protection."

Mr. Gray snorts.

Horton just laughs out loud. "You've been resonanting on yourself! Soon you'll think you're an angel too! Protecting those... things. There is a war going on, you know. You are aware."

Terry answers back, "This is one of _my_ people, and we can promote anyone we wish. Let us leave peacefully, and we won't have to break the alliance between our Superiors, man."

Horton crosses his arms. "Prince Andrealphus has interest in that one in particular, along with his friends. I do think that the wishes of my Prince carry more weight then your wishes for more air time."

At 5 seconds left I'll sing the second song.
Okay, the essence goes up, and you sing the song.

roll d666
<> Maxwell rolls the d666 and gets 1 6 CHECK: 4.

55 seconds this time.

Okay.

Terry, at the crack at his airtime, says, "You couldn't be more wrong." And then he whipers to you, "Duck."

I do. Actually I'll crouch.

His people open fire on Horton's people. the disturbance of Humans being splattered is messy.

You can hear Horton start singing songs, as bullets start flying over your head.

OK. In the ranged version it really is a shield.

OKay, cool.

...the area effect.

Terry is hoping you have ethereal shields. "If you have the ethereal version of that, sing that NOW."

Good luck. Here goes the last of it. one extra essense for good luck.

roll d666
<> Maxwell rolls the d666 and gets 4 4 CHECK: 4.

Doesn't work.

"Follow me!" I charge.

Terry reaches over, touches your shoulder, and gives you three more points of essence. Zing! Trade.

He follows you, katana blazing.

Who is with us?

It looks like the two skinny guys with the guns in suits, and the two big guys from the room inside.

*sigh* This range thing will be our downfall for sure. I only have a 6 chance.

Well, go for it.

"All of us?" I ask Terry "It's real chancey."

"No." He yells and waves his arms. They back off.

OK, just us 8 chance. "Wait. Should I roll my will or did you?

Terry rolled vs the Entropy. You need to roll as well.

roll d666
<> Maxwell rolls the d666 and gets 3 3 CHECK: 1.

Song
roll d666
<> Maxwell rolls the d666 and gets 5 3 CHECK: 6.

You do not go down screaming.

OK, both worked.

Your shields are up. You charge.

Who is in our way?

Four humans with guns (that is who is left), the chick, Mr. Gray, and Horton.

The chick? Who's that?

There was a chick with Horton. Someone you've never seen before.

OK, I fake like I'm going after Gray, but then I plow through the humans.

No problem, you do so.

Terry has some room to operate inside the physical shield, but the mental one is only 2 feet. If I notice him acting funny I'll swing over to him.

Terry is right behind you, as close as he can get and still be deadly. He seems to be acting like someone concentrating on chopping the so-called enemy up into tiny chunks.

He used to be a malakite after all.

Well, a Michaelite. :)

Er, yeah, that.

Mr. Gray is going to intercept you.

I'll attack to cripple his leg.

Roll it.

risky manuever - 10 chance.

roll d666
<> Maxwell rolls the d666 and gets 4 6 CHECK: 6.

OK 18 skill +8 to risky attack. + 3 skill for Soulpiercer = +11 to attack 6 check + 4 for longsword damage + 3 damage bonus for Soulpiercer Wait those are just +2s not +3s

What's the damage?

10+6+4+2=22

He groans loudly, his leg crippled, and he tries to stab you with a knife.

Can't get past the shield.

No. It makes a CLANG noise.

How long does your Ethereal shield last?

Lemmie check... Blech. Just 30 seconds.

It's wearing off.

All the more reason to leave. Where are the cars?

Gads. Terry fails his Will. Horton has moved himself inexplicably within whisper range of Terry, and now he's standing there, nodding, looking vacant. The cars are in front of the mansion.

Nothing to do but attack Horton, that twerp. I attack for the head. Risky once again. Reduced to 10.

Called shot. Roll it.

roll d666
<> Maxwell rolls the d666 and gets 6 1 CHECK: 6.

Is your corp shield still up?

Yeah. I've got about 25 more seconds of that than mental.

Easy to calculate damage. 22 again.

Okay, you hit him in the head. You take his head clean off with Soulpiercer.

What?

Well, you did 22 points of damage to his HEAD.

I'm sure he can take it.

Well, lessee... I would say a normal hit that he could take it.

I'm just hoping he's stunned.

Okay, he's very stunned. :)

You see if 20 or so to the head would kill people, why not attack there always? Eh, mechanics...

Does Terry snapp out of it?

Mechanics. I would say you took 1/2 of his HP and take off his head. Terry is blinking down at Hortons body with this weird look on his face.

I grab his shoulder and start running for the cars. Does he follow? "Hey it's just a vessel."

He shakes his head to clear it, and follows you. You can hear mucho gunfire from behind you.

"Quit shooting at us!"

"Yeah, man, but we were allied and stuff, and I dunno, it didn't seem RIGHT to be fighting him..." You can tell it's Terry's people shooting at Horton's people.

Oh that's not so bad then. Is my car there?

Your car? No. the car you came in? Yes.

"Where's your car, Terry?"

He gestures around the corner. "Right over there, man."

At this time, Terry's phone on his belt rings.

I beat feet for the car.

He pulls it off, while running, and screams, "I don't have time now" into it, and shoves it back into his pocket. The car is another black Mercedes (big with demon hordes these days.) The motor is running and there's a big guy in glasses at the wheel.

I'll climb in the back.

Terry gets into the other side. He yells at the driver, "We don't leave without Deliah! You got it! Not without her!" The driver grunts, and starts moving the car.

Which one was she, GM?

You've never heard of her.

I'll bet I saw her. Was she with Terry?

Yep. She was the one unscrewing the cameras.

Do I see her now?

In one second. At this time, you see a dark blue pickup truck come smashing through the protective fence around the mansion, and scream to a halt. Two guys with guns jump off the back and mouth something that looks suspiciously like, "Come out and fight, DEMON SCUM!"

Do I recognize them?

You aren't sure, they look familiar in a way.

Malakim probably.

The car pulls up to the steps, and that woman from downstairs, sporting a camera and a gunshot wound in her arm, (that's a video camera) comes flying in and crawls into the front seat. The car you are in drives like a bat out of hell, trying to avoid getting it's wheels shot out by gunfire.

Do bats fly out of hell in an erractic manner?

They do! THEY DO!

The car gets riddled with gunfire, and the doors bend in. The front windshield explodes inward, and one of the guys from the truck is yanking out a sword and getting ready to jump onto the hood of the car.

"Hey! Cut it out. We're the good guys!" I yell it to sword man.

Terry screams, "JUST DRIVE OVER THEM!"

The girl in the front seat is still trying to film.

The sword guy yells, "DEMON SCUM!"

"No no no! I'm a cherub... Maxwell! Look it up!"

The driver yanks on the wheel, but can't seem to shake the Malakite off. He decides just to floor it, guy on the front of the car and all.

"Look out!" (Like that'll help)

There are people streaming out of the mansion, getting ready to engage the other three from the truck.

Terry is trying to pull out a gun, while the driver is swerving and the girl in front is frantically taping.

I grab Terry's wrist. "Don't shoot him, let's just get out of here."

His shot goes into the roof of the car.

Is the Malakite on the car?

The Malakite is griping onto the car, but he's losing his grip.

Is he on the hood?

Yep.

Where are we? Still in the compound?

Yep.

I climb out the back window and try to jump onto the hood from there.

Er, roll. Agility.

roll d666
<<> Maxwell rolls the d666 and gets 4 5 CHECK: 6.

You slip, and can't make it out the back window. So you're sort of stuck in and out of the window.

I groan. "Get off the hood!"

"DEMON SCUM! YOU MUST ALL DIE!"

"Pop the hood." I say to the driver "That'll loose 'im."

The drive grunts, and pops the hood. It starts to flip up. The malakite looses his grip, and falls off the front of the car.

"Of course now you'll need to lean out the window to see."

Terry screams, "Just drive! JUST DRIVE!" The driver can't see much through popped hood, broken windshield, et all... But he tries his best.

I put on my seatbelt.

And with blazing accuracy, he runs into something. Thump.

You're thrown forward, but you were seatbelted.

"Ooof."

The car stops solidly. You weren't going very fast, luckily. The driver runs out, and slams the hood down. He looks at the damage. "It doesn't look too bad," he grunts.

Where are we now?

You're just outside of the grounds, and have run into a stop sign. The stop sign is now laying on the ground. You can hear gunfire, screams, all sorts of good stuff going on behind you.

"Wanna call that guy back, now?"

The driver shoves down the hood, and gets back in the car. The girl in the front seat is yelling, although she's been shot. "YEAH! BOSS THAT ROCKED! And I have it all on tape! WOOOOO!"

"You can send videos out for Christmas."

The guy restarts the car, and starts to pull away. You can hear sirens starting.

"Want me to bail? I'm a wanted felon you know."

Terry shakes his head. "No, just get out of here. Just DRIVE!"

And the driver does so. (speaking of which) as the Driver drives like a madman through Caro, passing cop cars and all sorts of fun things, Terry sits back in the seat.

Terry reaches around and pulls out his wallet, and pulls out a $20. "I think I owe you this, man."

"Thanks."

"I wish I could've watched more of the series. How did it go?"

"Uh..." he looks confused. "I have no idea, actually."

"Say, how much of that scene at the mall did you get?"

"Taped? Most of it, actually. We got the footage from that local news company. That, and the Ofanite's big Plight of the black man speech." He grins. "That one is going over big right now."

"I missed that. It's tricky getting rid of 8 cops without hurting anyone too bad." Where's Star?

Star is in Howell, Michigan.

Not in danger?

She is _right this very second_.

In danger?!? Oh crap.

"Big stuff going down in Howell now!"

Terry leans back in his seat. "Yeah? And?"

"Um..." I pause. "Let's go."

Terry nods to the driver. "Okay, let's get it going."

So,The driver grunts as he pulls onto the highway. Your car is pretty shot up, but it seems to run okay.

"So, Deliah, how long have you known Terry?"

She turns around in her seat. "Oh, I've known the boss for a little while, but not really long. Just a few years. He's cool to work with." She's playing with her camera. "Boss, this footage just kicks ass. Man, the big Bossman is gonna love this."

"Yeah," Terry says, eyes closed, "But we gotta edit ourselves out, baby. It wouldn't be cool if we were in it, you know."

Some time passes...

I keep checking on Star every so often.

And Star, you feel, is suddenly out of danger. It passes very quickly. She just seems out of danger suddenly. Terry's phone rings.

Probably that guy he didn't call back.

He picks it up off his belt and speaks in English into the phone. You hear things like, "Where are you at, babe?" He pauses. "You're going to Ann Arbor? Why?" He pauses again. "No, you should get back to the tether. At least they can send reinforcements." He pauses again. "Okay, well do what is best." And he hangs up the phone.

He looks at you. "Tell me, Maxwell, why are angels so screwy?"

"Huh?"

Terry puts his phone on his belt. "That was Dana. Apparently she is hiding in a Kobalite tether in Ann Arbor."

"Probably hiding from Michael's forces." How much damage did I take from torture?

"She said she was attacked. She was going off to do something stupid when I left her."

You took about 33% damage, say. They beat you up for a good long time.

OK. 28 points + 6 from the trees.

Got it.

Is Star still in Howell?

Yes.

"Now why would Dana go to Kobal without Daimon?"

"Well, she's with Daimon." He shakes his head.

"Oh.... I see."

"I think all the fun is over in Howell. You can only be one place at a time."

You're on the highway between Caro and Saginaw.

Terry leans forward. "Do we still have more tape?"

Deliah looks back. "Yeah, Boss. Bout an hour."

Terry leans back. "Daimon got shot or stabbed or something. I don't know. I thought he was, you know, Redeeming or something?" Terry shakes his head. "I don't know about you kids these days, baby. It confuses me too."

"Stabbing isn't part of the redemption process. It's not like hazing. Well you seem to have tabs on everyone. Know where Malcolm and Jered are?"

"Nope." Terry sighs. "I gotta take the Lilim downstairs anyway. But hey, baby, YOU are going to be a huge star. I'm telling you, it'll be cool. You'll love it. You'll have _fans_. I can just see the marketing angle now."

"This isn't the movies, Terry. People are gonna freak."

"Freak out about what? My target audience is the cinemaplexes of Shal-Mari, babe. And it'll go over great. After that, we can work on your earthside angle."

"Oh. I see."

"Yeah. And we'll take some of the best bits, and leak 'em up here, you know. Maxwell takes out the Evil of Whatever. I can see the girls lining up to see you now."

*blink*

"What made you think I had the ethereal song of shields?"

"Good guess? You're like a boy scout, always prepared."

"Think about this one then... There must be a reason I haven't used it around you. You know Jered and Malcalm really don't like you. They don't know you like I do."

Terry shrugs. "Maybe because you're a good kid with promise."

"I know, you can take care of yourself, right?"

"Sure, of course." He waves a hand at his gore splattered suit.

"What eventually happened to my rental car? The one you borrowed?"

"Oh, that. I think it's in a ditch somewhere." He waves a hand." He looks at you, and then grins. "Sure kid. We can do Fake IDs." He pulls his phone off his belt. "I know a place, even around here."

"I might want to have a drink and I'm underaged."

Terry grins. "Or you might want to avoid the state police and the FBI."

"I don't really know how I'm going to do that, but yeah if I live much longer in this body I'm going to need another ID."

"That was can do, Max." He wiggles his eyebrows at him. "Hell, we can get you a demonic one, that works much better."

"Thanks I'll try to stay alive long enough to finish the movie."

"No problem. That'll take me a little while to score in Hell, you know."

I mutter "Demonic ID" shake my head and sigh.

"Oh, come on. It's good for you. You'll learn about the other side of the War."

"I got a pretty good taste of it already. What a mess."

"The War, or all the blood?"

I just grin.

Are we almost to THE END, GM?

Yep. Cool, You get to go to Howell.

OK

Covered in blood with nipple piercings.

What time is it?

It's getting well past midnight.

Perfect. I go back to the tether. "Thanks a million, Terry."

He nods. He seems sort of keen on this.

Midnight time I'm not likely to be noticed.

Nope. Probably not.

THE END?

Well, for now, I think.

*chuckle*

Can I read the log when it's up?

Definitely. I'm almost done writing the log proper.

It will take a lot of editing on my part to get out all the switches to TOO. I'll clean this up and send it to you.

Wow. COol. I'll just post it in toto. :)

*wave*



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.