Session 12
It’s come upon me again to record the shenanigans that the motley and myself get into this time. And boy, was it a doozy. To begin, one half of our group was in Bath still (being Ava, Jacob, Rowan and myself. Oh and Orpheus of course. Rowan seems to have poofed somewhere though. ‘Important business to attend to.’ I’m sure they’re fine.) Apparently over in Seattle, Mi-Ok is still in rehab, with the intention of avoiding her daughter to confront that little issue. Meridian is busy organizing the big supernatural party shebang thing.
So it’s evening again over with the Bath party. Ava opens up the closet that we had stuffed Orpheus into to protect him from the sun to see how he’s doing. Instead of Orpheus, it’s like… a great black pit inside the closet. Even turning the light on doesn’t help. What the actual fuck. Ava asks Ways to do some investigation on it, but can only comment that it’s Weird™. She calls down to see if Orpheus is anywhere, and she hears someone asking for ‘help’. I volunteer to be lowered down and see if I can grab him, or at least find out what the hell is going on. When I am lowered down, something cold and slimy and utterly gross grabs onto my ankle and hand. Well, fuck that. I ask to be pulled up. In better light we see it’s some… jellyfish tentacle thing. How foul. Using the flashlight on her phone, Ava peers down and sees this anemone monstrosity with a bunch of faces saying shit like ‘help’ and ‘join us’. Yeah fuck no. Ava had a similar thought, cause she shot the damn thing, and it gave a shriek before fleeing. We asked Ways if he had any clue to what it was, and just said it was something from the Underworld. Not like Hades’s Underworld, but the real, non-fae one. I ask if Ways can fetch Orpheus, and with that he disappears.
While Mi-Ok is having breakfast in rehab, she gets a visitor by the name of Alice Keagan, who is… some military chick I guess, since she says that she and Mi-Ok served in the same division. Alice tells Mi-Ok all hush-hush that she is a part of an organization that has ties to the supernatural community. Wow okay. Alice further tells Mi-Ok that she wants to make sure she doesn’t get killed and wishes to help. I guess part of that wanting to help is that she wishes to attend the party that Meridian is planning so she can meet other supernaturals. She also wants to get Mi-Ok out of rehab. We all think it sounds more than a bit suspicious.
Meridian is at the facility where the party will be held, doing his… ya know, Meridian thing. He keeps seeing someone out of the corner of his eye but can never get a full glance. He uses a mirror to help see who it is (gotta admit that’s pretty clever) and it turns out it’s Jessica. Cue collective groan. She’s being a snoop, and not so subtly asking Meridian about the dagger he got from his Master, to which Meridian is of course acting coy. Figuring she wasn’t getting anywhere here, she asks to meet up with Meridian later.
Back in Bath, we watched as Ways kept reappearing and disappearing, the poor thing looking more than a bit confused each time we saw him. Eventually however he came back with Orpheus in tow… who was naked, shivering and covered in bite marks. Well, he’s my murder rose so I figure I should be the one to grab him. I picked him up and carried him to the bed, but when I tried to set him down, he wouldn’t let go. Ava, finding this all immensely awkward (and I don’t?) she grabs Jacob and leaves the hotel room with Ways. So I’m left alone with Orpheus. I manage to get him to let go and grab a set of clothes we got for him. But I don’t wanna go so far as to dress him myself. Setting them aside, I sit on the edge of the bed while playing some game on my phone, close enough to keep tabs on him, but not too close, so I had thought. I felt something touch my back and saw he had gotten up and was moving closer. I tried to tell him to stop but in another moment he had me pinned. Well I wasn’t going to let there be a repeat of this so I managed to throw him off. He wasn’t too happy about that, hissing at me and bounding out the window. I try to go after him but I quickly lost sight of him. I text Ava to let her know what’s happened and she ain’t exactly pleased. Can’t blame her. Fucking hell. Well, the moment we get Orpheus back, he’s vacating that vampire body, and we’re staking it. It was a good plan but… well, live and learn.
Mi-Ok is officially out of rehab and sends out a group text letting the rest of us know what the story is with her and Alice as they’re going out for Dicks. Also in that moment Meridian gets a call from the Spring Queen saying that they’ve received word of some US military official asking about the party and boy does it sound like it’s straight out of an X-Files episode. Meridian believes that having this person attend would upset the stability of the party, so tells the Queen to decline an invitation to this person for the party and that security should be amped up. For such a thing, he asks Panya if her people would be willing to provide some extra muscle.
So back with us in Bath we’re once again trying to fetch Orpheus. Ways goes on to see of doing so, and we get an odd showing of Ways reappearing looking confused, disappearing, Orpheus appearing looking confused and disappearing and finally Ways reappearing bleeding a little. He explains that while trying to get Orpheus back that he had bitten him and… seemed to have gotten some of his ‘opening ways’ abilities. Fuck. We discuss a bit on what to do and came to the conclusion, which I hate to say, was to get back to Seattle. That Orpheus would turn up eventually. I didn’t like the idea of leaving him out there, what with not only not having total control of his host, but now strange new powers too. But I wasn’t going to argue with Ava about Ways, since she was concerned about him. And to be fair, he did get attacked. It would likely be better to recuperate some than get ourselves more hurt. Ava does get the feeling of being watched, and looking up we see some albino owls just sitting in the trees, staring down. LIke that isn’t creepy. We go on through the Hedge to get back to Seattle, again not wanting to tire out Ways any more than he was already.
While Mi-Ok is with Alice getting Dicks, she gets a text from the Winter Court to get somewhere private. Not wanting to be too obvious about it, she waits a little bit before excusing herself to the restroom. She meets an employee in the bathroom who escorts her through the Hedge and to the facility of where the party will be held, throwing a slight wrench in Meridian’s organizing. But he doesn’t let Mi-Ok’s appearance deter him much, instead sending one of the staff to go get her a dress.
Once we’re all back in Seattle, all that is really left in the day is the party. Or well, conference I guess as Meridian called it. But Spring Court is hosting it, so it’s a party really regardless. When it kicks off, we get an interesting host of people who arrive, from those we already know to new face. The newbies include:
Dan Remington, representing the Sodo “Grenadiers” and are apparently… necromancers or… “wraiths”. Well, he’s awfully cheeky with Liz, and she does not appreciate it. Reminds me of someone from a certain TV show.
Next is a woman in corporate attire who calls herself Striding Grass Monk, and is a mage apparently.
Glenn Saunders who represents demons. An older man, but one can’t deny he’s a silver fox.
Then there’s Mike Djeijie a…. “Yukope” or uhh… “were-budgie”. Even Dmitri raised a brow when he had come in. Aboriginal and wearing some of the most stereotypical Australian attire one can imagine.
Tyrone who represents the golems. African-American, rather messy, and there was this… off-putting feeling about him. Like he was… wrong somehow. I wondered if I was the only one who felt that, but a quick look around told me otherwise. Meridian had noted to security to keep an eye on him.
A Japanese school girl was next, and introduced herself as Itagaki Satu and is… an anime monster? ...What the hell kind of people did Meridian invite?
Next, Sol Moonbeam, an aging flower child who represents the psychic hotline group. (Really Meridian?)
Then… I swear to god Umbridge just stepped in. Dixie O’Reilly who is… a part of the cat fancier society. ...They’re supernatural?
And as if on cue came a cat. This fluffy white cat named Aquilia that was a part of the supernatural pets and abandoned familiars society.
Finally, a man in a dark robe who was carrying a box that people only knew by as “The Bearer of Ithathatu”. No one knows what he represents.
...Alright. Everyone arrived and was mingling a bit before the actual festivities were to begin. Ava and I went to go find Liz so we could let her know about the… Orpheus problem. Not that we don’t appreciate what she did for us, getting a host body for him and all but… yeah. It’s not working out. Ava also asks what the deal is with her and that Dan fellow. Apparently he was a hunter and… Liz killed him. But he didn’t stay dead. ...Alright that’s not the least surprising thing I’ve heard. What is weird is how… nonchalant he is with her I think? Anyway, we figure it best to let Liz know about those weird owl people too and she… doesn’t look too thrilled to have gotten such news.
The conference is called to start, everyone is seated and Ava can sense of rather overwhelming power in the room. Some of it from the Spring Queen and Panya, but a few of the newcomers seemed to contribute to it as well. The Spring Queen welcomes everyone first and invites Panya to first discuss about the box. From what she said, it’s origins are either that from the God Machine or the Underworld, and it’s been the cause of the True Fae and angels acting out in the city. Someone asks Panya for further details about the box and its contents, like more specifically who made it, why and why did it explode. What we get is that peers of Panya’s in DC made the box but none of them know why it had exploded. People are a bit suspicious of Panya, as if she’s not quite revealing everything. Just as Meridian is telling the Queen we need to stay on target, there’s an explosion from somewhere. Meridian sends some security to go check it out, and see that a building down the street is in flames. Machine gunfire erupts, from that building and elsewhere. I get a text from Meridian if I wanted to go and get my hands dirty and well… how could I refuse? Someone tried to hand me a gun and well… I appreciate the thought, but that’s not where my talents in combat lie. I do find some enemy goons with guns in the opposing building, three of them. I did get shot at a bit but, ultimately I did come out to be victorious. But fuck, it did hurt a lot. I guess I had a bit of an audience while fighting them, since out the window were some ravens, sitting and watching. I hope they report this back to Hades, cause one day, he’s gonna get the same.
People begin to evacuate when Glenn warns everyone that something big was coming their way, and most do. Yet Panya stayed behind, saying she wished to speak with this individual. ...Since she’s someone who can call down a meteor to hit you in the face, who can argue with her?
As I had remained in the room, I just barely got out of the way of this… living bike chain that had a bunch of legs like a bug and had buzz saws pointed at me. After having taken more than a few shots and just barely gotten out of the way of a grenade blast, I knew that it was probably time I checked out. Meanwhile Panya is out on the street when some Michael Bay Transformer’s monstrosity comes down, which is apparently an angel. ...I mean, I’ve played Bayonetta, and those angels weren’t too pretty either. But christ… Guess Panya decided to play the same card she had on the Duke, since more meteors were falling from the sky, and some of the security are pelting both the large angel and the bike chain with rockets, causing them to retreat.
Since we’re on Cap Hill, not far from Meridian’s place I figure it would be best to get there and get into the Hollow. I hear the sound of a baying horse and look back just enough to see what looks like a fucking Nazgul with a scythe after me. Something had hit me in the back and I passed out after that.
After the main chaos is over with back at the facility, the police and people in suits arrive. Meridian tells them that it must have been a terrorist attack, with a very strange looking helicopter. Trying to play it off as mundanely as possible. The people in suits are arguing with one another about jurisdiction I guess. One from the NSA and the other from the FBI. Meridian siding with the FBI, and well, turns out that Alice is a part of them and quips that she probably should have been invited after all.
Ava and Jacob get back to the Hollow, but on the way Benji arrives in a van, having picked up not just me but Dmitri too, saying he had found us both unconscious. When I’m awake again, I have some Goblin Fruit to heal a bit, but Dmitri wasn’t awake still and… that was concerning. He’s a werewolf, he regenerates stupid fast. I get out of the Hollow to call Joanna to send Geoffrey over to see if he can figure out what’s going on. While I’m doing that, Panya is calling for Ava from Meridian’s door, and she goes out to meet her. Panya shows her this drawing of a woman that Ava is able to identify as Jessica. Apparently she had done something to Dmitri and the Nazgul fuck, but Panya had stopped her. Ava tells me about this and… fuck I am pissed. Fortunately, Dmitri woke up not too long after, saying that he was totally being awesome in rescuing me from the black rider, which I am grateful for (love you Dmitri~ <3) Poor Geoffrey though. Since he had arrived but since Dmitri was fine well… he didn’t need to stick around. It was good to see him again however.
It was… a rather exciting day and we all settle in to sleep, though Meridian is already planning with the Queen for the next conference.
Next Day
It’s noon and Jacob is wandering the Ave when he’s approached by someone wearing a hoodie, sunglasses and a scarf. Doesn’t take a genius to know this is total stranger danger so Jacob books it, getting back to the Hollow.
Liz’s aide, Karen, calls Ava asking about Georgina, saying that she wants to meet with her some time either tonight or tomorrow. Ava decides to bite the bullet and agrees to meet with her tonight. Karen says she’ll send a car and some nicer clothes for Ava too.
...Meridian finds the Duke reading in his bed and the Duke offers to help with the situation the Master is in and… I’m just gonna stop here. No one needs to know what happened next.
Once I’m up, Dmitri and I figure it’d be good to get some brunch and head out, but not before I had noticed that Dmitri’s werewolf-ness had imprinted on the Hollow somewhat.
Diego comes into the Hollow, telling Ava he has… some “thing” he needs to do and for Ava to pass a note onto Greg. It’s an initiation rite for the Autumn Court. Ava vows that if something goes wrong, she’ll avenge him. And Mi-Ok is still at the facility from last night and… I feel so sorry for the staff there.
While I’m having brunch with Dmitri, suddenly him and everyone in the restaurant freezes and Clementine appears. Thank God it’s her and not someone else. She warns me that staying a changeling is more urgent than ever, and that the people who want to cure me don’t want to get my permission for it now. Great. Clementine also tells me that for whatever reason, Jessica is all for me getting cured and thus, Clementine is very much against Jessica. Well fuck man, I always had pegged Jessica for a bitch so I was even happier to have an ally in Clementine. We swear to make friendship bracelets for each other and Clementine lets the restaurant reassume. On the way back to the clinic, I let Dmitri know what had happened at brunch with Clementine, and he definitely agree with Clementine and I that we don’t want Hades to be invading Earth. I let him know what’s going on with Orpheus as well so that when I inevitably go to fetch him, he doesn’t have a freak out on where I’ve gone. He drops me off and goes to return to the houseboat and I let Ava know what happened with Clementine as well.
Beverley meets with Mi-Ok at the spa and asks Mi-Ok to find out more of Alice for the benefit of the Winter Court, which Mi-Ok agrees on, and arranges with Alice to go meet at the Starbucks Roastery.
Once it’s nighttime, a car arrives for Ava and it turns out Liz is driving, saying she’ll keep an eye on the “date” to see how it goes. Ava is taken to some fancy restaurant that has a five course meal or whatever. Much fancy. Super expensive. Georgina is talking to Ava and saying she has been researching on this Indigo Scholar and that they seem to be very interested in Ava, so she figures if she sticks close to her, she will find the Scholar. She can easily task a servant to keep tabs on Ava during the day time. When Ava asks about why Georgina broke my window the other night and how Orpheus saw it, she does something to Ava, charming her out of not asking any more questions. Once the dinner is over, Liz drives Ava around for a while so the charm will wear off, and Ava isn’t too pleased once it has.