Water of Life update
Having obtained the Eye of Thoth last time, the characters started thinking about the Breath of Life or Death. Lots of thoughts tossed around, mostly on the literal side of things. Marty Google "mass death Chicago," and of course came up with the Murder Castle of H. H. Holmes, which is now a post office. They also found out about the "Holmes curse," and decided to go see if they could find the saloon where Marion Hedgepeth, the man who fingered Holmes, was shot dead.
They cruised by the post office and Marty, Julia and Al got out while Jesus and Hank drove the RV around the block. Or tried, anyway. Jesus' player failed his Drive roll and knocked over a garbage can on the corner. A cop pulled him over and, of course, entered the first stage of Disquiet. But Jesus has no legal ID (neither does Hank, for that matter), and so she couldn't exactly cite him. Meanwhile, Marty, inside, used his Ephemeral Flesh Bestowment and saw ghosts and spirits, but nothing that looked very promising. Plus Julia was inciting Disquiet in the patrons, and rather than let things get crazy they took off.
When they got to the car, the cop took Marty's info and wrote him the ticket for letting someone un-liscense drive his car. Marty, intelligently, took it in stride and just got out of there.
They went to the Chicago Historical society and managed to get some information (because the gal working there didn't fall to Disquiet initially). They found out where the saloon where Hedgepeth died was (now a convenience store), but decided to wait until dark to go have a look. Since they had some time to kill, Al asked to go back to the house where he was created, since obviously he wasn't the first attempt on his demiurge's part.
They arrived and immediatley realized they were in a Wasteland. Heavy, black clouds, incredibly high static electricity. As they got out of the RV, Hank noticed someone moving in an upstairs window. The lock on the front door was smashed (from when Al had run - remember, he's only been free for a month), but it looked like no one had been here since.
Looking around spiritually, Marty found that the place was humming with ephemeral activity. Pain-spirits, fire-spirits, anger-spirits...lots. A little pain-spirit told Marty that the "thing" upstairs was dangerous and that the characters should go take care of it, but Marty's a little too smart to go rushing in like that. The characters went upstairs, and in the office at the end of the hall found a big bookshelf of anatomy and alchemy texts, but nothing too special. They also found a wolf lurking in the corner. They let it pass and it ran downstairs, but instead of running out the door zipped into the kitchen. Hank followed it, and tried to let it out, but it ran around him and then seemed to vanish. Shrugging, Hank rejoined his fellows.
Meanwhile, upstairs, the characters had found that the bookshelf concealed a safe. Hank beat on it with Fist of Talos until it opened, and therein they found the book detailing Al's creation. It mentioned that much of his body had come from one "A. McCready, a thief and scoundrel of the first water," but Marty (reading the book because Al was still illiterate), didn't mention that last bit.
Julia, bored, wandered away and found a locked cabinet. She tried breaking it open, but she's no Hank. Hank eventually found her and smashed the lock, and inside they found mason jars filled with formaldehyde and human body parts. Al recognized one of the hands as being the mirror image of his right hand.
Venturing downstairs into the basement, the characters discovered the rotting remains of the demiurge's grandson (the one Al had killed on his way out), as well as the chains once used to house him. They also found the wolf again, and the pain spirit insisted that it wasn't a wolf, but a "thing of rage and death." Marty tried talking to it, and finally it stepped back into the shadows and changed into a man. It rather politely suggested they talk upstairs.
The werewolf (Sleepless William; you can find him in World of Darkness: Chicago) said that he recognized the characters as strange, but couldn't place them. They talked about spirit matters and the spiritual health of Chicago for a while, and Marty learned that everything, cities included, have spirits and that he could potentially enter the spirit world if he found the right place to try (cue Vitriol for Marty). William said that he would like the characters to leave Chicago, if this (the Wasteland) was the effect they had, and the characters said that they would at least keep moving to avoid creating one. William also looked at Julia's bracelet with Two-World Eyes and told her that spirit of the bracelet was awake, but weak. Must be some history there....
The characters decided that since so many people had died here but that the place had given life to Al, the smoke from the house burning would be the next ingredient they needed. With William's help, they torched the place, captured the smoke in some jars, and headed back to the warehouse. Calogero met them and, pleased with their progress, told them the next ingredient: The Aspect of the Ibis.
They cruised by the post office and Marty, Julia and Al got out while Jesus and Hank drove the RV around the block. Or tried, anyway. Jesus' player failed his Drive roll and knocked over a garbage can on the corner. A cop pulled him over and, of course, entered the first stage of Disquiet. But Jesus has no legal ID (neither does Hank, for that matter), and so she couldn't exactly cite him. Meanwhile, Marty, inside, used his Ephemeral Flesh Bestowment and saw ghosts and spirits, but nothing that looked very promising. Plus Julia was inciting Disquiet in the patrons, and rather than let things get crazy they took off.
When they got to the car, the cop took Marty's info and wrote him the ticket for letting someone un-liscense drive his car. Marty, intelligently, took it in stride and just got out of there.
They went to the Chicago Historical society and managed to get some information (because the gal working there didn't fall to Disquiet initially). They found out where the saloon where Hedgepeth died was (now a convenience store), but decided to wait until dark to go have a look. Since they had some time to kill, Al asked to go back to the house where he was created, since obviously he wasn't the first attempt on his demiurge's part.
They arrived and immediatley realized they were in a Wasteland. Heavy, black clouds, incredibly high static electricity. As they got out of the RV, Hank noticed someone moving in an upstairs window. The lock on the front door was smashed (from when Al had run - remember, he's only been free for a month), but it looked like no one had been here since.
Looking around spiritually, Marty found that the place was humming with ephemeral activity. Pain-spirits, fire-spirits, anger-spirits...lots. A little pain-spirit told Marty that the "thing" upstairs was dangerous and that the characters should go take care of it, but Marty's a little too smart to go rushing in like that. The characters went upstairs, and in the office at the end of the hall found a big bookshelf of anatomy and alchemy texts, but nothing too special. They also found a wolf lurking in the corner. They let it pass and it ran downstairs, but instead of running out the door zipped into the kitchen. Hank followed it, and tried to let it out, but it ran around him and then seemed to vanish. Shrugging, Hank rejoined his fellows.
Meanwhile, upstairs, the characters had found that the bookshelf concealed a safe. Hank beat on it with Fist of Talos until it opened, and therein they found the book detailing Al's creation. It mentioned that much of his body had come from one "A. McCready, a thief and scoundrel of the first water," but Marty (reading the book because Al was still illiterate), didn't mention that last bit.
Julia, bored, wandered away and found a locked cabinet. She tried breaking it open, but she's no Hank. Hank eventually found her and smashed the lock, and inside they found mason jars filled with formaldehyde and human body parts. Al recognized one of the hands as being the mirror image of his right hand.
Venturing downstairs into the basement, the characters discovered the rotting remains of the demiurge's grandson (the one Al had killed on his way out), as well as the chains once used to house him. They also found the wolf again, and the pain spirit insisted that it wasn't a wolf, but a "thing of rage and death." Marty tried talking to it, and finally it stepped back into the shadows and changed into a man. It rather politely suggested they talk upstairs.
The werewolf (Sleepless William; you can find him in World of Darkness: Chicago) said that he recognized the characters as strange, but couldn't place them. They talked about spirit matters and the spiritual health of Chicago for a while, and Marty learned that everything, cities included, have spirits and that he could potentially enter the spirit world if he found the right place to try (cue Vitriol for Marty). William said that he would like the characters to leave Chicago, if this (the Wasteland) was the effect they had, and the characters said that they would at least keep moving to avoid creating one. William also looked at Julia's bracelet with Two-World Eyes and told her that spirit of the bracelet was awake, but weak. Must be some history there....
The characters decided that since so many people had died here but that the place had given life to Al, the smoke from the house burning would be the next ingredient they needed. With William's help, they torched the place, captured the smoke in some jars, and headed back to the warehouse. Calogero met them and, pleased with their progress, told them the next ingredient: The Aspect of the Ibis.