Episode Two: New Beginnings

Session One (7/16/2010)

Mage School: Counterspelling

• A month has passed since the Fivefold Vigil found Forest Clement's body and arranged for it to be discovered by the police.
• Eos is invited to the Astoria PD by Chief Eldin McArthur and offered a job as a part-time consultant. While there, she is approached by Detective Dean Newcomb, who asks her if she knows a man named Miles Renald. She doesn't (as she is unaware it's one of Malachite's old aliases). But then Newcomb shows her a blurry, low-quality picture of Malachite. He tells her it's from an old murder case and that Malachite was “seen in the area” at the time. He's now investigating Malachite's possible connection to Forest Clement's death. He says he has a witness who saw Malachite and a woman matching Eos's description around town, asking about Forest. Which is interesting, because Malachite and Eos were never out in public together while investigating Forest's disappearance.
• Later that night, the cabal has a video conference with Ophelia Rosetti. With help from Forest's files, she has managed to track down the owner of the Hotel Regina, the reclusive Wrightley Flavel. She's made several attempts to contact Flavel about purchasing the Regina, but she can't get a response from him or any of his representatives. She asks us to approach him in person.
• We make plans to crash Flavel's Christmas party, as it's his only known public appearance each year. Rasayana finds out which printer handled the invitations, and Serafina finds out who's catering the shindig. Malachite hacks in to the printer's computers and secures the guest list and an image of the invitation. He uses Matter to create an invite for Rasayana. Eos will be his “plus one.” Serafina gets a job with the caterer. Malachite bribes Charline Toulouse's bodyguard to let him take the guard's place.
• The guest list for Flavel's party largely consists of members of Astoria's and neighboring Warrenton's oldest and wealthiest families: the Astors, the Onkelis, the Warrens, and the Hengs. The Astors are the founding family of Astoria. The Onkelis are the most sociable of the families, interested in charitable and environmental causes. The Warrens founded Warrenton and are less wealthy than some of the other families, but have gained prestige through their proud military history. The Hengs first got their money through canning, but they have recently branched out into the security field. They have bought out several security firms on the west coast, and are rumored to run a few outfits that can be hired to do some very illegal things in other countries.
• While we wait for the day of the Christmas party to arrive, Serafina and Rasayana go out to investigate some of the addresses on the invitation list. They spot The Man in Black in an alley and stop to confront him. He tries to run, but Serafina intercepts him, making it to the roof of the nearest building at the same time he does. He attacks her with Death magic. She plants a hatchet in his face.
• Rasayana calls Malachite to tell him that they've engaged the MiB. Malachite and Eos arrive on the scene with a spectacular motorcycle crash. The MiB retreats into Twilight.
• And then . . . fucking zombies.

Session Two (7/23/10)

Mage School: Dedications

• The MiB sends six zombies after us, two on the rooftop with Serafina and four on the opposite roof with the rest of the cabal. To add insult to injury, one of the zombies is Forest Clement.
• Serafina leaps across the gap between buildings to join her cabalmates. The two zombies chasing her simply drop to the alley below and begin making their way up the fire escape to the roof where we now all are.
• The Vigil gets thoroughly chewed on by zombies.
• Rasayana finally shoves one of the zombies off the roof. Its attempt to get up after the fall causes the watching crowd's Disbelief to kick in and dissipate the spell animating it and its fellows. We run, casting spells to eliminate evidence of our presence as we go.
• Back at Vigil House, we watch the news and listen in on the police band. The zombie incident is written off as a prank perpetrated by college kids. Malachite looks up the identities of the bodies. There is no apparent connection between them or the Heng family.
• Four days remain before the Flavel Christmas party.
• Serafina and Rasayana both sign up for martial arts classes, and Malachite starts teaching them how to shoot.
• Malachite takes some time to visit Charline, to try to get to know her so he can help her later. She attempts to seduce him, but he fends her off.
• The day of the party arrives. We get in easily with our various cover stories. Eos, Rasayana, and Malachite all meet Flavel briefly at the door. There are no obvious magical effects on him, nor anything strange about his emotional state.
• The MiB is at the party, talking with a blond woman. The blond picks up on one of Eos's Mind effects and counterspells it. She then accosts Rasayana and Eos, berating them for coming to the party and threatening them with violence if they don't leave. Rasayana counters with some intimidation of his own and scares the blond off her.
• Serafina works the crowd, gathering information on the MiB and the blond. The MiB's name is Waichi Heng. He didn't grow up in Astoria, and is something of a mystery, considered strange even by other members of his family. He teaches martial arts at the local community center, and some say he is a Taoist priest. The blond is Sophia Warren, the niece of the Warren family patriarch. She also didn't grow up locally. She just got out of the Navy, and rumor has it, she's a lesbian.
• After Rasayana takes the wind out of her sails, Sophia retreats, grabbing Waichi and ushering him into a private lounge off the main room. We then see Flavel gathering up a small group of guests and moving toward the same room.
• Eos influences Flavel into inviting Rasayana and herself to the private meeting. Flavel sends his butler toward them, but another mind effect settles over the butler and stops him. Eos then deflects the butler by sending him to the bathroom, and she and Rasayana head into the parlor as if they had received Flavel's personal invitation.
• Waichi intercepts Eos and Rasayana, giving Sophia time to lead Flavel and the other guests into yet another room. Waichi again threatens to initiate violence, indeed seems eager for it.
• When Eos tries to move past him, Waichi grabs her arm. She makes a scene, demanding to know why he's manhandling her. He counters by claiming that she's had too much to drink and calls for security.
• A very young man comes into the room, Flavel's grandson Mitchell. He and Waichi give each other withering looks. Mitchell sends Waichi away, and tries to escort Eos and Rasayana out, nearly pleading with them not to make a scene. He is clearly terrified.
• Malachite moves to intercept the security guards who have been summoned to remove Eos and Rasayana. He steers Charline toward the private lounge, "accidentally" stumbling into the doors. Charline is magnificently drunk and proves to be an excellent distraction as she verbally abuses Malachite and the two guards.
• Eos and Rasayana take advantage of the distraction to leave the lounge before the guards can peg them as the "belligerent guests" they were sent after. Eos moves off by herself, while Rasayana stays close to Mitchell.

Session Three (7/30/10)

Mage School: Relinquishing Spells

• Rasayana and Eos were not able to follow as the Seers ushered Wrightley away from the party.
• Serafina returned from scouting the mansion's layout. Wei Chi and Sophia were beginning to get fed up at this point, and they tried to get our heroes thrown out.
• Fortunately, they didn't count on James "Malachite" Bond and the Nuclear Option: A riled-up Charline.
• The distraction worked beautifully, giving the security staff something to do while Eos pulled a Ninja vanishing act, and Rasayana took grandson Mitchell into his confidence.
• Mitchell was terrified of his family's periodic guests, but he took the party aside to tell about his history. Wei Chi and Sophia had blackmailed Mitchell because he was in a with a man, pulling him out of school. The Seers' continual influence had begun to wear subtly on Wrightley's mind, forcing him at least once into private hospital care.
• Suspecting the cabal was somehow "like" the Seers, Mitchell agreed to transfer the hotel to them to keep it out of the Seers' hands.
  • He also gave them the book that his grandfather got a lot of the information about the Hotel Regina from, the Journal of Gamayun.
• The party kitted up for trouble. Rasayana met Mitchell at the mansion's poolhouse, while Eos, Serafina and Malachite lay in wait. Autumn arrived from his journeys just in time to find a large group of Wei Chi's zombies waiting in Twilight for the party, ready to strike.
• He waited nearby, ready to tear down the Seers' control over the monsters and destroy them if they were activated.
• The midden hit the windmill.
• Wei Chi and Sophia had been hiding, invisible, at the top of a stone waterfall behind the pool. Attacking with spells and an enchanted sniper rifle, they weren't prepared for Serafina leaping across the poolhouse's outbuildings, across the pool, to confront them at their hiding place. Malachite conjured storm winds, tumbling the Seers into the pool while leaving Serafina unscathed. The brawl continued and the Seers each vanished, a teleport spell activating when they fell unconscious.
• Mitchell emerged from hiding wielding a metal pole scrounged from the locker room. He began swinging wildly at the party, but Malachite quickly subdued him in a fit of pique.
• Eos traced the controlling Seer back through her scrying portal, and delivered an epic answer, middle finger outstretched.