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AWAKENED: GAME THREE Moving Targets:
Our task is to either invade Magic Mountain, where vampires will be performing a blood hunt. We presume our people may be the prey. A good portion of time is spent on preparation. Some reading of “the good book”, some theme park recon, etc. We talk to Sullivan Dane, who seems to think only LOOKING at what is going on would be a better idea than going in and trying to take on vampires. He points out, and quite rightly, that only one of these things could probably kill us. Ryan tries to get us each to pledge that we’re going in to observe only; most of us agree, but a couple go out of their way to qualify it. After all, if there’s a loved one there, all bets are off. The most interesting part of preparation is when Nathan uses his Astral Projection (level 1) to simply look around. Unfortunately, there are a number of doomed souls bound to the amphitheatre, one of which tries to rush him but reaches the end of his tether. Nathan flees out of the theater and down to a restroom where the hides in a stall for a while, and likely washes out his underwear. Gabriel the larcenous surveys the place to find a point of entry. Dane checks the hills for a vantage point. The other major event involves a botch by Gabriel when trying to use some of his sensory abilities; he ends up causing a bystander to start seeing everyone nearby as being something horrible. She’s taken away by security to calm down. Meanwhile, back at the ranch… Simon is reading the book. Now he’s stated that he’s staying behind to read it (Something I didn’t really hear, but even if I had I probably would have shrugged and continued what I’m doing anyway). This is a direct violation of the Lindsay Rule (heretofore named for the being that seemingly possessed Jack when he was reading the book and botched). So naturally, Simon botches his research. Upon our return it seems he’s been cleaning his room to within an inch of its life. This would be a mild mania without consequence except that the book itself was “clutter” and thus was tossed out to keep things neat. Two hours later, we find it in the trash dumpsters and then finally settle in to rest before the big day looming ahead. As is the way of people who want to stay alive, the mission itself takes about 1/5 the time of the prep. Do not mistake that for a complaint. On the evening of the hunt, some of us infiltrate the park. When they filter in, the ravening hordes seems to be almost entirely vampiric. This means two hundred vampires, all riding rides and carrying on. Further, it seems they are in all sorts of gang colors, interspersed, without any real recourse. Simon is spotted by a guard but uses his “fascinate” ability to convince the man that he’s an inspector there to check on their readiness for infiltrators; a ploy that works well. Next up to get noticed is Christine Deimos, who has an ID tag on her (with her picture placed over someone else’s), and she nearly slips out of the situation by pretending like she’s supposed to be there, but the guard wants to take her to where their security is. She declines, and they’re at an impasse until Simon shows up and congratulates this guard on passing the test. When they gather in the theater near midnight, there’s a speech by McNeil, who mentions a bunch of other vampires by name, including the late Jennifer Luna (who he mentions may have been slain by vampire hunters—a subject that they seem to treat as a bit of a joke). There are humans present, all of which are released into the park and the hunt commences. There is however one that is not released, but instead taken back to the limo and driven away. We recognize her as Wendy Cahill, wife of Ryan. He’s given the heads-up that they MUST track the vehicle leaving the employee parking, but he’s not informed of who is inside until Omeed is able to teleport out of the park, rendezvous with Ryan, and follow the servant that is tending to Wendy. Omeed has “tagged” the minion, making it easy to follow at a distance. They go to a mansion in the hills. We sit tight until the wee hours, when the park empties, then go off and meet up with the rest of the party, for food and rest. So we have a house. And it seems, it has at least one of our folks in it. Gabriel determines that the most fortuitous time to invade the manor would be either in the next 24 hours, or after that in two weeks. Simon “dreams” about the invasion. His dream gives him a bunch of symbology that seems to indicate that the master is not at home and that there are guards of some sort. (The dream is of a castle, alligators in a moat, a black knight riding out, prisoners in a dungeon, and that there’s a key that the prisoners can use but choose not to.) So our newly learned abilities come into play. From this comes an idea involving turning a car invisible and silent then driving right up to the gate where Omeed would crack the security. (Gotta say Rotes = Good. So far Nathan’s first rote was very helpful. I need rotes for everything; Nightvision, viewing electromagnetic fields, x-ray vision, Armor, etc.) Nathan makes the van invisible and silent and we drive right up to the gate. When he tries to go over some dogs rush him. He pops two, but two more show up for a meal of Omeed-O’s. He comes back. At that point a couple guys are coming down from the house. With everyone in the back of the van being unable to hear anything or see each other, it comes to Nathan and Omeed to make the call. Nathan suggests backing the van into the gate (hopefully squashing the dogs and guards beneath). Then comes the king botch. The grand daddy of 1’s. Ok, it was no quadruple botch or a botch involving forbidden knowledge (which would arguably be more long lasting and nasty), but it was just beautifully timed. Nathan backs the truck but misses the gate and instead nails the wall, causing great damage to the wall and a little bashing to some passengers. Worst of all, the van can’t move. What happens next is a gunfight involving people cloaked by an invisible van, old man Hank who brings an axe to an uzi fight, and several rounds of shoot and dodge. Not to gloss over this gunfight, which could surely have ended the life of anyone without those nifty protective shields, and which was not easy at all, but we win and gain entrance to the manor. Inside are several of our loved ones, but not all. They are gathered up, but as expected they are not happy to be seized. Most must be bound; we suspect most have likely been corrupted by use of the taint-enhanced drugs that are all the rage these days. We get out of dodge, but we’re pretty screwed when it comes to renting cars from now on. We haul off our family and figure we need to detox them of whatever is in their systems. |