Confrontation and the Big Finale

 

05/19/2009

 

 

The group does a quick recap of the impending battle.

 

People on our side (they sound like rock groups):

Valerie and the other Scion

Martina and the mages

Persephone and the Vamps

Julie and the fuzz

 

Plan:

The people we want are in the hotel. We know they are in a Suite due to Daniels phone call.

Find out specifics based on the evacuation plan at the front desk (required to have one per Jim, hehe)

With knowledge of the room locations, we can assult the hotel.

 

The building is 8 stories high with a parking garage.

 

The Police and mages surround the building as the rest of the party waits a block away. They will be ensuring nobody escapes except innocent civilians.

 

Turning on supernal vision, and activating the mental link, Daniel and a police officer enter the hotel. Again, the plan is for them to get the layout and location of the suites, and maybe the exact location of the vampires.

 

With those items generally in place, the group makes its way to the hotel. The mages and vamps quickly surround the building while the rest of the group waits at the end of the block. Daniel and one of the police officers drive to the front of the hotel and calmly get out of the vehicle.

 

Walking up to the desk clerk, Daniel says quietly "Greetings, I'm Brooke Keeley from the fire prevention service. Can you show me the evacuation plan?"

The desk clerk looks confused for a moment, then smiles and says "Ok, that is in the office if you would like to take a look at it."

"But of course." replies Daniel in a cheery voice. The desk clerk still seems unsure of the late hour, but complies after looking at the police officer.

The floor plan shows that the 8th floor is just suites, but there is a suite on every floor.

As Daniel flips through the plan, he sends this information out. There are several conference rooms on the second floor as well. And some areas in the basement that look like they could be rooms, or they could just be storage. Daniel thinks they could be perfect rooms for the vampires.

 

As he thinks this, Daniel tries to sense consciousness to detect vampires. But, he tried so hard he did something wrong, and can't detect anything at this moment. Frustrated, he quizzes the desk clerk to act official and not blow his cover. Why, I have no idea, but he does. Then he starts channeling Jim and asks real questions that there is no way Daniel would have any way of knowing about.

 

While questioning the desk clerk, he reads the mind.  He can tell that some of the guests have extra stuff going on in the basement and the conference rooms, and for a moment the clerk thinks of the suite numbers.

Happy that he has some information, Daniel motions to the police officer that everything is in order and they should leave. As they turn to leave, he doesn't notice anything although he should have but he rolled poorly.

 

Daniel arrives back at the group, informs them of what he just said.

We decide on a plan, but think some more information is needed.

Valerie says "well, with as easy as Daniel made it in, some of the scions could go check out the rooms."

"Better yet, I have some nosferatu that I could send in. They are masters at not being seen." says Persephone.

The group agrees, and the nosferatu take off. The rest of the group watches the building for any activity.

 

Actually, it was two nosferatu and one normal looking vampire that take off. They are gone a total of a half an hour. When they return, they say "the vampires have taken over the suites and conference room on the 2nd floor. But within the past few hours, they have taken over the basement area. The vamps saw in the basement some military decked out people with vests and big machine like guns."

 

"Hmmm, we could use gas against the ones in the basement, to take out the mortals" says Steven.

"I don't know how it is going to be, because most of them looked like ghouls, so I don't know how good the gas would be," answers one of the nosferatu.

Again, more information is needed. Gordon pulls out his portable, gets on the free wi-fi, and somehow manages to get into the hotels computer system. That Gordon, he's a crafty one.

 

Gordon manages to hack into the system and take control of the fire and police alarm system of the hotel. He manages to get in so that if need be anybody needed to they could shut everything down with a few simple keystrokes, so that when the assault begins, he can disable them. This of course will never be used, but it was a good excuse for Gordon to use his computer hacking skill.

 

The group, staring and gesturing in total silence this entire time because of the mental link, really unnerves the people around them, until Steven says "Ok, we have a plan." Steven tells everyone what is going on, with the plan being Carter and some vamps go down the stairs to the basement, while the other take C4 explosives and are going to use it to blow a hole in the floor above where the vamps are held up. Then, Michael and Steven will drop down the opening with a few vampires while Gordon and Daniel stay on the 1st floor shooting from above. Some additional vampires are taken to protect Gordon and Daniel. All in all, a good plan, so everyone knows that there is no way it will go off without a hitch. Carter uses his weapon skill to make the charges set up to go off with a simple remote trigger, so he won't have to be present to detonate them. He gives the whole shebang to Gordon. Nobody else volunteers to carry the live and primed explosives for some reason.

 

Three vampires go into the basement ahead of time and hide themselves. They are never seen again. Unknown to the group, they were the same 3 that went earlier and have been mentally taken over; all their intel was bad. If we had known this, we wouldn't have changed a thing, but it explains the bad luck we have next.

 

Five of the vampires and a human mage go with Carter to the stairs headed towards the basement. The other four follow the party into the laundry area, that just happens to be above the vampires, carrying the explosive charges set up by Carter.

 

Steven plans on using his ability to both shape the blast of the charge down into the basement and also to try and force the sound and dust down too. The group moves quietly into position. Daniel uses his ability to try and convince anyone in the building that sees the group that nothing special is going on.

He easily distracts anyone that sees the party. He does such a good job that he briefly touches minds and , he senses some vampires watching the group, and any human in site is a ghoul.

The ghouls don't notice as Daniel convinces them to look the other way. The vamps on the other hand, don't seem fooled. He uses the mental link to convey this information as the group continues to move into the hotel.

 

Carter moves into position. Steven can see there is something in the lobby, a shimmering of some sort. Only Steven can see it, but he lets the group know it is there. Figuring it's a doomsday device, the group calmly walks past it hopeful it won't go off, and continue into the kitchen towards their objective.

 

As soon as the group moves through the restaurant area, Michael has gone near wolf, but otherwise, there is nobody back there and it's quiet. Gordon closes and barricades the doors behind the group as we go through, using any items at home. Steven uses his psychic ability to put up a wall on the doors, to try and hold them shut. He burns some mana to hold them in place without having to concentrate on them. This will prove very problematic if we ever try to go help Carter, but how likely is that going to be?

 

Suddenly, a group of undead creatures stand up in the sealed in room, surrounding the first floor group. Since nobody saw them, they attack first. A spell called "obfuscation" was hiding them. Daniels fumble in trying to sense them failed earlier, and the first part of the trap the three compromised vampires set has taken hold.

One attacks Daniel, and hits him. Another attacks Steven, but misses. One casts a spell and throws a fire-attack at the assisting vampires - but the spell misses.

 

Gordon, using a scion ability, attacks. He sends through the mental link "ambush in the kitchen" and he draws his pistol and shoots. Six rounds fly out and pound into an undead creature, tearing through its chest. Had it been alive, it would have dropped. Being dead, it moves forward and attacks doing three lethal. A death like figure moves up to Michael and attacks doing a lethal damage.

 

Back in the basement area, a huge six foot human with black eyes mutters an incantation and sends it at Carter's direction. It speaks in a language that sounds like ancient Sumerian, and strips away four points of legend from Carter, and all the effects that would impact. Carter stumbles, suddenly completely human, and screams in pain, anger, and shock through the mental link. Fortunately for the tall human, the barriers will keep anyone from running to his aid.

 

Even as he prepares his next human attack, Carter can tell the human is constantly chanting, but the other evil vampires in the basement spread out and attack the vampires that were with Carter. At least they left him for the tall human.

 

Upstairs, Gordon reloads and shoots at the creature in front of him on one fluid motion. The rounds pound into the creature, as it falls to the ground and stops moving. He killed the dead creature….again?

 

Downstairs, Carter burns a point of valor and charges at the chanting human. He slams into the human, who while chanting had no natural defenses, and it breaks his concentration. He tried to grapple with him, but fails, but with the break in concentration, Carter feels his power suddenly return. He quickly calls forth his magical armor, and prepares to obliterate the tall human. He also grasps the concept that his powers are only being suppressed, they were never truly stripped away.

 

Daniel, being attacked by two undead, does a psychic assault on the one that is not between him and Michael. The attack is against the creatures resolve, and it will inflict four bashing damage onto the creatures mind. The mental power slams into the creature, it stumbles, but does not fall.

Steven lifts up his hellfire rifle and shoots into a ghoul, but it burns points to avoid the damage.

Michael draws his sword, swings around at the vampire that was attacking Daniel, and slices the head clear off the vampire in one of the most unlikely good rolls ever. He then spins back around to face the vampire that had attacked him earlier.

 

Downstairs, the human mage that had come with the group was shredded by the vampires. One of the vampires that is assisting the group is attacked, but survives. The one attacking Daniel hits for a lethal. The one attacking Michael hits for two points of lethal damage.

 

Back in the basement, another mage enters the fray and attacks Carter with a mental spell attack. Carter takes four points of mental bashing damage.

 

Gordon, sighting on the vampire attacking Michael, shoots the creature in the head and back. As the entire clip empties and every round hits, the vampire is mulched and drops to the ground as a pile of hamburger like goo.

 

Carter attacks the mage. Carter can tell he is wearing an amulet on that lessens the damage even though Carter was able to hit him solidly.

 

Daniel attempts a simple karate kick, to push the vampire attacking him away. He then draws his pistol while still in motion and unloads onto the vampire. Unfortunately, the kick threw him off balance and only two rounds hit.

 

Steven using his light control abilities, amplifies the light in the face of the vampire coming towards him. It cringes away blinded, as Steven swings the barrel of the hellfire rifle into position and shoots. Seven hellfire pellets penetrate the vampire and it goes up in flames, crumpling to ash on the floor.

 

Michael, seeing only one vampire left in the room, another one attacking Daniel. He turns and charges it with his sword. He swings the sword, it's blade again connecting with a creatures neck, and easily removing it's head from its shoulders. Daniel looks at Michael who panting, shrugs. The unsaid question, why are you suddenly so good with that sword?

 

Downstairs, the small mage says "I don't like what you are doing" to Carter, as he heals all the damage Carter has inflicted on the Tall human.

 

Gordon, seeing that all the vampires in the room are no more, doesn't hesitate to set the explosive charges into position. Steven, observing the placement, places the psychic shield over the charges as Gordon detonates them. To say the explosion was loud in this small area is an understatement, as the entire building shakes from the explosion.

 

There is a huge hole in the floor as rubble and dust fall down into the basement.

 

Carter, downstairs, doesn't hear the explosion or see any dust. Even though he was certain he heard the command to activate the explosives. Something has him cut off from the group. Carter grabs the little guy next to him by the face, the one that healed the big human, and uses him as a battering ram against the larger human. With a force of nine lethal blows, he slams the body into the big guy as if he was slammed into a brick wall.

 

Daniel uses his mind to search out the area through the hole in the floor to see what we are up against. Again, his powers fail him, or, worse yet, something more powerful is blocking it. He sends through the mental link "I can sense nothing downstairs. There is nothing down there. I can't even sense Carter."

 

Daniel tries to discern aura's versus consciousnesses. He can tell there is an aura of a creature down there, scariest thing imaginable, waiting in ambush. What it looks like, is a room that is filled up to almost three foot deep with sludge. The sludge occasionally forms limbs and bodies reaching towards the party from down below. A living entity made up of slime, wonderful. Nobody volunteers to jump down right away.

 

Steven, disgusted, aims his hellfire shotgun down the hole and unloads a few rounds into the sludge. He thinks it hurt it, but says through the link that it would take about another dozen rounds to destroy it, or more likely fire.

 

Michael, wanting to help Carter, thinks up a plan of shifting over through the gauntlet, jumping through what would be an empty room, and helping Carter by shifting back behind the people he is fighting. Thus, he shifts over into the gauntlet and looks down into the room. There is no slime monster in the basement, so he jumps down. The mental connection is there, but very faint, as if he were listening to an echo down a long hallway. As he begins to move to where Carter would be back in the real world, he sees over in the corner, sitting in a very relaxed position in a chair, is a vampire. He is very gaunt and pale. His skin pulled very tight over his bones. There is no hair to be seen. And all his teeth look very sharp.

 

"Hello Father wolf. I guess it will be my pleasure to kill you." the ancient vampire sighs, "It's sad."

 

Michael thinks that this guy is the big bad they have come to fight, that this is the big bad boss. He knows he can't take him alone, but decides to see what kind of defenses the creature has. Michael charges, swinging the sword, and hits, but only manages to hit a glancing blow. Apparently, very good defenses. The creature then moves faster than Michael would have thought possible, as two claws ravage his chest. The wounds are large and deep, more than Michael has ever had done to him before. He feels that one more point of damage would render him unconscious.

 

Gordon loads up phosphorus rounds and shoots into the slime at Steven's suggestion. Several shots land and burn the slime as portions evaporate away.

 

Carter, using all of his attack bonuses, attacks the tall human slamming into him. Before they can smash into the wall behind the human, the tall human stops himself short. Carter grumbles in frustration.

 

Daniel, looking around the kitchen, grabs a bottle of wine, makes it into a Molotov cocktail, lights it on fire and drops it down the hole onto the slime creature. Three sections burn away as the fire hits it.

 

Michael gets this sense that there are flames in the real world, but that is about it. He wants to go back for his friends, but knows he can't until the slime creature is gone.

 

Steven, using his mental abilities to amplify the damage of the fire, shoots a hellfire round into the creature. The impact of this round pounds into the creature, leaving it almost gone.

 

Michael thinks in his head what he will do next. If he heals but is hit again like the first time, he won't survive. He could just leave, but he has to see if he can do more damage first. Michael swings the holy sword again at the ancient vampire. This time the blade bites deep causing 8 lethal in slicing damage. He continues to move with the attack to get away from the vampire and then shifts back to the mortal plane. The creature reaches out to grapple with the wolf, but fails. Michael appears in a safe area in the basement, already cleared of slime.

 

The two attack Carter again, pounding him. The tall human begins chanting removing Carters legends again. Carter howls in frustration wondering where his friends are at.

 

Gordon unloads with the phosphorus rounds again and destroys the rest of the slime creature.

 

Carter burns more willpower, for vengeance and clutching the tall human, bursts the door to enter the basement room. "Shooot him" he yells as he enters the room. Carter is badly beaten up, his face covered in blood even as he his pulling the attacker with him, holding the struggling figure.

 

Hearing Carter, Daniel jumps down the hole, lands with a roll and ends up on his feet. He aims and shoots at the man Carter is holding. Five shots ring out, all of them landing solid into the tall human.

 

Michael, healing himself and turning around to see Carter, swings his sword. He manages to do 8 lethal damage to the creature, but not enough to destroy it.

 

The held creature uses some blood to heal himself, and then grabs Carte by the chest, lifts him up and throws Carter into Daniel. It does very little damage, but the other little human steals mana from Carter to heal himself.

 

The little one is still looking at Carter and concentrating. Gordon shoots at the tall black vampire and hits him seven times. He's injured, but still standing. Carter swings at the Tall vampire, but Carter is so hurt he misses completely as the large figure just shifts out of his way!

 

Daniel, burning a willpower, concentrates and does a mental attack onto the large vampire for six lethal.

 

A very alien mind is felt by Daniel as he makes contact with it. He quickly jumps back out.

 

The three minion vampire that were with the upstairs group jump down and attack the small caster, and Carters legend powers suddenly return.

 

Steven burns some mana and willpower to push power into the hellfire round and shoots at the tall vampire. Eight aggravated rounds pound into it. The accursed creature is still standing.

 

Unknown to Michael, the ancient vampire he was attacking suddenly shimmers and appears in the room. A sudden sense of evil fills the place.

 

Michael swings the holy sword again, but only hits a glancing blow of a couple lethal as the creature turns and avoids most of the attack.

 

It turns back to Carter and hits him, leaving Carter only two bashing from falling over. He has never been so close to death. This only seems to make him angrier.

 

The ancient vampire attacks Steven for 8 lethal damage, leaving him with only 1 mana left as he rips it from his body.

 

The three minions, swarming the little human, finally take out the chanting vampire.

 

Gordon, turning towards the ancient vampire, shoots at it. One round hits, but the others miss completely.

 

Carter, beaten and bloody, stands up tall and burns all his remaining returned legend to heal himself. All of his wounds disappear except for the deep cuts on his face. He then attacks the tall vampire with everything he has left in him.

 

His fists pound a thumping rhythm on the creatures chest as his last fist slams deep into the skull of the tall human, destroying it.

 

Daniel spends a mana to convert his psychic assault attack into a psychic sword attack. He then puts another mana on it to augment it as four lethal hits smack into the ancient vampire.

 

Steven heals himself and attacks with 7 aggravated against the ancient vampire. The creature does seem to be taking damage, but it is hard to tell.

 

Michael turns to rush the ancient vampire. He calmly tosses the holy sword to Daniel as he move in and shifts into full Gauru form. This time, the shift is very different from the last time he tried it. His size increases by a factor of four as he stands fourteen feet tall in the room. He can't even stand fully straight in the room because of its low ceiling. Hunched over, he flexes his arm and chest growling out a challenge. He then swings his claws at the ancient vampire in a flurry of attacks that are a blur to the others. The claws cut deep ripping nine lethal damage out of the ancient vampire. It shreds the creature, and it falls to the floor. Michael throws back his head and howls in triumph.

 

Everyone breathes a sigh of relief and take a step back. That’s when they suddenly realize Michael has not shifted back into human form. He begins to growl a blood curdling sound as he looks for another target for his rage. Suddenly, the group remembers his warning that he can lose control. Everyone backs up away from him as Carter throws himself at Michael and grapples with him. Michael swings Carter around trying to break free of his grasp, but is unable to.

 

Daniel sends a mental command, trying to calm the huge wolf. All Daniel can sense is pure rage in the mind, but he pushes through.

 

The combination of the mental calming and the inability to tear things to shreds gets through, and Michael shifts back into near-wolf form.

 

"Thank you, both of you." he says.

"You sure you are ok?" asks Carter. He sounds so tired Michael can't imagine how he managed to hold on.

"Yes, thank you."

 

The mages and police had rounded up all the vampires and ghouls upstairs, taking the vampires back to the prince for vampire justice. The group thanks all that were there. Only a few vampires died in the attack, and with the prisoners, Persephone has a huge victory under her belt. The Scion thank the group for allowing them to help, since normally followers of Aphrodite are left out of such things, and also depart.

 

The group gets back in their vehicles and drive back to the mansion. Carter is almost sound asleep, as Daniel lights a cigarette and puts it in his mouth. Even asleep, Carter smokes it without thinking. Daniel sends the image through the mental link, and everyone gets a good laugh at the site.

 

 

Epilogue:

And thus ends the campaign as far as the Rayne family is concerned. The European vampires that were trying to hunt them down are finally destroyed. These were also the individuals responsible for Michaels pack being destroyed, so his vendetta is now completed.

 

Steven and Gordon go back into the detective agency, for a somewhat more relaxed life style. They still have to deal with the scion abilities, but that is something for another time.

 

Steven wants to settle down with Julie and have a family, or puppies, or a litter. His main focus would be to build a full store-front business instead of having a large armory in his basement. This would be a full sized gun club for more than just the ultra rich, he envisions.

 

Carter, his face scared from the final battle, becomes kind of reclusive. Even so, he still was interested in working with Steven. But the rest of his time is spent on crafting and improving his engineering skills and time alone. He still needs time to himself to fully understand his growing Scion abilities.

 

Daniel excuses himself from the group and meets up with Martina. Their relationship has only grown stronger due to the battle. The other mages were very impressed with his actions at the hotel, and his charging into a deadly battle. Thoughts of being in charge of the mages of Chicago cross his mind. And his future looks bright indeed.

 

Michael thanks the group for their help and hospitality and carrying his few positions loads up the motorcycle he picked up so long ago. His pack avenged, his work with the Rayne's is finally completed. With his new "father wolf" status he envisions he has a lot of work ahead of him. Thoughts of the missing packs in Chicago pass through his mind, maybe he should start his own pack here? He heads out to locate the three surviving wolves he knows about, and one small police officer.

 

DM Notes:

If the group had not attacked so quickly, the ancient vampire would have activated a magical item, all the supernatural things would have turned off. He would have said "I got this from your allies that don't like you and they wanted you taken out as much as I do" During the fight, the item would have broken, as the item was given to the ancient vampire by Hendrix who wanted the creature dead. The five would then have easily taken out the ancient vampire. A little investigating will find this information out, but Carter still has nothing to do with his former employer.

 

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