Battle with the Demons at McCormick Place

 

03/17/2009 

 

The next morning at the mansion, we all meet in the kitchen. Daniel has brought fresh coffee and donuts.

 

Antagonists:

Valkyrie

Sumerian God

Voodoo guy

Eastern European Vampire & friends

Weirdo's killing the pure & werewolves

 

Steven's phone rings, it's Julie. "Yeah, sure.'

"A pack of wolves is coming over asking for sanctuary. And Julie has had another ritual killing. In about 10 minutes, the wolves will be here. The skyfire pack (Book of Chicago pg 238). So we need medical preperations."

 

Michael suddenly has the feeling the wolves are close. He starts to tell the group, and Steven corrects him that they are still a few miles away. Michael is struck by how he can sense them from so far away. He can suddenly tell that they are injured. As he is concentrating, one of them dies. "I'm going to watch for them out front" as he grabs a first aid kit and rushes out front.

 

A car comes flying down the road at high speed, it is followed by a smaller compact car. They see Michael and just start unloading the cars. Michael see's six people, but he can tell only four are wolves.

While Michael is helping them inside, another car shows up, and the people in this car are shooting at them.

"What?" says the girl he is helping to carry, and as he looks down, blood blossoms on her chest from a new wound.

"Kill them," growls Michael to the group, as they rush out the house towards the new threat. He is momentarily humored by the fact that most people would run away from a car with shooters inside, but not this particular fearless group of people.

 

Carter, rushing at the car without even stopping hits the car at full speed. He lifts the car up off the ground as it pushes past him. He was unable to put his full strength into the push and it drops to the ground and continues forward.

 

Gordon slides out of the house past the wolves rushing in without even being inconvenienced by their presence. He draws his pistol in a smooth motion and opens fire on the car.

 

The doorway open, Steven charges out with a shotgun and just starts shooting rounds at the car. The beads bounce off the car as it is too far away for concentrated fire.

 

Daniel walks out calmly. He does a mental push but senses there was a barrier in place, blocking his mental attack. He furrows his brow and then urges the other people into the house.

 

Michael, placing the injured woman on the couch, starts using the med kit and is easily able to stop the bleeding. He suddenly realizes he can use his own essence to help heal her since she is a wolf, so he does. He can tell the wounds are more damaging than they should have been; silver bullets were used. Fortunately, they passed through.

 

Outside, Carter rushes the car again and jump on back of the car, pushing his metal hand into the trunk of the car! As it turns to drive away, he can hear there is a commotion in the car. Because of this argument, they do not see the body of Carter hanging off the back.

Steven jumps in the car that drove up, whose engine is still running, and turns it around to start chasing the car with Carter hanging off.

 

Gordon sees this, and decides he would be of more help inside, so goes ot help the injured.

 

The guy in the back seat of the fleeing vehicle turns to look out the back window, and his eyes go wide as he see's Carter hanging on the back. Carter smiles, and activates his body armor, and without pausing, swings his free arm under the car trying to rip out the back tire.

 

Daniel activates the mental link between the group as he watches what Carter is doing. "Gods...I spend more time erasing people's minds with him around..." thinks Daniel at the action.

 

Michael finally stabilizes the woman having used a second essence point, closing her wounds. He looks over and sees Gordon working on a human male that was brought in, the guy looks terrible, as if he needs surgery. Another guy Michael doesn't even need to look at, he is dead and not breathing. A wolf, killed with silver.

 

The wheel goes flying as Carter rips it completely off the car. Out of control, the car slams into a pole. The pole is still standing. As Carter gets up and looks, he see's rebar around the pole. Unknown to him, the Raynes had issues a few years ago and had it replaced with a reinforced pole. He shrugs and pulls the unconscious people out of the car. Steven shows up and just starts to disarm the bodies on the ground.

 

Once the bodies are laid out, Carter walks over and picks up the end of the car and starts pulling the broken car back towards the house. A neighbor chose that moment to walk out the door. They stop and stare for a moment, and then without another thought, walk back inside and close the door. A click from a door lock could be heard, if anyone had been listening.

 

"Daniel, can you grab some zip-ties for the injured attackers," comes a message through the mental link.

 

The rest of the skyfire pack looks like they will live. Jafar is the leader of the pack. He addresses the group. "Greeting, this is Amelia and Jasmine. I don't know who these guys were, but we usually take care of Jackson park by the lake. There are some spirits that will get free and some others that we work to contain down there. Anyway, this car drove by, the guy jerked and looked out, and..." he glances at the big bay window "should we go somewhere else?"

"No, we had an RPG hit that a few months ago and it did no damage." answer Gordon.

"Oh..does that happen a lot?"

"Sometimes."

"So, you are mages?"

Gordan just smiles.

Jafar looks at the attackers tied up. "You were much kinder than I would have been"

"We can get more information out of living bodies," answers Michael.

 

Carter walks over and picks up one of the prisoners. Michael sees this and decides to go get refreshments for the humans and wolves, because this could be awhile. Jafar is watching intently what Carter does. The prisoner he picked up seems very groggy, and is hard to wake up.

 

"I don't know what happened, as I was saying, several cars came around shooting without provocation. We called Julie and she suggested this would be a good spot to go to. So, what are you going to do with them?" he says as he nods towards the prisoners.

 

Meanwhile, a message comes though the mental link. "These prisoners, these mercenaries, have partial Demon Blood."

 

"Have you seen these people before?" asks Jafar.

"Yes, sort of. They are Demon Blooded. These idiots are around trying to kill werewolves."

"What? Why wasn't I told about this?" says Jafar, as he looks at Michael.

"We told Julie to spread the word, since she has better contacts than I."

"Oh, well she had said she wanted to talk to us." says Jafar.

"Yes, well, we don't know who is specifically sending these people out. We know they are part of a larger group. We know they are trying to take out all werewolves, not just you, the group in Wisconsin that was attacked was a pack of the pure.

 

Steven suddenly jumps up "Julies trapped" and without saying anything else runs out the door. The rest of the group, without pausing, grab their needs and follow him out. "Don't kill them," says Daniel to Jafar pointing to hostages. "Doc has our phone if you need to call us," says Michael as he grabs his coat and rushes out the door as well.

 

Daniel concentrates, looking ahead at the people in the path of the team. As if parting the ocean, cars just seem to move out of the way allowing Steven and Carter to fly by without even slowing down. Michael watching, has never seen Chicago traffic move out of the way and flow so easily. He glances amazed at Daniel.

 

Michael sees signs indicating that they are headed towards Jackson's park, the location of the attack on the skyfire pack.

 

Julie, trapped in a tunnel, suddenly feels a voice in her head. She thinks it's Daniel, and so actually tries to answer. First, a view of herself and another detective as well as several uniformed officers ducking under cover and being fired upon. The image she sends is that of more mercenaries with the machine guns and other weapons that the captured attackers have. They have the police pinned down. At least two police officers are down in the center of the clearing. Even as Daniel starts to send these images out through the mind link, we show up at the scene.

 

Steven doesn't even slow his car down, and maybe speeds up a bit, as he rams directly into one of the cars that the attackers are hiding behind. Bodies go flying from the impact with their own car except for the two that are pinned under it. The air-bags deploy in Steven's cat punching him and Gordon in the face. He shakes his head, grabs his shotgun, and starts to get out of the truck.

 

Steven, forgetting the anti-lock brakes, fails to drift and just comes to a sudden stop, just missing the downed police officers. The cops, seeing this display, are just totally shocked at the brutality of this ramming into the attackers vehicle. Not one of them feels even a little bad for those people though, but they do run up and grab the two wounded police from the line of fire.

 

Daniel informs the group that he is going to try and get everyone behind the low wall to jump up, and be easy targets for us to shoot at. He will then try to get them to think it would be easier to shoot if they take their time to aim, and stand up.

 

A shotgun goes off as an attacker shoots at Steven but misses and hits the truck.

Three of the four people behind the wall suddenly stand up, and taking their time, shoot at the truck that Carter is driving.  Bullets riddle the car, one impacts into Michaels new armor, the rest miss breaking windows but doing no other damage. One woman there jumps down and hides, but the other 3 stay standing.

 

Carter jumps out of the truck, and rips the door off the truck. Using it as a shield, he rushes the three shooters that are standing there next to the wall. They just stand there, watching as he aims and the three rounds penetrate the woman's heart, throat, and then head.

 

Michael, using the weapon he had pulled out of the vault, draws it and attacks. The hit is solid, but doesn't drop him

DM: If you put a point of Essence into the sword, for the scene it will do 9L (9 again)

Regular Bastard sword is 4L

 

Gordon easily slides out of the truck and draws his pistol in one smooth motion. Without even stopping the motion, the gun goes off and hits an attacker in the head, dropping him.

 

The cops have an easy shot at the person shooting at Steven, and they all unload on him. His body bounces as multiple rounds impact him and the armor he is wearing.

 

A woman stands up right in front of Stevens truck, pulls the pin out of a grenade she is holding, and throws it over Gordon's head towards the truck. Gordon, seeing this, calls forth his legendary power and responses to shoot at the grenade just as it leaves her hand. It is knocked back towards her and kills both her and the person standing next to her.

 

The only person left standing is the person shot by the police. They walk up and handcuff the survivor. The other police that are injured are quickly helped, and they are helped soon enough that they will recover.

 

Julie walks up and says "we got another victim, I don't think it was exactly the same as the last ones. Here is the address, "she writes it down and gives it to Steven, "don't do everything, but make them no care that you guys have left, ok?"

 

Carter, using his legendary strength, is able to physically bend Steven's truck into drivable shape. The fan isn't working, but nothing is rubbing against anything. He then grabs the door he ripped off and throws it into the back of his truck as Michael and Daniel get in and drive off.

 

Arriving at the site, the group can be certain of a number of things. What was summoned before was a seargent ranking demon. This would be a lieutenant, just one step up. It was definitely more involved, and the victims were three very young children, maybe five years old. Michael can smell a faint brimstone in the air. It has been 90min to two hours.

 

Michael uses his word on the street ability to view the immediate history of the place, to determine who summoned the demon.

Jon Goranson: a hellgate was opened here and a demon was put into a body.  It was called by the demon that you sent back at the mall but then he came back. 

 

Michael tells the group. They are not amused. It has been so long, he has no way of knowing which direction they went.

 

"Well, I don't have to try the lure, we can just use the track spell I found?" says Steven, "But I will have to have Steven's help." Everyone agrees that would be a good idea. Carter was concerned about the people walking by, but Daniel looks at him and says "Don't worry, nobody is watching us."

 

As the spell completes, Steven cannot see the demon, but he can see the building it went to. It went into the McCormick center. This is ironically the location that Gordon had worked at. He knows where at the convention the demon went, and that an electronics convention is going on.

 

Gordon thinks of a couple of service entrances we could use to enter. The group drives a little bit away and then walk towards the building.

 

Jon Goranson: okay, there is something off around here, where you parked.  But you can't put your finger on it.  (I will tell you more when you get closer to the place.)

 

The group decides to use Daniel to try and hide the weapons so we can get in, even though we are going through a secret. {You sense you can hide the weapon in the gauntlet partially, a la highlander}

 

A message from Daniel comes through the mental link: "Son of the seal breaker, favored by the gods, the old ones come.  The blessings asked for have come to pass but the promises need to be kept.  Father Wolf must be protected.  The signs of Ragnarok must be heeded.  The walls crumble.  Water comes to air. Things happen and they don't.  The past comes to haunt the present.  The present destroys its creator and is not unmade but reborn.  Blood thickens before it thins.  The hunt comes but looks in the wrong places.  Kings are unmade.  Power corrupts. Repairs are made.  One dies.  The pharaohs fulfill their part.  The center falls apart followed by the right and the left.  Builders come back.  Luna cries.  The ladders are climbed.  The new towers join the old.  And then things are as they were but not yet come."

 

Jon Goranson: You can sense something is up with the gauntlet here.  It's . . . thin.

 

As we approach the building, Carter easily unlocks the door and we enter. As we get inside Steven comments the area looks familiar.

 

As Michael stops and looks around, he can sense there is something coming through from the gauntlet, and it is nearby. The problem is the place is full of people. Steven walks over and pulls a fire alarm, but nothing happens. Suddenly, while he is trying to do that, a booth babe starts yelling and jumping up and down, taking clothes off.  As the party watches, Daniel yells at Steven "Hurry, do something while she is distracting the crowd." Frustrated, he pulls out his wand of force and shoots one of the sprinkler heads, trying to force the alarm to go off. The head pops off, the ceiling cracks, and plaster falls to the ground. Only a drop of water comes out, the system is disabled.

 

Carter and Daniel notice a couple of guys standing near the center and looking up something that is happening above the center. That must be the location where something is trying to cross over.

 

One of the people in the center pulls out a dagger and cuts his hand, allowing the blood to hit the floor. Carter seeing this, goes full body armor, draws his pistol and rushes the center of the room. He leaps into the air and begins shooting, right through the center of the crowded facility.

 

Daniel, immediately starts pushing into the crowd to politely leave. Almost fifty people begin to calmly walking towards the exits. The other few hundred people start screaming and yelling trying to get out the exit. As Daniel watches, blood starts to trickle down from his nose from the exertion.

 

Steven tries to muffle sound, to minimize the yelling to anyone listening from outside.

Gordon can see the second guy, but can't see him well enough to know if he is cut.

Michael, uncertain as to the best course of action, rushes towards the two men hopeful a better sense of what should be done will come to him.

 

The two men pull out pistols and shoot. One of the rounds hits Gordon, but he just shrugs it off having been hit by worse and hardly noticing it. Carter is completely missed.

 

Carter arrives and lands next to the guy. Just as he hits the guy, he realizes the man has the gun not aimed at Carter, but at his own head. The impact makes the pistol go off, and a shower of blood erupts from the top of his head.

 

Gordon catches up to the guy he was trying to grapple with, just as he pulls out a knife and cuts himself.

Michael feels the gauntlet open.  . He sends the message through the DIM (Daniel instant messenger) to alert the party.

 

Looking up, a solid tear appears above the room and spread, revealing an opening into some pit of hell. Hot howling wind erupts from the rift pughing against the people below. Any people left leave screaming in terror. Two large insect creatures come through, and two flying demons.

 

Still running at the center of the room, Michael draws forth the holy sword, partially sifts, and attacks the closest insect. He hits it solidly.

 

Steven draws his shotgun and unloads on one of the winged demons. He manages to shoot off one of the wings and it drops to the ground, missing everyone on the ground.

Daniel sees two fleeing security guards, and with a little prompting, tells them to shoot at one of the demons. Each manages to hit with a single round. Daniel pumps three rounds into the other insect creature. It screams in anger, and breaths a cloud of poison. Several people start puking and gagging instantly. He reaches out to the odd straggler, brings out a spear he has, and pins the guy to the floor.

The other reaches out and claws at a person running past. All but Daniel realize that the people that were scratched by the flying demons were not hurt too bad, but the demons were making round to try and scratch even more, instead of finishing them off.

 

Carter turns around, picks up a solid piece of plywood used in a display and throws it at one of insect demons. It hits with such force that it shatters into a shower of wood and splinters.

 

Daniel and the two security guards open fire on the insect demon that Carter attacked. It is looking very bloodied.

 

Gordon opens fire on the last flying demon, hitting it with so much lead that it drops from the sky.

Michael swings with the sword, hitting it with a solid hit cutting off one of its claws.

 

It retaliates, attacking Michael who holds the sword up to try and block the attack. The demon is quick, and gets around the sword striking Michael. The claws rip right through the newly crafted armor, reach Michaels skin, and then stops. Michael is shocked, but apparently his skin has been hardened, similar to Gordon and Carter. He takes a surprised step back from the creature.

 

A demon takes it's spear and jabs at Daniel. It hits, causing a lethal in damage as it goes through his leg.

 

Steven uses his telekinesis to appear behind the demon and then uses the wand of force to push the demon, catching the creature in the center. A loud cracking as heard as the demon cries out in pain and falls to the ground, slain.

 

Carter, unable to find anything solid to pick up, picks up a demon, spins him around picking up speed and slams him through a wall, killing it.

 

Michael pulls the sword around with a vicious swing. The demon, unprepared doesn't block the swing, as it cuts the demon in half, both pieces fall to the ground.

 

Three more police show up, guns drawn, and freeze at the sceene. Daniel sees them, grabs their minds, and has them shoot. All five police shoot at the demon, but just two rounds hit. Daniel hits with five rounds dropping it.

 

The demons down, Michael says "help me!" he says to Steven and Daniel. They both manage to help boost the attempt to close it. Power rushes through Michael, in a way he has never felt before. It rushes into the tear, power welling up into it, and slowly the tear closes. Still more power rushes up as Michael pushes even more power into the closed tear. When he is finished, he can feel a buildup of a possible backlash. Steven backs way up, sensing the buildup. Daniel stands strong, as the power dissipates.

 

Michael senses that not only was it closed, but the gauntlet here is strengthened enough that it couldn't happen again at this location.

 

With more police showing up, Daniel sends out the mental thought that the mall cops saved everyone.

The bodies of the demons exploded after about 20 seconds of being dead, so there were no bodies to worry about. The group left the way they came in, and go back to the mansion to rest and heal up.

 

 

4XP

 

Back - Rayne

 

GM Notes

• Things are going along well.  We are getting into the action and I think there is some tension.  Then the player shares the cryptic lines I told him.  Talk about bringing everything to a halt!  I think after a few minutes and not understanding everything, they get back into it but it really stopped things despite my best efforts.  
• Carter is becoming a killing machine.  It's not a bad thing.  
• Daniel is becoming a controling machine.  It's impressive to watch.  
• Gordon wasn't doing well but only because of bad rolls by the player.  
• Stephan doesn't have subtle weapons, such as his hellfire blast from a shotgun.  Not the best thing to use in a crowd.
• Michael is becoming more powerful as well.  It's all part of the plan.  
• My plans aren't always about hurting the characters as that's not the point of the story.  It's more interesting to put friends in danger and see how they react.  At least, it's more interesting to me.