Dyl prelude:[]
Dyl’s prelude started with her waking in the evening and receiving an invitation from Garwood Marshall to meet him to discuss the return of the Succubus Club to Chicago. Dyl got the address, which was close enough for her to walk there alone. She donned a headscarf to cover her new third eye (ajna) and met Marshall at his haven, a closed but well-maintained jazz club from decades past. They joked and talked, discussing Marshall’s plan to infiltrate the Succubus Club.
Suddenly Dyl received a vision of what was happening at the slaughterhouse, shortly before it actually took place. Falling off her stool, she alarmed Marshall, who ran around the bar to see if she was alright. Dyl told him of her vision, and he immediately carried her out to his BMV, rushing the two of them to the scene while Dyl recovered. When they arrived, a scuffle was already taking place within the slaughterhouse, and Marshall grabbed a pistol from his glove box before the two of them rushed inside.
Group Session:[]
Meanwhile, inside things had gotten ugly. Crystal moved to sample the blood of the pregnant vampire, but Balthazar aimed his shotgun at the woman and ordered Crystal to move out of the way. Using Celerity, Kathy Glens exploded into action (to the surprise of everyone), knocking Balthazar’s aim off course and pleading with him to wait before committing to fatal action. Crystal moved to back Kathy up, the two of them giving Balthazar pause as they tried to convince him to use discretion in this case.
Crystal and Kathy convinced Damien, at least, who used his superior Dominate to ensure Balthazar’s cooperation (surely increasing the animosity between them). While attention was focused on Balthazar, the invisible Nathaniel suddenly reappeared, ripping the dhampir baby from its mother’s body and holding it aloft in victory, preparing to disappear with it immediate. Again Kathy struck with lightning speed, slamming her guitar into Nathaniel’s arms and nabbing the baby from him before he could act.
The baby immediately tried to feed from Kathy, just as Garwood Marshall and Dyl appeared in the doorway. Wanting to be free of the little freak, Kathy handed the baby off to Marshall, who accepted it but tried to keep it as far from his body as possible. Doyle moved to smash Rebecca with his sledgehammer as she accused him of betraying her trust, but Crystal and Kathy got things calmed down before anyone else was hurt.
Marshall handed the baby off to Dyl, who was appropriately creeped out when she alone heard its voice in her head entreating her to put it down. Crystal convinced Balthazar to take the baby and its parents into custody to present to the Prince, and a steel box was procured to put the hungry baby in for transport (Crystal advising that feeding it probably wasn’t wise). Leaving Doyle and Dyl to guard the slaughterhouse, Balthazar and his posse went to present their find to the Prince.
Post Session – Dyl[]
After the action died down, Doyle wandered off, and Dyl secured what evidence she could – she’d pocketed a chunk of the baby’s umbilical cord, and she collected the bloodied blanket from Rebecca’s bed for the Tremere to analyze. Unfortunately, she’d left her phone in her purse back at Marshall’s lair, and the phone is his car was PIN-locked. Seeking to contact the Tremere metaphysically, Dyl sank into a trance, trying to project herself into the bodies of one of the Tremere or their ghouls.
Failing that, Dyl tried to possess the body of her 7-1/2-year-old sister, Margaret. Instead, she found herself in one of Margaret’s dreams, in a field of ponies and rainbows. Margaret was thrilled to see Dyl, and not at all weirded out by Dyl’s third eye – in face, soon both Margaret and the ponies had third eyes, too. While enjoying ice cream and carnitas, Dyl found a phone and called the Chantry, leaving a message with Astrid Thomas’s mystical voice mail.
Upon waking from the dream, Dyl answered a call to Marshall’s phone – it was Roreca, who had gotten the message and was looking for Dyl. Dyl explained the situation and Roreca told her to hold tight – she’d send a clean-up crew. While waiting, Dyl watched a lone ghost pursued by Specters get sucked into the Abyss – otherwise, what should have been occupied Deadlands seemed strangely deserted, just as the Deadlands of Chicago’s streets have been lately since the Maelstrom.
Jing Wei arrived with a team of ghouls who quickly secured the area. Jing took touch readings of objects in the area and then drove Dyl back to the Chantry, peppering her with questions, especially about the way the strange baby communicated mentally with Dyl. Arriving at the Chantry, Dyl was called into Roreca’s office. Roreca showed Dyl the crystal ball Astrid Thomas had set up to allow spirits to communicate with the Chantry, but said it was unprecedented for someone to use it from Dream realm.
Roreca questioned Dyl about what happened, and promised to follow up on the situation, as well as provide Dyl with more spirit realm training if things ever calmed down. Dyl was dismissed, and for once I didn’t end the session on a cliffhanger.