Atlanta 2050:Sessions:20220402

At 7:00am Tommy and Donnie Smith knock on Dr Liz's door. They've been instructed to pick up her and nurse Sheila Ray and transport them to their jobs at Grady Hospital, and stay with them all day.

During the breakfast buffet at the Castle, Lord Beast takes Les Schmidt aside; he has hired him for the day. He and Joe Spikes are to protect Henry Mallory.

11:00am: Dr Liz sees two strange men "appear" inside the hospital. One is 6' tall, handsome, with gray hair and blue eyes, dressed in a silk suit. The other is "rough-looking," rugged, and dressed in a medieval or Norse style. With them are two large, nondescript mutts. Dr Liz strides toward them. "We can't allow dogs in here. Are they service animals?" Magic flickers on, then off. Tommy and Donnie cringe away from the tall man. The tall man speaks: "My name is Luc. You have something of mine."

Dr Liz taps Donnie on the shoulder; he steps between her and the rough-looking man (Armando). Tommy gets between Dr Liz and Luc. Magic comes on Low (-5); Luc appears to be surrounded by "the essence of darkness." Armando changes into medieval armor with a face mask, sword in hand, a shield slung on his back. The mutts turn into hellhounds. Everyone else except Dr Liz freezes in fear.

The intruders proceed toward a stairway that goes up to the patient floors. Dr Liz runs in front of them, trying to block their way. Tommy and Donnie finally regain their wits and leap toward Armando. Armando tries to grab Dr Liz but she dodges. Tommy and Donnie slam into Armando's back; the latter staggers forward. Tommy grabs, then tries to punch Armando but misses. Armando strikes Dr Liz in the ribs with the flat of his blade. The hellhounds attack Tommy and Donnie. A security guard cracks Armando over the head with a nightstick, to no effect.

Armando pulls open the door. Tommy and Donnie dodge the hellhounds. Luc strides forward. The guard tries to hit Armando again, but the latter simply moves his head out of the way. Tommy fails to grapple Armando. Donnie strikes Armando a substantial blow to no apparent effect. The hounds rush through the door and up the stairs, Luc walking after them.

Holding her side, Dr Liz runs after the intruders, shouting "You can't go there!" Luc throws a Stun spell which has no effect on Dr Liz; he smiles and continues walking. The hellhounds try to attack Dr Liz, but Tommy and Donnie intercept them and Dr Liz slips by and continues her verbal protests of the intrusion.

It occurs to Dr Liz that neither Luc nor Armando are human. From her studies of History, she recognizes Armando as a Master of the Wild Hunt.

Luc and Armando pause in front of Grover Collins' room. Luc says to Armando, "I can't track Addie without the ring." They open the door. Grover is lying in bed, his sister seated in a chair beside him. Luc reaches down and pulls what looks like a wooden ring (previously unseen) off of Grover's hand. Dr Liz stomps on Luc's foot. For a few moments the room turns completely dark and all sounds are muffled. The door opens, light and sound return, and no one is in the room but Dr Liz, Grover Collins, and his sister.

Les watches Dr Mallory at work in his basement office. At 11:15 screams erupt upstairs, and the sounds of people running, and... hoofbeats? Les asks, "Does anyone else hear screaming?" Gunfire sounds from above. Les grabs his AR15, tells Joe to protect Dr Mallory, and starts to run upstairs. Magic comes on and the hoofbeats are coming downstairs, so Les slings his AR15 and draws his sword and knife. At the top of the stairs appears a large horse on fire (Nightmare); it looks angry and it is about to run Les over. Les readies his autoload crossbow. The Nightmare rears up and strikes the lab door with both hooves. Les fires and the Nightmare somehow dodges.

The door handle breaks off inside. The Nightmare bursts into the lab and locks eyes with Henry. Joe attacks it for minor damage. Henry casts Paralyze Limb on its left foreleg. Joe leaps at its shoulder; it seems unsteady as it turns sideways to avoid Joe, but continues toward Henry. Henry dives for cover, and the Nightmare slams into the wall.

Les fires and hits, drawing a "hateful" look. Joe slams into a rear leg. Les drops the crossbow, fast-draws his sword and knife, and attacks; the sword misses, and the Nightmare dodges the knife. The Nightmare teleports in front of Henry (who has stood up) and... looks at him. Joe takes serious fire damage from contact with the Nightmare. Henry throws Total Paralysis but misses his target.

Henry tries Paralyze Limb on the right foreleg but misses. Joe, stunned, lets go of the Nightmare. Les attacks the vitals but the Nightmare dodges twice. It bites Henry on the shoulder and holds on.

Henry is badly injured but not stunned. Joe tries to punch it in the mouth; it moves its head out of the way, bobbing it up an down. Henry casts Major Healing on himself (crit success). Les strikes with both sword and knife for great damage. The Nightmare lets go of Henry, "hops" backward, and teleports away.

A little after 12 noon Sheila informs Dr Liz of a phone call from Lord Beast. Dr Liz, occupied with patients and hospital security, sends Donnie to take the call. A half-hour later, Donnie returns and tells her "Lord Beast wants us to come to the Castle tonight." She replies, "They stole something from a patient and vanished in darkness. The Wild Hunt hunts at night." Donnie adds that there had been an attack at the police department. He repeats that Lord Beast wants her to go to the Castle after work; Dr Liz insists she is staying with her patients. "I don't work a shift -- I don't put down my scalpel at 5 o'clock."

Henry returns to work. Les thinks that the horse "tasted" Henry, licked its lips, then left. Joe says it was "marking him for tonight" but then realized Henry was the wrong target. They discuss the effectiveness of their various attacks and spells, and theorize that the Nightmare would have a weakness to water. They learn from others in the building that the horse had entered on the first floor and run upstairs to the third floor before descending to the basement, thus it might have been following Henry's trail. Many people had been trampled and injured.

At 2:00pm the phone rings; Lord Beast asks for Joe. "Is there any reason you haven't called me?" "It slipped my mind," Joe replies, then describes the morning's events. Lord Beast: "A Master of the Wild Hunt visited Dr Liz at the hospital and stole something, a ring." Joe: "Does it belong to the person in the picture?" Lord Beast: "Perhaps the woman is related to Henry Mallory somehow. I need him to be in the Castle before dark."

Joe tells Les his contract has been extended, and tells Henry "You need to be at the Castle tonight." Henry wants to stop at home and change clothes first. Joe praises Henry's magic ability, and suggests he pick up weapons and equipment. Les picks up a fire extinguisher: "I found something."

Henry lives in the part of Atlanta called Cabbagetown, near Cabbagetown Cemetery. (He surreptitiously slips his bag of teeth into his pocket so he can "summon his friend.")

Les gets a response from the Mercenary Guild, which he had asked for research about the flaming horse. The Nightmare is ridden by its Master. When it bites, it usually kills. It could have teleported away with Henry Mallory, indicating that Henry is either valuable or dangerous. They decide that Henry's injury should be examined and treated by someone who understands Wild Hunt magic.

As they leave Henry's house, he tells the others that an upright, human-shaped shadow is following them. Joe spots it 35 yards away among some trees, pacing them. Henry finds it fascinating. It doesn't follow them into Grady Hospital.

Les tells the admissions nurse that Henry had been bitten by a fire horse. The nurse pages Dr Liz, who in turn calls Dr William Corvalan (who has supposedly studied the Wild Hunt extensively). Dr Corvalan doesn't think Henry was "marked." Magic comes on, very high. Dr Liz casts Sterilization (crit success) and Dr Corvalan casts some other spell. Henry says he feels great.

Henry says "I hear hoofbeats." Dr Liz calls for a security lockdown. She tells Joe, "Mr Spikes, please call the Lord Beast and notify him that my hospital is under siege by the Wild Hunt." Joe: "We have to be at the Castle by dark."

Les notices a red-haired woman tapping on the emergency room door; he impulsively forces the door open and lets her in. He asks her, "Are you A. L.?" "I can't say." "Have you been intimate with Ivan?" "...Yes." She admits that the Wild Hunt is after her.

The woman, who gives her name as Anne Douglas, praises Henry Mallory for his bravery, then adds ominously, "One of us is going to be killed tonight." Henry, taken aback: "But why me?" "Because your name is Henry. ... Dr Ross ran into the person who owns me."

Anne says she will go talk to the shadow. "The ring returned to me a few minutes ago."

Les quietly asks Dr Liz how to get rid of a shadow being. She replies, "With a very big flashlight."

Dr Corvalan is no help answering Dr Liz's questions about the Wild Hunt; "I never heard of them in the Americas."

Les, Henry, and Joe leave the hospital. Near their horses stands a lady with red hair. She tells Henry to read the note in his pocket (which Henry doesn't remember being put there). "Is there a 'forget me' charm on you?" "I can't say." "I'll take that as a 'yes'."

Les, who has a photographic memory, now recalls seeing this woman in paintings and sculptures by Raphael dating from the 1700s. He starts to say, "Hey, weren't you --" "You have a good memory."

Les sees the shadow running after them. He turns his flashlight on it. Its mouth gapes open in pain, then it dodges away. He keeps the beam on it until it falls apart and turns to ash.

They reach the Castle and are shown into Lord Beast's office. Joe introduces Anne Douglas. She says to Lord Beast, "I'm in a bit of a pinch and need your help. A bet has been made that the Wild Hunt can kill me before midnight. The thing that owns me is upset with me. I tricked him and he wants me dead, but he can't do it himself. So he commissioned the Wild Hunt. The person who found me happened to be named Henry. Eighty years ago we had an affair... he could remember me after he made a deal with some beast. We were only together for two years. He died in 1994. It wasn't a natural death, but it wasn't violent; when the expiration date came, he just died."

A young woman enters the office with a Polaroid camera. Lrd Beast has everyone line up for photos, and gives everyone a picture. Lord Beast says, "Anne, you want to be here until midnight. If I send Henry away, they will follow him."

Joe writes himself a detailed note. Les borrows the note and commits it and the Polaroid photo to memory.

After dark there comes a commotion outside. Someone calls, "They're outside the gates." There is a mounted rider and ten hounds, but the magic is not on. Les pulls out his sniper rifle and goes to a window. Three werewolves and two wererats are fighting the hounds. Five hounds are at the gate, and five more in the courtyard.

Les shoots the lead hound and it drops. "Scratch one!" He fires again. A fireball strikes right next to his window; the rider points his sword at Les. Les fires and puts a big dent in the rider's shield.

Magic comes on high. The hounds that aren't dead look bigger. The weres have killed two of the hounds. The rider jumps his steed over the gate. Les switches to his crossbow and the rider points his sword at Les again. Joe makes the horse stumble. Les fires, trying for the rider's eyeslits, and misses. Henry attempts a Paralyze spell but the rider saves. Lord Beast swats one of the hounds. The rider swings at Joe and misses. A hound attacks Henry, who dives for cover. Another hound nips Anne in the neck.

The horse's leg starts to buckle; Joe tries to twist the leg and simultaneously lift the horse off the ground. Les fires at the horse's vitals, but the rider blocks with his shield. Henry gets under more cover. The horse blocks an attack from behind. Les slashes with his sword but it blocked. Lord Beast strikes the rider. The horse takes a deep breath, then breathes fire on Joe. Henry dodges the flames coming at him.

Joe grapples a hound's head. Les sprays his fire extinguisher over the horse and rider. The rider blocks Lord Beast's attack. The hound shakes itself free from Joe. A hound leaps over a barrier; Henry casts Reflect Missile (crit success) and the hound crashes into a wall. The horse kicks at Les who jumps back (still spraying). The rider leaps off the horse in front of Anne and raises his sword.

Joe, from behind the rider, leaps and grapples his sword arm, slowing the downward blow. Since the fire extinguisher is having no effect on the flames, Les drops it, fast-draws his knife, and stabs the rider in the vitals beneath his raised arm (rider has DR10). The rider glances at Les, tenses up.

The area goes black and a loud voice says, "Enough."

The darkness dissipates. There is Lord Beast, Les, Henry, and Joe, and no one else. Everyone remembers the fight with the Wild Hunt, but they don't remember why they were fighting....

Joe: "Did we win or what?" Lord Beast: "We're alive, that's a plus." Joe: "Who ended it?" Lord Beast: "I didn't recognize the voice."

Around 11pm Dr Liz, on rounds, sees Luc walking toward her. He smiles, lays a ring on the counter at the nurses' station, and starts to walk away. Then he turns back and says, "Her name is Adeline LaRue."

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