Dallas 2.0:Sessions:20200111

From Ages and Alternities
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Paige and two other wounded remain from Enoch's group. Clint calls EMS.

Orley, Michael, and Dallas take into custody the two people who were trying to enter the 8th floor via the stairwell: Lamar Ellison and Alonzo. From Lamar, Kef senses befuddlement and panic. From Alonzo, coldness, disappointment. ("I've been 'twarted'; the plan has gone to crap; should I retreat? -- no, I will remain calm;" his thoughts swirl and "shuffle" as he gets control of himself.) Kef locks eyes with Alonzo and soon he starts to panic again; he breaks eye contact, stumbling backward. Kef asks him, "Who are you?" "Alonzo." "What are you?" "An adherent." "Try 'terrorist'. Detective, search his bags." Alonzo stiffens, uttering a word in an unknown language.

Michael: "There's a weird book in here." He wraps his handkerchief around it. It's the same book Kef had seen in her vision. Alonzo's panic rises -- failure, fear of punishment, fear of not completing his task. Kef puts out her hand for the book; it is unusually heavy and has a leather cover marked with arcane symbols. She gets negative, violent emotions from it. On the first page is a "horrendous" drawing of demonic beasts in combat.

Nathan puts away his weapons and assumes his 'harmless' demeanor. He walks over and snaps photos of everything on the table that Enoch had been looking at. There's a layout for the hotel's rooftop marked with pictographic language and the word 'altar.' Another notation reads "Dispersal - Erik Gibbs - BEHIND SCHEDULE" and a phone number. Another sheet has the placement of gas sprayers in the AC system, on the roof and on various floors.

Nathan calls Orley. "Have you heard anything from the roof?" "Not yet." "That worries me -- they've already got their things up there."

Indicating Alonzo, Kef tells Dallas, "Lock that one up." Dallas turns Alonzo over to Clint.

Nathan: "What are you doing here, Lamar? Are you in trouble? What did you do?" Lamar: "We -- he was going to show me something -- told me to come up the stairs." "I came here to protect you, but now it looks like you're going to jail. I'm very disappointed. I'll have to tell your mother and father." "Alonzo made me do it!" Nathan turns and winks at Fredine. "I'm done interrogating him. I knew he was going to be targeted. He was supposed to be one of the sacrifices."

Nathan suggests to Fredine that she try to take a photo of Alonzo. As Nathan expected, it comes out blurry. Nathan: "I want to believe. You can be Scully."

Paige's eyes open and she grimaces. Nathan walks over and says, "I apologize for shooting you. It wasn't personal." "I haven't given up." The next in line after Enoch is Wilma, who is "checking out the setbacks in Fort Worth." Nathan: "I shot you because of Shane. I figured that if he was a fanatic, you were too." Paige: "It's too early to give away the game. I'm off the board, but check the pieces carefully..." Nathan: "You're kinda cute, in an evil sort of way."

Kef looks through the book. It describes animal sacrifices intended to "give strength to the adherents." Another illustrated ritual of human sacrifice involves candles, a key, a four-leaf clover, a bowl of berries, an 'abstract' pentagram, and a triangle. There are ten pages of writing in a language she can't read.

Dallas returns and questions her. She tells him it's a book of "human sacrifice and proselytization." She implies that the book should not be confiscated as evidence.

Nathan addresses Alonzo again. "You're a power authority." Alonzo claims he is nineteen, from Wichita, born in Kalispell, Montana. Alonzo is grinning as though at some private joke. Nathan: "Are you human?" "Currently." "Have you always been human?" "Sadly." "Can you see me now?" Alonzo utters a couple of 'disturbing' words, then says "Whoa." Nathan: "I can see you, too." "You would have been a good recruit for Enoch." "Are you as tough as Enoch?" "He continues to train me. His connection to me was cut off several minutes ago." "Shane was angry. You're not angry yet."

Nathan warns Clint to be very careful with Alonzo. "He might not be nineteen. He believes he has the ability to cast spells. I wouldn't discount it completely. He's cast one on me. He's under the impression you can't hold him. I wish you'd been here earlier; we could have thrown him out the window."

Kef closes the book and descends the stairwell. She calls Orley and asks, "Did you disable the gas?" Then she calls Nathan and says, "Alonzo must be detained." She says the book has some pages in a language she doesn't recognize. She doesn't want Lucy Buckner to see the pages but Nathan says she's loyal.

Nathan and Orley step outside. Police have arrived and cordoned off the area around Enoch's body. Nathan notices it's not in the same position as when it fel. Nathan ducks under the tape and activates his hypervision -- the body's temperature is 98 degrees, and the heat signature doesn't match the body shape. He asks a plainclothes detective who confirms that the body had been checked but not moved, and there's no pulse. Nathan has him check again. Now there's a pulse, and the body feels warm. An EMT turns the body over and it's not Enoch, it's a hotel security man. Nathan: "That's not the person who came out the window."

Nathan calls Clint. "The body is alive and not Enoch and we are screwed." Clint asks for Enoch's last name, and Alonzo replies "Maddox." Clint tells Nathan that Wilma's last name is Walker. Alonzo's backpack contained a stoppered bottle of blood. Clint is running the name "Erik Gibbs."

Nathan explains to Agent Morrison, "The body is not that of Enoch Maddox. Either he got up and left, or his followers switched the body." Morrison: "I was one of the first on the scene. I didn't see any switcheroo, but something doesn't seem right." Nathan: "Perhaps there was a gap in time." Nathan calls Dallas; "Enoch is not dead. We have trouble."

Standing aside from the crowd in the lobby, Kef senses an excited child irritating his mother about "the magic man." She walks over and kneels beside him. The boy is named Andy and he's five years old. From his excited babble she gets that "he left in a pretty blue car with an orange license plate." Near the entrance Kef approaches an older couple, Adalie and Berthram (sic) Gibbs. They tell her they saw the body land face-down, "then everyone froze, the man got up, walked to a car, and left!" The car was a blue Chevrolet with an Oregon license plate starting with CK and ending with 8. The driver was a white woman with short, straight black hair. Kef relates this information to Nathan who passes it along to Dallas.

Kef joins Nathan and orley. Thinking back, Nathan says the body may have slowed before it hit the ground. Kef: "Did they test the blood? They probably won't." Kef suggests checking TxDOT and tollbooth cameras for the blue car.

Gabrielle reports to Nathan that Wilber Benson was arrested placing gas canisters at Mayfest. She points out that tomorrow is the new moon and moonrise is at 6:30am.

The final diagram in the book is labeled "12/22/2018 Winter Solstice" and has a pentagram with the words "obscure version (sic)" and "fear". The setup ritual is at moonrise; the next ritual is between moonrise and moonset.

Nathan wants dinner and Kef suggests Olive Garden. Nathan looks at the book; it is warmer than its surroundings, and glows in the ultraviolet. UV writing on the cover reads "to gain place and power" and its compiler "Alonzo Sullivan". Lucy tells Nathan that the unknown writing is in Etruscan and Sumerian. He authorizes her to get it translated by an expert.

Clint calls Nathan. Six blue Chevys went three different directions from the hotel. Alonzo went into a coma and has been transported to a medical facility. Kef suggests that Alonzo has gone out-of-body. Clint brings up the possibility of a "body-jumping demon, as in Fallen."

At Nathan's office, Kef performs a card reading and feels the "important thing" is coming to a conclusion. This will be resolved before the next sundown. There will be an attack at Scarborough Faire between 1:00PM and 2:00PM tomorrow. At the center of the disruption will be Kef and Nathan. Kef gets a strong conviction that the moonrise ritual must be performed within three miles of the "attack point." Kef asks for a topographical map of the Waxahachie area; she dangles her pentacle necklace over it, and it circles the center of Waxahachie.

Clint reports that Alonzo is having rapid eye movements but cannot be roused. The blue Chevy was found in White Settlement with Georgia plates; Enoch's and Wilma's fingerprints were on it. No indication where they went.

At 10:30 Nathan, Kef, and Orley go to Baylor Hospital, 5th floor. Clint is there. Nathan calls Lucy and says, "Say 'come to me' in Sumerian." He repeats the phrase to Alonzo. Alonzo says two words that Lucy translates as "I'm busy." Nathan says the Sumerian word for "Alonzo" and the response is "go screw yourself." Lucy has hired a woman in Georgetown who is translating the text for $150/hour.

Clint says, "Erik Gibbs is an infamous chemist who makes gases. He's been in Ireland for the past eight years. All the canisters that were planted in the hotel have been found. The gas is hallucenogenic and a 'mild' poison with an unidentified third component. There have been reports that vans have been picking up people from homeless populations. The FBI is rounding up known LES members... Three other people saw Enoch leave the hotel. There are 50 seconds unaccounted for in the videos."

Nathan places his hand on Alonzo's forehead and speaks in Sumerian (translated by Lucy). "I know what happens at moonrise." Alonzo: "Congratulations." (Nathan mutters, "He's just messing with me now.") Nathan: "One o'clock, two o'clock." Alonzo (after 10 seconds): "Y'all are a pain in the ass." Nathan: "And you won't make it to the party." Alonzo: "Sad but true, but I'll be there in spirit." (Under his breath Nathan says, "That sucks.") Nathan: "I guess you're not as important as I thought." Alonzo doesn't reply, but his eye movements slow. Nathan: "I'll tell you, we're about to put you to sleep for real." Alonzo's eye movement speed up. Nathan: "So you're telling them to hurry up? It's too late for you." Alonzo: "It can still be accomplished." Nathan: "I still think they need you, but you'll be asleep." Alonzo: "Which priestess is helping you? Several hold grudges againt me." Nathan: "I can only tell you that she is a priestess of the north." Alonzo: "They follow me after my life as well as in my life." Nathan: "True." Alonzo: "Is there a boon I can grant to convince you to let me go?" Nathan: "Not in this life; perhaps in the next. Remember, I told you I see you." Alonzo: "This is a marvelous new age with which we could have done much." Nathan: "I don't think this is the end for you. What shall I call you." Alonzo (after a long pause): "Speaker for the Rulers." (Lucy says the word could also be "Government" or "Powers".) Nathan: "Farewell, Mister Speaker."

A doctor injects a drug into Alonzo's IV, then another dose. Finally Alonzo's eye movements stop.

The FBI stopped vans carrying 15 homeless people from Fort Worth and 12 from Dallas. One of the drivers committed suicide.

As Nathan, Kef, and Orley leave the hospital at midnight, there are two people in the shadows against a wall (M1, M2), and a man smoking in the parking lot next to a van with another man behind the wheel. Nathan and Orley rush M1 and M2 who run to meet them. Nathan hits one with a stunstick and Orley punches the other in the jaw. The smoker (SM) charges toward Kef. The driver (D1) starts the van and begins driving away.

Nathan strikes twice more and M1 falls. Orley hits M2 in the chin and the body. SM grabs for Kef's bag which holds the book; she strikes him in the knee and he goes down. With a quick glance she gets the car's license plate number.

M2 punches Orley in the gut; Orley hits him back and M2 collapses. Nathan runs over to SM and stuns him.

Nathan calls Clint. "They were waiting outside the hospital to assault us." A policeman comes over and puts handcuffs on SM. Kef gives him the license plate number.

Nathan wakes one of the attackers; his name is Mario Potter. Nathan: "Do you need a doctor? Good thing we're at a hospital!" Mario: "The plan was to snatch and grab -- how did you see us?" Nathan: "Because you're not a f*ckin' ninja." They are with LES and "Andrew - he was in the van - told us to get the bag." Nathan reaches in the bag and takes out the Evil Dead t-shirt (that the book was wrapped in). "You can get these at FrightFest for $20. You took this beating for a couple of t-shirts!"

Lucy has the translation. It's the diary entry of an advisor to a ruler of a Sumerian city. "Control demons so our culture will last forever."

Kef: "I can't think of any reason to keep the book intact." They go to Nathan's office, cut up the binding, shred each page, burn everything, salt the ashes, mix the ashes with fresh water, then flush the remains.

At 2:30 Clint brings a zip drive and displays a map overlaid with five possible locations for the ritual. "I want to be wherever Enoch is." Kef says, pointing, "It's none of them. This is a pentagram... they are in the center."

Nathan calls Glen Michael and asks about Alonzo. He went into convulsions (around the time we finished burning the book) and is now in ICU. Photographs of him are now clear. Nathan wants pictures of everyone and wants to know whether anyone had left the hospital since midnight.

Nathan puts on a tactical vest and picks up an M16 and three clips. Nathan lends Kef a 9mm.

They drive down to Waxahachie. In the indicated spot is an old building with a dim light in front. Clint: "We can pick 'em off as they arrive. This is a no-knock warrant; if we're wrong, this could be embarrassing. Fredine's team's at the front, mine at the back." The back windows are covered with black cloth, but Nathan can see two silhouettes in infrared.

Clint and Orley open the back door without resistance and everyone moves in quickly. Enoch and Wilma are sitting at the kitchen table working with maps. Wilma springs up, crosses the room, and brings up a 9mm. Enoch, looking irritated, raises an Uzi.

Nathan fires and hits Enoch twice. Wilma shoots Orley but doesn't get through his body armor. Kef shoots Wilma who staggers and drops her gun. Enoch staggers and falls back, sweeping with his Uzi; Nathan dodges. Clint and Orley fire and hit Enoch, who is down and bleeding. The fight out front continues for another four seconds.

Nathan checks Enoch. "What's the name of the demon you were trying to call?" "F*ck you," Enoch mutters, then dies.

Nathan: "Wilma, do you know the true name of the Speaker?" Wilma: "I want a lawyer." Nathan: "Howell & Cheshire might be good. I might even get money for a referral."

There is a pentagram in the other room. Nathan asks Kef to take a picture of it.

27 captives are freed. Wilma's and Enoch's phones are confiscated; both have numerous contacts. A storage closet contains some kind of aerosol spray. On the table is a hand-drawn pentragram with Enoch's writing.

Clint says that the other five sites are owned by the same group, but no one was there. Nathan: "By this time, they only had the dregs."




Previous < Current > Next



Return to Dallas 2.0 campaign main page