Anachron - 01

The media cameras were rolling: Under a canvas tent, at mid-day, the president was giving a speech to several hundred people in Burnett Plaza in downtown Fort Worth.  Suddenly the cameras when black.  Over a minute later the first images of the disaster were broadcast.  The tent was shredded, the plaza was smoldering, and the crowd and president where nowhere to be seen...

The Anachron:

The easiest way to describe the Anachron is that its a machine similar to The Matrix (the film) except the Anachron maps brain activity (like a PET brain scan) instead of sticking something into your head via a port.  The Ananchron allows a living person to access the last few minutes of the life of a dead person. The Anachron provides an electromagnetic shock to the brain of a cadaver and maps the short term memory of the subject.

Here is the make-believe sci-fi bit:  When a person dies their brain stores their final memories.  If a person dies due to high trauma and stress their brain stores more information.  The theory goes like this... when you are in shock from an injury or stressed out your brain slows things down and processes things differently than normal.  If you die when your brain is in this "overdrive mode" it stores all that subconscious activity away better than if you die peacefully.  Trauma is like memory insulation.  It packages things up better and keeps them in tack better and longer.

The Anachron unpacks those stored memories and allows them to be transferred to another living person.  The living subject experiences the dead person's final minutes firsthand as if they where physically reliving the memory.  The living person essentially steps into the shoes of the dead person and relives the memory in real-time as the Anachron reanimates and scans the dead persons brain.  It's like time traveling, but you become someone else and you can't change any outcomes.  Also, everytime you use the Anachron you are living out someone's death.  As the Proxy, your brain believes that the memories you are experiencing are real. You think you are someone else; every thought they had - you have, every action they take - you take, every pain they feel - you feel.  Proxies die painful deaths every time they load in.  The stress and fatigue that puts on them is excruciating.

It takes three people to use the Anachron.  One is the "Proxy" the other is the "Operator" and the last is the dead person, the "Subject."  The Proxy is the FBI agent and they are unconscious (a dream-like state) during the process as they are connected to the Anachron. The Subject is the dead person whose memories are being scanned and remapped to the Proxy.  The Operator runs the machine and attempts to synchronize the Proxies brain waves to match those of the Subjects.  If the Proxy doesn't keep  their brain waves synchronized to the Subject the sequence aborts and the Proxy wakes ups.

The only people who can use the Anachron are people who naturally have a high empathy for other people.  The proxy must become their subject for the duration of the sequence.  Most people reject the Subjects memories; their brains can't suspend judgement and roll with it, they subconsciously say "this isn't real" and refuse to cooperate.  Only people with high empathy have the mental ability to accept another person's memories.

The Anachron destroys the brain tissue of the Subject during the scan process so it can only be used once on a Subject.  The scan cannot be recorded, it must be experienced by another brain in real-time, there exists no technology to store memories outside of the human brain.  As the story begins the Anachron has only been used in lab testing.  It's use in the story is it's first field test.

Pitch Session

I don't want to share too many details regarding the "event" that the game will center around, but I do have something that I want to run by you.  The first session will be about character building, and to make it a little more interesting I want to borrow a character creation exercise from another role playing game and use it for our game.

I can't recall the game that I am borrowing this from but it went something like this.  The game is set during World War II, and it begins on the beaches during the D-Day invasion.  Each player starts with a blank character sheet as the landing craft doors drop and their company of soldiers hits the beach.  The GM barrages the character with enemy fire and the players scramble to find cover and advance up the beach.  As they trudge through the surf they watch their comrades get cut down and blown apart.  The GM stops the action occasionally when someone near them is killed spectacularly, or if the players get pinned down, or shot, or get smashed with waves to give the player an opportunity to narrate a 'flashback.'

Each flashback relates to what is happening around the player, maybe the flashback is about a memory they had of someone they are watching die, or maybe the player is shot and they begin to remember their family or a loved one back home.  The flashbacks shape the character and help to define skills they have, or the aspects they have.  The players knows that their character will survive the initial invasion, but the action makes for an gut wrenching opening sequence, and inspires them to really get into character.

Our game will not be set in World War II, nor will you be soldiers in a war, but I have always wanted to use this character creation mechanic to kick off a game.  I think it would be cool to have your characters pulled from their normal day and thrown into this assassination plot head-on.  I want this game to begin with a shock.  I want to create an atmosphere like that of what people felt the afternoon they learned JFK was shot and killed, or like the morning the national woke up to watch the twin towers fall on 911.  Everyone remembers where they were and what they were doing when these events happened.  I want to work with that dynamic, I want your characters to be jarred at the onset of this news.

Your characters will be called to serve the nation immediately.  They won't be prepared for the task (just like the men who hit the beaches on D-Day).  Your character will need to drop everything, follow instructions, and report for duty.  You will need to get to the nearest airport, and get on a plane.  Along the way you will get snippets of what has occurred through radio, television, people, and your mobile devices.   Security at the airport will be a problem, and you can expect to be detained and questioned.  You will need to explain yourself to the TSA.  The questioning by the TSA will mirror storming the beaches on D-Day.  They are going to ask who you are, and where you are headed.  They aren't going to believe you due to the recent events surrounding your intended destination, and the recent events.  It is my hope that you can build your characters through the interrogation process.  You can use flashbacks, you can use details from your character life, you can use official documents, you can name-drop your superiors names and agency affiliations to help you get through and get on the plane before it leaves you behind.

Just like the D-Day invasion, you know that your character will make their flight, but your character doesn't know that.  It will be difficult to get through, you will need to provide a clear description of who you are and what your orders are to successfully get past security.  Remember you are FBI agents, and you work on a secret program that you are not at liberty to discuss.  At the same time you need to explain yourself and get past the security check.  The TSA is going to be hard on you, they aren't going to believe you, they will identify you as a threat, you job will be explain your way out of the situation.


The goal of this conflict will be to introduce your character to me.  It won't be about your skill set, it will be more about your identity.  It will be an exercise that will get you into character and back into the swing of role playing.

Continue to think about skills and aspects, but also focus on making your character a real person with a past.

You might think that this is difficult to deal with since I haven't told you any of the particulars about where you are headed or what exactly has happened yet, but that's sort of the point.  I want you and your character to be on the same playing field when we start this game.  I want to surprise and confuse you.  I want to take your character through the transition from being a civilian who gets their information from the news media and hear-say, to a government agent who is working intimately with classified and sensitive information.  If I can do that, I think the game will have much more power and impact.

I want this game to be about what happens behind the scenes with our government.  I don't want it to be a conspiracy (unless you want it to become one),  I want to explore the roles of the people who know more than 99% of Americans, and I want to explore how difficult it really must be to know the whole frightening truth.  One of the roles of the government is to protect its citizens and it's not an easy job.  You will be one those protectors - I want to see how far our public servants can go to protect the American people.

Blood Ties - Session 10

Esme and Phill pulled up in a news van pulled up just after Rudy shot and killed Josué.  Esme quickly discovered that Rudy had been shot, but not by Josué, he had been shot the night before in the parking lot outside the warehouse.  Rudy had killed one of Familia then, and now he had killed its leader.  Rudy was passed out for roughly 12 hours before coming to.  Esme learned that her car was totaled.  She took it well enough due to the extenuating situation at hand.  Phil dropped Esme, Benny, and Rudy off at the hospital where they all spend the night, and dropped Violet and Daniela off at Daniela’s apartment.

In the late morning Daniela went to meet with Dr. Mason for brunch.  She learned that the dust collected from Lucy’s was not supernatural in anyway.  She spoke with Dr. Mason about Legion and the possibility of attempting an exorcism.  Dr. Mason offered to help her with anything short of participating in the exorcism.  He left Daniela with words of caution and a verse from Ephesians – The Armor of God.

Meanwhile Violet called her parents’ house to speak with her father about the night of the arson.  She did her best to keep the true purpose of her call from her father, but in the end she was forced to reveal that she was in Chicago and that she was embroiled in a conflict with Francisco.  Her father confirmed the majority of the events of the arson, and eventually recalled that he remembered Francisco attempting to stop Josué from harming him.  Her father was thrown back by a blast that obscured his memory of the evening after the fire began.  Violet struggled to end the conversation, eventually she was forced to hang up on her father as he pleaded with her to come home.

When Violet and Daniela got back together they began to hatch their plan to trap Legion/Frankie.  However they needed some supernatural advice, and also a vessel into which they could cast Legion after they exorcised him from Frankie.  Violet knew of a botanica in the barrio, so she and Daniela set off to visit it.

The botanica didn’t look very different but it had changed owners since Violet was last there.  A young skinhead punk with a roiling tattoo that climbed up his neck was the proprietor now and he tried to shoo them away immediately.  Violet soothed his frustration by speaking Spanish with him and telling him that she used to know Old Man Montoya, the previous owner.  The skinhead began to take the two women seriously once Daniela recognized that the punk had use the word Thaumaturgy (miracle-worker, magician) to describe Frankie’s abilities.

The women eventually purchased totem from the skinhead.  The totem was a frightening carving, about a foot tall, of a man in the fetal position.  The skinhead himself was leery of the object, and told the two women that he didn’t ever want to see it again.  Violet and Daniela left the botanica to make the final preparations to set a trap for Legion/Frankie.

*The Armor of God
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians%206:%2010-17&version=NIV

Blood Ties - Session 09

Violet and Daniela rushed into Brother’s Pawn to rescue Benny without hesitation.  The fire grew with supernatural fury as they made their way into the shop.  The flames were already burning Benny as Violet rushed to pull him to safety.  Daniela fought her way through the flames to pull a fire extinguisher off the wall.  The two worked together and cut the bindings that tied Benny to his chair.  Benny snapped to, but he was clearly concussed.  The three made a break for the door as soon as they could.

As they fought back the flames, and made their way back to the door, Josué reappeared with his gun in hand.  The three rushed for the door and just barely slipped out under a hail of gun fire, leaving Josué behind in growing inferno.

Rudy called as they hit they crossed the street; he was alive and heading in their direction.  The three lost no time jumping into Esme’s car.  Traffic was heavy as Violet waited for an opportunity to pull a U-turn.  Josué escaped the building and put a bullet through the rear driver’s side window almost killing Benny in the backseat.  Violet couldn’t wait any longer.  She pulled out into traffic and got rear-ended, they were facing the right direction, and they were headed away from Josué.

 A block down the street a pedestrian stepped off the curb right out into the path of Esme’s speeding car.  Violet tried to swerve to miss the pedestrian and slammed the front end of the car into a parked car in the opposite side of the street.  As the car swerved Daniela saw the pedestrian get clipped by the front bumper and then dissolve into dust.  Josué kept on their trail and was still throwing bullets in their direction.  Violet pushed Esme’s car to move one again.  The car rattled and lurched for another block until they reached Rudy.  The car died for good just as Rudy hopped into the backseat with his brother.

Benny jumped out of the car and took off towards Humboldt Park and Norwegian American Hospital.  Rudy ran after him.  Violet called Rudy to meet her and Daniela on Sawyer Street at the train tracks as soon as he could grab Benny.

Violet lead Daniela down Sawyer towards an abandoned switch-track station she knew of.  The station was located a berm that would give them visual control over any potential assailants.  Daniela trailed behind slightly enough that Violet couldn’t see Frankie materialize in the middle of the street.  Daniela came to a jarring halt.  Frankie caught her and held her head in his hands and whispered a warning to her about Legion.  He told her that Legion would kill her if she got in the middle of his plans for Violet.  Daniela replied asking Frankie “Do you need help?”  Her words echoed with supernatural permanence in the vacant street as if Frankie was pleading for her help.

Daniela caught up to Violet and the two of them jumped the fence and climbed up the berm to the switch-track station.  Daniela explained her encounter with Frankie back in the street. The two began to discuss the possibility that Frankie may be trapped or controlled by Legion.  Before they could make any further sense of the situation Legion cut in spoke to Violet.  Legion told Violet that he was going to kill her, but first he needed her to understand why he wanted to kill her.  Legion tried to explain the events of the fire from 10 years ago.  Legion claimed that Frankie was trying to stop Josué, and that the fire was an accident.  Legion struggled to explain how Frankie accidentally made the fire worse, instead of snuffing it.  As Legion spoke he referred to his time spent in solitary confinement as if he was with Frankie in prison, or perhaps that he was Frankie.

Before Legion could make Violet understand, and ultimately kill her, he left because, as he said, “Somebody is approaching.”  Josué stepped out of the shadows back down by the fence. He wearily climbed the fence.  Violet took her handgun out of her purse and trained it on Josué as he hit the ground on her side of the fence.  She fired a single shot at Josué and grazed him.  The two argued over Josué’s intentions.  Josué said that Legion had told him that if he killed her he would live.  Violet called Legion’s bluff and convinced Josué that it was pointless for him to kill her, Legion planned on killing them both regardless.

Josué lowered his gun, and turned to climb back over the fence.  His last words to Violet were, “I hope you can live with yourself knowing that you are responsible for both of our deaths tonight.”  Just after he spoke, two gun shots rang out, and Josué fell to the ground dead.  A shadowed figure lit a cigarette and stepped out of their hiding place and said, “No Josué, you’re the only one who is going to die tonight.”  It was Rudy.

Blood Ties - Session 8

Esme went to meet with Phil and do some digging on Lucy and Francisco, while Violet and Daniela when to the Archdiocese offices to meet with the local church.  The diocese brought in their Director of the Department of Communications and Public Relations, Colleen Dolan to mediate the meeting and keep the record clear of anything that might further damage the church.  Father Soto seemed reluctant to explain what he knew at first but eventually Bishop Alberto Rojas and him decided against Colleen Dolan’s advice and told the truth.

Father Soto said that Lucy came to her terrified of her angel who attacked her and referred to himself Legion.  Father Soto explained that he had been hiding Lucy for the past 6 days to keep her safe in a location that only he knows of.  When pressed to reveal Lucy’s location, Father Soto wouldn’t give Lucy up, not even under the threat of arrest.  When Violet showed Father Soto the email she received from Lucy pleading for help, Father Soto revealed that the message could not have been from Lucy because Lucy had lost her phone and was in hiding when the message was sent.  While it was disappointing to Daniela that Lucy could not be reached, it was comforting to Violet to know that she was being kept safe. 

After the meeting Violet and Daniela spoke with Esme and Phil on speaker phone and learned a good deal about Francisco:

• Frankie was transferred to Draper Penitentiary because of its Psychiatric ward
• He was diagnosed as delusional, multiple-personality disorder
• He was reportedly very religious, and never violent
• Two of his cellmates committed suicide, which seemed to add to his mental state
• He served 4 of his 10 years in Draper and was released in May

Phil also made some connections between the victims of the recent Familia murders.  Cesar Torres was the leader of Familia at the time of the Mercado Sawyer fire.  According to testimony from the trial, Torres ordered 3 Familia to harass Violet’s father and intimidate him so that he would stop his pro-community campaign.  Josué, Ramon Perez, and Fransciso were all named at the trial; however Francisco was the only one of the three that was convicted.

Violet called to check in with Benny and see if Rudy had come back yet.  Benny answered his phone and told her that Rudy was back and that they should come to Brothers Pawn.  Violet detected something in his voice, something else was going on.  Esme and Phil weren’t finished with their investigation, so Violet and Daniela borrowed her car to drive back to the barrio and check in on Benny.

Just at the two woman walked in the front door of Brothers Pawn Violet’s phone began to vibrate.  Rudy was calling, but before she could speak with him the door closed behind the both of them and Josué stepped out of the back room with a gun in his hand.  Violet was able to keep Rudy on the line without Josué knowing, but they were trapped in the transaction cage.  Josué stepped up to Benny, who was bound and gagged behind the counter and stuck him with the butt of his handgun, drawing blood.

Josué began to explain that he had been working with Legion to find Lucy, but instead he found Violet snooping around at the warehouse the evening before.  Before Josué could explain anything else Legion’s voice spoke from inside the pawn shop.  Josué was visibly shaken by Legion’s appearance.  He begged for Legion to let him go.  Instead Legion yelled “Silence” and burst all but one of the light strips in the shop.  Legion seemed pleased that he had both Violet and Josué in the same place at the same time.  He explained that there was a lot of unsettled history amongst them.

Legion commanded Josué to help him reenact the events of the night of the fire.  Violet pleaded with Legion to stop, and Legion responded by whispering in her ear that “she had no idea what she had done” 10 years ago when she took the stand as a witness in the trial.  Legion ordered Josué to produce a lighter.  Josué refused at first but Legion was too much of a threat to resist.  Josué removed the lighter and flicked it, holding it with a trembling hand in front of his face.

Legion explained that Benny would play the role of Violet’s father since he was already bound and gagged.  Josué and Violet would play themselves, and Legion said that he would play Frankie. As he explained his role, Frankie stepped out of the back hall and under the one remaining pool of light.  Josué immediately put 3 bullets through Frankie’s chest.  Frankie dissolved into dust and collapsed to the floor.

Legion’s resolve was unphased, he commanded Josué to speak the words he said the night of the fire.  Josué threatened Benny as he had Violet’s father that night.  Just as he finished his threat Frankie stepped out of the shadows and extended his arms as if to stop Josué.  He was too slow.  Josué knew what was coming next and threw the lighter as if it were a live grenade.  The lighter exploded inches from his hand in the form of a supernatural fireball.  Josué was thrown back by the explosion and hit a wall.  The fire spread in an instant all over the area around Benny.  Benny struggled in his bindings to get away from the inferno that instantly surrounded him.  As he struggled he upset the chair he was tied to and fell to the burning ground behind the counter.

Daniela picked up Lucy’s rosary as the flames spread, both women have a choice to make, run for their lives or run to Benny’s rescue and certain peril.

Blood Ties - Session 07

Session Summary:

• Esme picked up Daniela in front of the warehouse just before the police arrived.
• The three women decided to it would be safest to spend the night in a friend of Esme’s place.
• Daniela placed a call into the PUG to force the Diocese to cooperate with her investigation.  The PUG said they would leave a message with the Diocese.
• In the morning the women made a quick stop by Lucy’s place before anybody from Familia or Legion could toss her place.
• Violet was able unlock Lucy’s laptop and pick up her belongings.  Daniela found a pile of dust in Lucy’s living room and took a small sample of the dust.
• Esme drove to Daniela’s place to quickly let her grab a change of clothes from her place and pick up a newspaper from Beth.
• The three women went to a diner to grab some breakfast, discuss their situation, and make some phone calls.  Daniela learned from Phil that a pile of dust was found near the sliding glass doors leading to Adriana Salazar’s balcony.  She set meeting with Phil for 1:30 that afternoon to meet and talk about the murders and the warehouse.
• Phil mentioned that 3 men were reported shot last night at the warehouse.  Daniela saw two of these men when she explored the warehouse.
• Daniela contacted Dr. Mason and was invited to come by his office to drop off their dust sample for testing at the university.  When the three women arrived at the office they learned that the Diocese had made arrangements to meet with Daniela and Father Soto at 2:00 per the PUG’s request.
• The meeting with Phil will have to wait, the next session begins at Dr. Mason’s office with an hour before the meeting with the Diocese and Father Soto in the Loop.

Blood Ties - Session 06

Violet, Daniela, and Esme were trapped in a upper level manager's office with only one way out.  Despite Legion wreaking havoc on the warehouse floor, one gang member went to check out the squeaky door near the manager's office at the back of the warehouse.  The women were unable to hide from their assailant, but Esme was able to throw the door back on the gang member as he pulled his gun on Violet.  The gun fell to the floor inside the office and the women barred the door.

Violet convinced Esme to take the gun and push past their assailant to escape the office.  The three made their way down the stairs to the exit as Legion exploded the last two lights in the warehouse. Legion spoke from the darkness, "Are you listening Josué?  I will find her."  The voice moved about the warehouse as it spoke, "I alone - and you - you will pay for this evening’s deception, you will pay with your life." 

Josué began emptying the clip in his handgun, spraying bullets in every direction.  The women rushed to the exit. Daniela punched the exit door and the warehouse's fire alarm lit up with horns and strobe lights.  For an instant everyone's eyes was on them as they fled the building.

Outside Esme threw the handgun that she had used to escape the office to the ground.  Violet quickly recovered the weapon and the three of them ran down the alley towards Esme's car which parked 3 blocks away.  As they rounded the corner of the alley and into a vacant parking lot two men burst through the back door of the warehouse in pursuit.  The women made it across the parking lot with enough of a lead to find a hiding spot in the next alley behind a garbage dumpster.

Their gamble paid off and their pursuers ran right past them.  As they hid they could hear the faint sound of sirens in the distance.  The police were on their way because of the alarm.  Since Familia was fleeing from the cops, the women decided the safest place to be was nearer the warehouse.  They worked their way back to the warehouse without problem.

Just as they reached the first alley they had fled from the back door to the warehouse opened again, this time four members of Familia came out.  The woman couldn’t see them, but they could hear them.  The four men argued about which way the woman had run.  As the sirens grew louder the four men split into two groups and decided to flee.  Two men took a side way out, but two men came right down the alley towards the vacant parking lot towards Violet, Daniela, and Esme.

The women scrambled to hide but there was nowhere to go.  They crammed themselves behind a garbage bin but the two Familia saw them almost immediately.  To their surprise, one of the two men was Rudy.  The other man pulled his gun and approached the three women.  Rudy urged his gang brother to leave them and run, but he wouldn’t let them go.  Rudy finally pulled his own gun and pointed it at his gang brother.  As the two squared off against each other Violet stood up and pulled her gun as well.  Outnumbered, the gang brother was forced to let the women go.  Violet, Daniela, and Esme reluctantly followed Rudy’s orders and escaped around a corner leaving Rudy alone, guns drawn with his gang brother.  Moments after leaving, two guns shots in rapid succession rang out back in the vacant parking lot.

In the chaos of the confrontation Esme dropped her property key ring and Daniela recovered them.  Daniela decided separate from Violet and Esme to check out the warehouse before the police arrived.  Esme agreed to get the car and pick her up at the front door as quickly as she could.  Daniela made her way around the block, located the key to the door, and slipped inside the warehouse through the front door.

The strobe and horn were still blaring as she stepped in.  Daniela had only a minute to explore the scene.  She found a pile of dust gathered in a loose pile where Josué had stood.  She also found another pile at the feet of one of the gang members who had been shot behind some boxes, and another near the body of another fallen Familia member.  The sirens grew louder and Daniela was forced to catch her ride and leave before the police arrived.  Esme pulled up with the car as Daniela exited the front door.

Blood Ties - Session 05

Characters:

Cesar Torres – Old friend of Josué , all around criminal, connected with known shootings but never convicted, served a short sentence for assault .  Killed 4 weeks ago from a large kitchen gas explosion.

Ramon Perez – 2^nd in command under Josué, little known about him, was a very powerful leader of Familia.  Killed 2½ weeks ago in a car accident.

Antony Garcia – Driver of the vehicle that Ramon Perez died in, also killed in the crash.  There was no sign of foul play in the accident, the vehicle swerved into an El train support and killed both men instantly.

Adriana Salazar – Josué’s girlfriend, died from a fall off a 4^th story balcony, perhaps it was suicide.  Died last night

A bible was found at Lucy’s house with a rosary in it.  The rosary marked a passage from the Gospel of Mark (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark+5&version=NIV).

According to Phil Gardner, Lucy Herrera is more than likely alive.  Phil believes that Lucy’s disappearance is linked to the 4 deaths of Familia members over the past month, but he does not believe that Lucy was a target.  Each member of Familia was killed to make a statement to the gang leader, but Lucy has nothing to do with the gang and she was never found dead.  Therefore Phil believes that she has been hidden or has run away due to something she saw or knew about.

Phil plans to accuse the local church of conspiracy to hide the whereabouts of Lucy in an attempt to make the church come forth with information he believes they are withholding.  Phil is also trying to gain access to Adriana’s apartment to look over the crime scene and perhaps learn something about the circumstances of her death.

Esme revealed that she has been finically supporting Lucy for some time and also paid Rudy’s bond when he was arrested a year ago.  Esme plays a mother-like role in Lucy’s life, but the two do not speak openly with each other due to their differing outlooks on what is best for Lucy’s future.  Esme seemed to be in heavy denial of any foul play or religious hocus-pocus in relation to Lucy’s disappearance.  When shown evidence of Lucy’s fanaticism she broke down and shrunk away from the conversation.  For the sake of her own sanity Esme clings to the belief that Lucy is still okay, and that she will come back unharmed.

Rudy reluctantly called and revealed to Violet that Josué and the entire Familia gang were summoned to an abandoned warehouse.  He urged her to stay out of the situation and to not report it to the police.  Rudy sounded scared and made it seem like he was probably going to his death.  Rudy mentioned briefly that Josué had told him that Familia needed to show up at the warehouse as a result of Lucy.  Esme overheard the conversation and in a flurry of mental instability insisted on rushing to the warehouse to find out what Familia knew about her missing sister.

Upon reaching the warehouse the three women crept into a second floor managers office at the back of the warehouse and waited for the gang to arrive.  The gang arrived armed and ready to fight.  They quickly realized that they could not overheard what was being said outside the office so they opened the only door into the room.  The door squealed as it opened and Josué order some of his lackeys to check it out.  Before anyone could investigate the door noise the florescent tube lighting in the warehouse began to explode showering glass on the gang members below.  Once all the lights went out a voice spoke loudly and clearly in the warehouse.  It said “the summons was for you and you alone, you have brought violence on others unnecessarily, but that has always been your way.”

Josué ordered his men to open fire on the man who spoke to them from the shadows.  Three rustling noises where heard throughout the warehouse.  Each was responded to with a hail of gunfire.  It sounded as if at least two men were shot in the gunfire.  The voice spoke from the shadows again and said “there aren’t enough bullets in your guns to kill us all.”  Josué called into the darkness and asked the name of his assailant.  The voice responded “my name is Legion,” after that the voice shifted position at each of the following words, “for – we – are – many.”

Blood Ties - Session 04

Characters Introduced:
Rose - Father Soto's secretary
Mrs. Fieldstone - Old church lady, has friends who noticed Lucy's wounds one time in church

Dr. Mason called Daniela to warn her that the Diocese had approved her meeting with Father Soto, but that the meeting wouldn't last long.  Leaving Brother's Pawn Violet and Daniela got soaked as they rushed to St. Teresa.  Father Soto admitted them into his office and explained that he had counciled Lucy when she came to him with strange symptoms of visions and bleeding from her palms.

Father Soto mentioned that Lucy reportedly was visited by angels or apparitions.  Lucy was confused by their appearance and seemed reluctant to even admit that they were real.  Father Soto said that Lucy didn't seem to understand what was happening to her, which he initially interpreted as childish.  In the end he admitted that Lucy's insecurity regarding the wounds and visions were more likely evidence of their validity instead of it all being a hoax that was made up for attention.  Father Soto did know where Lucy may have gone and he hadn't seen her for three days before she was reported missing.  The Diocese cut the meeting short before anything further could be learned.

During a late lunch Beth called Daniela to tell her that Phil Gardner, a report from the Chicago Tribune, was at the apartment building with a number of other new reporters who were looking for Daniela.  Beth was able to put Phil on the phone and Daniela agreed to meet with him at a laundromat called Shiny Dime, that was just a few blocks from her apartment at 7 pm later that evening.

After talking with Phil, Daniela and Violet paid a visit to an old friend of Violet's family to see if she could get any more information about Lucy.  Mrs. Stonefield proved to be mostly unhelpful but she did mention that that last time she saw Lucy she was praying at St. Teresa and left after being interrupted clutching a rosary in her gloved hands.

Next session begins outside of Mrs. Stonefield's home

Blood Ties - Session 03

Characters introduced:

-Josué Carrera: leader of the Familia gang, girlfriend was murdered

-Benny: Rudy’s brother, co-owner of Brother’s pawn

Daniela spoke with Dr. Mason.  He said that he would contact the Diocese to attain permission to speak with Father Soto, of Santa Teresa de Ávila, for Daniela.  He said he would call her back before lunch with the results of the request.

Violet invited Daniela over to Lucy’s place to discuss the events of last night.  Lucy’s name badge from work was found.  The badge indicated that she worked at Norwegian American Hospital on the 7^th floor.

Rudy texted Violet.  He urged Violet and Daniela to come over to his pawn shop to talk with him about last night and about Lucy.  According to Rudy, Esme has been trying to keep him and Lucy from seeing each other.  Rudy also shared that Esme lives in Old Town now and doesn’t understand the Barrio anymore.

Rudy also shared that he was part of Familia.  To keep the gang satisfied Benny and Rudy need to give a large cut of their profit from the pawn shop to Familia.  Rudy laments his recruitment into the gang, at the same time he accepts the inevitability of the decision.

Rudy thinks that Familia is being torn apart from the inside in an attempt to wrestle power from Josué, their leader.  Rudy does not like Josué.  Rudy believes that he was followed home last night by someone from the gang, or perhaps the murderer.

When Violet mentioned Francisco Rudy was shocked to hear his name.  According to Rudy, Francisco was transferred to Utah sometime during his sentence and hasn’t been heard from in the Barrio for a number of years.  Rudy doubts that Francisco has anything to do with Lucy’s disappearance.

Beth texted Daniela to tell her that there was a headline in the local section of the paper about her trip to Logan Square.  The headline read: Vatican Investigates Stigmata in Logan Square.

Next session will begin again at Brother’s Pawn.