S091_Scary_Christmas Recap December 21, 2018 Friday Kei and Yuri pack up and head for
home. Paladin shuts the gate off and head for home. Paladin has the sensors of the Opsek
station scanning for the approach the Glorious Heritage in case the
Empire is coming. December 21, 2018 Friday Froggy asks Mary Margret Mary
Margret Catherine Lucinda Abagail Caruthers if she can spend the weekend with
her. Mary Margret arced an eyebrown and asked 'why'? Froggie tells her that
Mary is the only person she knows that is the same age range as Froggie is, the
Mary is not weirded out by her, and she thinks of Mary as a friend. Mary Margret shakes her head but
carries the request to her mom, Monia, agrees and rolls out the welcome mat for
Froggie. Wiguric comes home from his trip to
the Bermuda Triangle December 23, 2018 Sunday 6PM An unidentified woman calls the
Bunker. Impact answers the phone. She would like to come to the Bunker to talk
to Paladin and the group about something of dire importance. Paladin gets on
the phone and agrees to let the woman come by. The woman does not provide a
name but says that she is on her way. 8PM A woman in a broad rimmed fedora and
a trench coat walks through the snow across the parking lot approaching the
door. Paladin opens the door before the woman rings the bell. The woman asks to come inside but
Paladin does not invite her in. He offers to pull one of the cars out so they
can get out of the cold. The woman tells him that the cold never bothers her
anyway. Paladin casts his detect vampire
spell on her but gets a indeterminate reading. He then suggests that she get to
the point. At long last she identifies herself
as Ella Normandy. She claims that she is here to warm them that vampires are in
motion in New York. She tells them that the Brujah clan and some members of the
Ventrue clan are cementing their allegiances with the criminal element of the
city. She also warns that the 'baddest
blood sucker of them all' is either in town or will be arriving soon. The group
suggests Crypt, the vampire god, but no. She is referring to Dracula himself. Their is some shock that Dracula is
real. Ella says that she has battle him several times and they have killed each
other more than once. She says that Dracula is working with the Sabbat and
wants to get the Jorum of Kinsmanship. The Jorum is a ancient vampire
artifact that is in the possession of the Brooklyn Brigade. Impact suggests throwing it into the
sun. Ella says that would definitely keep it out of the hands of the vampires
but there is a second bowl (at least according to legend, it has never been
found). Paladin wants to know if she is a
part of a group or a solo vampire hunter. She says she was part of a group but
she is all that is left of them. She was part of the Van Helsing group hunting
vampires. She has sworn to get revenge on Dracula for what he did to Adam Van
Helsin. They ask her point blank what she
is. “I am a vistor to your world. I am the sol survivor of the planet
Drakulon.” Considering her expertise in hunting
Dracula, she has been at it for 80 years, the group has her scour the city.
When she locates Dracula she is to contact the Brigade and they will deal with
him permanently, together. She agrees. Vampirella asks if they
should Blood Bond the agreement or would shaking hands be acceptable. They
shake hands and she leaves. Paladin goes to check the messages
for the Circle. The old message is still there. Paladin adds to the note
suggesting that it would be good for them to get in touch with the Brigade. Froggy asks Mary Margret what she
knows of the Jorum of Kinsmenship. She does not know anything. She is also
mildly surprised that Dracula is real. Froggy goes to ask Monia, Mary Margret's
mom, to ask what she knows. Monia also knows nothing about the
Jorum. She tells Froggy that Dracula is dead. He died back during World War II.
Impact (through Froggy) asked how Dracula died. He was killed, staked through
the heart, drug out into the sun, decapitated, and had his mouth filled with
holy wafers. And whatever remained was given a proper Christian burial in
sanctified ground. Paladin sends Froggy a picture of
the Jorum which she shows to Monia. The bowl is blackish-red wood carved with
intricate patterns. As soon as Monia sees the picture she says she does not
know the rune language that the inscriptions are written in. She says that it
not Sumerian. Nor is it Malbranche, Latin, or Eqyptian. December 24, 2018 Monday In the dawn's early light a flying
reindeer carrying two people lands at the base. The men are small, about 4 feet
tall each, and are dressed in bright feastive red, green, and gold clothes.
There are bells on their hats and pointed curled shoes that jingle merrily
evary time they move. Paladin answers the door and the
darker haired man asks if they are superheroes? Paladin says that they are and
asks who might they be? They are Jingle, Jangle, and the reindeer is Sandy.
They a couple of Santa's elves. Jingle, the dark haired elf, tells
the group that they need their help. Santa has gone insane and plans on
murdering everyone on the 'naughty' list and that list has billions of names on
it! Jangle reels in the tale a bit
explaining that that Santa, and themselves, are belief made manifests. As
living figments of the collective belief in them they act in accordance to what
people expect them too. Over the last several years Santa has become darker and
darker because of movies like 'Silent Night, Deadly Night', 'Krampus', and criminals using Santa's costume to prey
on their victims. But what pushed Santa over the edge was a demon named
Rhazazarak placed a curse on him. They implore the group to come to
the North Pole and rescue Santa before he does this terrible thing. The group
agrees. The elves tell the group there is no
way for them to find Santa's workshop without them. It is decided that they
will lash the air raft to Sandy and she will guide their way to the workshop.
Besides Santa's reindeer can fly at incredible speeds. While Jingle and Jangle are hitching
Sandy to the air raft Paladin makes a call to Cardinal Alessi. He asks the
Cardinal if he can perform an exorcism to remove demonic taint from someone.
The Cardinal agrees. Bring the afflicted to St. Ignatius' Cathedral and he will
make the preparations. The Cardinal is reluctant to leave
the catherdral as fell forces are waiting for a chance to attack him but agrees
when the situation is explained to him. Everyone
boards the air raft and they swing by to collect the Cardinal. Next stop the
North Pole! Sandy takes off and hits Hyperdrive.
They are over a bleak frozen wasteland in a matter of seconds. The group barely
has time to take in vistage before Sandy takes them through a warp in space.
The landscape transforms to a winter wonderland of snow and pine trees. The air
is sweet and brisk, not the bone chillilng cold they experienced before coming
through the warp. In the distance the massive city
that is Santa's workshop is laid out before them. It measures hundreds of
square miles. Paladin idly wonders how they will find Dark Santa? It would make
looking for a needle in a haystack look like child’s play by comparison. Jingle tells them that every year Santa reviews his list, making
sure to check it twice, before starting his annual ride. Santa and Tante (Mrs.
Clause) would normally be in their house making preparations. This year Tante
is in the dungeon. They never needed a dungeon before so Santa had is
constructed special for her this year. His simple cottage home is atop a three hundred foot tower in
the center of town. Sandy makes her approach and meets with no resistance. She
lands in an open area in front of the cottage and begins to graze on one of the
hay bales that has been placed for just such a purpose. Cardinal Alessi remains in the air raft. Dark Santa needs to be
subdued in order to begin the exorcism. The group discusses the plan of attack
for a moment before Impact runs to the door to knock. Dark Santa answers. He laughs and says that normally he would just
let them go but this year the heroes are all on the naughty list!
The Battle For Christmas Begins!