Recently, several notable members of the supernatural community have banded together to form a local chapter of the Paranet, a support network for the magical lightweights and minor players. The most recent meeting was attended by Arthur Hawthorne, his two adult children, Marcus and Veronica Hawthorne, Veronica’s fiancée Duncan Rockwell, as well as Charlie Kane, Kristopher Magnuson, Mark Peter Brewer, and Padre Richard Paladine. The meeting at Veronica’s and Duncan’s woodland home had concluded and the group had started dinner, during which time Veronica and Arthur went to the basement to retrieve another bottle of wine.

A crash and scream of fear erupted from the basement, prompting everyone to investigate. They were greeted by four torso creatures called waddlers. The group quickly dispatched the creatures and discover that Veronica is missing, and Arthur is mortally wounded. Investigation reveals a recently closed portal to the Nevernever that leads to the inside of a volcano. The PCs split up to do their own research and prepare for possible combat.

More to come…

Thursday

The Connecticut State Attorney General, Omar Firahs, was shot during a press conference. The unknown shooter eluded the authorities and remains at large.

Saturday

Kris Magnusun received a call from an old FBI coworker. He was asked to look into the murder from two days ago since there were some weird elements of the murder (all electrical devices failed shortly before the murder) which seemed to suggest supernatural involvement. Kris grudgingly accepted and negotiated for some credentials.

A member of the Latin Kings named Bobby ran into The Magic of Books, obviously scared. He bided his time fiddling with some books until a car with loud bass passed by. He then ran out of the store and only moments later was gunned down in a hail of bullets that also killed and injured several others nearby. More would’ve been injured if not forMark Brewer’s quick thinking with a magical water shield, stopping the bullets entering the bookstore just after shattering the windows.

Another member of the Latin Kings, Manny, visited Padre Richard Paladine and in confidence confessed that he was responsible for the recent murder of Omar Firahs, State Attorney General. Richard convinced him to show up at another location in a few hours in order to be cleansed of his sin.

Nathan Wells was in New Haven on behalf of animal rescue when he stumbled upon the carnage at the bookstore and offered his services. He shape shifted into a dog form and sniffed around, trying to track where Bobby had come from and what he had touched. Charlie Kane investigated the books Nathan pointed out and in one found a scrap piece of paper with a 10 digit number and the initials E.G. written on it.

Kris was still researching background on Omar, his former associates and his recent dealings when Charlie called him, looking for help with the number and initials. Kris agreed to help and in short order discovered it was a number attached to Yale University. Kris called the number and the person who answered with “Hello?” hung up just after Kris said “Hello” in response.

When Charlie received the information that the number was attached to Yale, he contacted Quincy Howard, a regular at the store who was a professor over at Yale. After some thought Quincy gave Charlie about 6 or 7 names of people he knew whose initials could be E. G..

When Manny showed up at the location he was instructed to go to he was met by Padre Richard Paladine, who was now dressed up in his vigilante Warrior for God persona he called “The Eladrion”. They began a conversation but it was cut short by a booming bass coming closer, which scared Manny. He turned to flee and was persued by The Eladrion, who let him go but trailed him. Rich made a call during this chase…

Rich brought Manny to The Magic of Books in order to keep him safe temporarily and to get more information out of him. Once there he was brought into a back room and he told everyone his story. Someone named “Grey” offered the Latin Kings an opportunity to exact revenge against Omar. Both him and Bobby were chosen to do the deed by Jorje the Hammer. This guy named Grey hooked them up with a black man who had a tattoo on his face, and together the three of them covertly showed up at the press conference. The tattooed man said some words in a foreign language and instructed Manny and Bobby they were free to go to the back corner of the room and complete their task. Bobby shot and killed Omar, and when the chaos died down, they left.

Both Charlie and Mark worked together to ward the room, just in case magic was being used to track this kid. As everyone discussed what to do next there was some noise coming from the front of the store. Charlie and _____ walked out front to find two hitters from the Latin Kings waiting. They asked for the paper which Bobby had hidden there earlier. Charlie lied to them and told them he didn’t know what they were talking about. They didn’t believe him, and started destroying books until they were convinced to leave by _____. They set fire to the store as they left, but the fire was quickly extinguished.

Putting together the information they all had uncovered so far, they concluded that Edward Grey, the Yale head librarian was the one who hired the Latin Kings. Debating options, they decided to go pay a visit to Jorge the Hammer in the morning and see what else they could learn.

Sunday

The five of them drove to see Jorge in the late morning. Rich, Kris and Nathan went up to his house (Nathan in the form of a common housecat) while Charlie and Mark waited in the van. Nathan explored the house while Kris and Rich, both dressed as priests, interviewed Jorge. Jorge was immediately suspicious of Padre Richard, but accepted Kris as the genuine article.

Their conversation was just about to end when Jorge spotted Nathan (now in Human form) sneaking out. Quick thinking by Rich and Kris narrowly averted a firefight, and they all met back up in the Volkswagon Van and drove away.

End of Part 1

Sunday

Trying to follow up on the Tattooed man, Charlie used his network of contacts to ask around about him and discovered the names of two people who could fit the description of who was veiling the gang members and who might have sufficient ability to make good veils: “L. Ruane” and “Scydo”.

Kris got a call from his FBI contact to come to the FBI crime lab in Meriden because the body of Omar Firahs was “melting”. Kris, Mark, Richard, and Charlie all drove up. They looked at the body and Mark and Charlie determined it was an ectoplasmic construct that was breaking apart.

There was a ruckus outside the morgue and the FBI contact was knocked out by an unseen assailant. Charlie opened his sight and noted three things: 1, There was a fog in the area representing the torment suffered by all the bodies that had gone through the morgue; 2, The FBI agent was assaulted by a muscular, humanoid being that had its head in its chest, superimposed over a mortal man – both looked panicked; 3, The Eladrion (Richard) resembled an evil looking angel made of stone, with a holy aura surrounding it. As the mortal became visible and began to speak, the head’s lips moved in sync to different words or a different language.

The FBI building was under attack by some tentacled thing, called a “Loctor” – several Nevernever entities merged together like a chimera. The thing was being controlled by the Tattoo man, who seemed to only speak Aramic. Working together the group defeated the tentacled thing – upon its defeat another identical tattoo man emerged from inside. The two were knocked unconscious and were bound and gagged.

The mysterious man who showed up in the FBI building was named “Victor” and he represented the “Order of Ethlar”. Omar was a friend of their order. The Order of Ethlar are scholars; they typically don’t do anything aggressive and try to stay under the radar. They have magical ability – their magic comes from a race of spirits that watch out for humanity. That was what Charlie saw superimposed on Victor.

Omar came to the Order of Ethlar for help because he had received threats on his life. The Order created a construct of Omar so he could make public appearances without fear. It was this construct that was “murdered”, and Omar stayed hidden so his enemies would believe him dead. However, somehow someone was tipped off about Omar’s body being fake; the construct should’ve lasted another day or two but the spell was disrupted, causing it to “melt”.

Victor directed the group to a farm in Newtown, where Omar was alive and in hiding. On the way the group dropped off the Tattooed Egyptian Twins with an ally of theirs, Aramis, at Holy Land in Waterbury. Aramis agreed to look after the twins until the group returned. As they arrived in Newtown they saw smoke rising from the direction of the farm.

Upon arrival, the barn was on fire and the farm itself appeared to be under attack by a European Red Dragon (as depicted in fantasy artwork). Mark opened his sight and saw a man in the center of the constrct. Richard and Kris drew a circle around the construct and Charlie closed it, causing the construct’s power to vanish. The man left behind was another identical Tattoo man.

Omar was amongst the survivors. Talking with the group, he told how he had received information from a conspiracy nut friend of his. This friend presented Omar with evidence of “New World Order” plots but buried within was real proof that this organization existed, and that the Skull and Bones society were not only a part of it but it’s leadership was involved in infernal magical rituals. Omar suspects it was these Skull and Bones people who hired the Tattoo guys.

Only the senator (Elliot Montgomery) and Omar’s wife knew about the body double deception, which narrowed down how Omar’s enemies could have found out. The group decided Omar should continue the deception anew – they decide that Omar needs to be “dead” as one of the many burned dead in the area. Omar and the remaining Order leave the farm, giving the group a phone number for a voice mail box they can call if they need to.

Mark and Charlie call Mark’s council/warden “”/campaigns/the-dead-and-the-damned/characters/luthor-sundan" class=“wiki-content-link”>friend", and they arrive to survey the scene and agree with the conclusions Charlie and Mark give them for Omar’s death. They turn over the Tattoo man to the Council. The group goes back to visit Aramis and interrogate the two guys he’s holding on to, and Aramis tells them that less than an hour after they left, the council showed up to collect the two men.

Kris and Richard visit the senator Elliot Montgomery to tell him what happened to Omar (the story, not the truth), thinking his acts had been malicious. The next day they find out that shortly after their visit, the senator killed himself.

Six months have passed and much has happened in the lives of our group.
at the opening scene we saw Kristopher Magnuson sitting at the been don before bar. As he sipped his favorite drink, a beautiful, tall , red haired beauty came in. She introduced herself as a representative of monoc industries. Quickly getting down to business, she informed Kristopher of local murders that took place in the last 72 hrs.
Circus performers, all linked to a circus that went bankrupt a few years prior. As kristopher looked more deeply into the case he found that each murder was more grizzly. One person was stabbed and allowed to bleed out, two more were skinned alive, another was just found with no explanation of his teeth, and fourteen others were torn limb from limb and looked to have been chewed upon. The only local survivor of the circus left was someone Kristopher already Knew…Stitches.
Stitches was under his bridge helping those less fortunate when one of the bums came running up to him. He warned of an old woman, whom was scary beyond all reason, and she was coming for him. Stiches cleared the area and waited for her. Cloaked in shadow and surrounded by zombies , the woman ordered her minions to attack Stitches.
They fought briefly, and tho stitches stood tall, he would have been overwhelmed, if not for the timely intervention of Pastor Richard and the churches van. Bowling the zombies over, stitches and Richard Piled into the van and went to the next safest point they knew- The bookstore.
Kristopher hoping to look stitches location up arrived at the book store at almost the same time the pastor and stitches arrived. Charlie and Mark pulled them all into the back to discuss what was going on. Kris asked stitches about Circus and advised of the passing of its members. As Stitches was reeling from these revaltions, one of Charlies workers knocked on the door. The Scary bitch was in the building and demanding they hand stitches over….end part 1

splitting up, the preached and Kristoph ran to their cars to arm, as mark led stitches out the back. Charlie went out front to confront the bitch.
She had already killed three patrons in the short time it took for Charlie to reach the front. She had already raised the dead and commanding them. She once again demand stitches and Charlie refused. A fight quickly ensued, Charlie was wounded but used his last ounce of strength to blow the necromancer out the front window before she could set the building on fire.
The others had made quick work of the zombies she been controlling. seeing she was outnumbered and her minions down. She cut a hole in the never never and quickly crossed over to escape. However in her haste she dropped some important information. a list of materials.
The list she’d left behind consisted of different materials for a ritual. skin of the fae, teeth of the black court, blood of the red, soul of the practitioner and and altar. The group moved to the safest location they could to gather their thoughts and better protect stitches until they could find out more.
Finding the church to be a bit crowded for the large group the preacher led them into a secret basement under neath his church. Apparently alway prepared the preacher had redone the basement area into a headquarters. stowing a large amount of weaponry, computers, and a staging area. As the group looked at him aprehensively the preacher responded, " I liked comics and batman seemed to have the right idea…always be prepared" with that they got down to business.
Stitches told them about the Circus and how it was a gathering place for " special" performers. The strong man was a red court vamp, the acrobats fae, and the ringleader was a hedge mage. Seeing that the necromancer had assembled many of the materials on the list already the group focused on what she didnt have yet, black court teeth, and this altar. Kristoph decided he wanted more info on the circus and went out in search of other surviving circus members. As for the reset of the group, Charlie researched the altar and mark went in search of black court info at the neutral territory Casino.
Through some chicanery, Kristoph found an old troll whom used to work for the circus, and fooled him into revealing what he knew about the necromancer. A former disciple of Kemmler, she had scared the troll into giving her the info on his former fellow circus performers. Her name-Krista.
Meanwhile Charlie researched the altar. A thing of great power said to be tool used to combine the first beings. history states that the altar had fallen into shadow, and had not been seen for thousands of years.
Mark had quite the interesting encounter. As mark arrived at the casino, he met a familiar face. elwynn (I may have the name wrong) a woman he’d been seeing of late. As they approached the door Mark was admitted to the “special section” of the casino, and to his surprise so was she. As they road the protected elevator down, she revealed to him she was fae, and she’d been following him since his masters death. She was past down to mark because had inherited all of his master belongings…including her.
as they arrived on the casino floor, mark hunted down the leader of the black court vamps in the area. Being less than helpful, the vamp mocked Mark, making his fae companion irritated. So in response she mocked him back. Irritated the black court vamp left the casino threatening Marks life.
All the compatriots gathered back at the “Preacher cave” to go over what they’d found. Elwynn appeared and offered answers for a price. She mockingly stated “stitches had sold his soul, and she wouldnt talk with the hellblade” referring to the preacher. Charlie offered to play her game asking a question for a question. She revealed more information about the ritual and Kemmlers interests. but also revealed to charlie something about his mother and her actions in the land of summer.
Stitches tired of her word games, and ran outside calling Krista out. She was waiting, with a hoard of zombies. Leaving the safety of the church stitches engaged the zombies. Charlie and mark came out the front throwing magic, Kristoph grabbed a sniper rifle and ran to the church tower. The preacher grabbed a automatic rifle and opened fire from the second floor windows of the church. (I was punchy when I did the castle of lions stuff, please forgive my quick rewrite) The battle was fierce. Krista encase herself in flame and attack the group on the church steps. Mark and stitches combined their effort to first form a large pool of water and electrify most of the zombie hoard. Charlie directly fought krista magic for magic.
The members on the stairs were taking severe damage from both the zombies and krista, so the preacher leapt from the windows with superhuman grace and landed amongst the zombies trying to draw their attention. as krista took aim for her killing blow, kristoph took his shot. Firing the round and blowing a hole straight through krista’s head. With the necromancer dead, the zombies fell and discorporated almost immediately.
As the members gathered themselves a dark figure in a suit and strange looking necktie appeared and picked up the fallen form of Krista. Smiling with glee he looked at the group, said thank you, and disappeared into the shadows with her body. End game 1

A young girl, Paige Ripley, was kidnapped from her home in Monroe, CT. A cop by the name of Jim Claxton and Kristopher Magnuson both show up to investigate for their own reasons. They interviewed the mother, Ellen Ripley, and learned very little. She did appear to be holding back information regarding the girl’s father. The two investigated the house and found a strange, cold pendant belonging to the mother. They also identified large, inhuman tracks.

Meanwhile, “Stitches” had been busier than ever down in Bridgeport, CT, as it seemed that supernatural traffic through the city had increased exponentially. In his attempts to protect the homeless from those who would prey upon them, he learned that the Goblin Market would be re-opening soon. That information seemed to account for the increase in supernatural traffic.

Jim Claxton had some magical talent, and he used it to magically track whatever the creatures were that seemed to have abducted the girl, Paige. The spell led them to the Poli Theater in Bridgeport, around the same time that Stiches’ investigations led him there as well.

Upon entering the old Theater they met the ghost Elizabeth, and discovered that the theater is a portal to a place in the Nevernever called The Labrynth. Elizabeth could guide them through the Labrynth, to the Goblin Market at the other end. The group followed her and made their way to the Market.

The newly re-opened Market contained every variety of goods and patrons imaginable, as far as could be seen in any direction. The main attraction at this market, though, was an auction center not too far away from the Labrynth. The group made their way to the auction in time to see a group of red-skinned Ogres bring out the sleeping Paige. The group seemed to catch the eye of a pair of ladies near the front. They appeared momentarily surprised, then worried.

The auctioneer introduced the girl as the changeling daughter of none other than the Winter General, Jack Frost. Before bidding could begin, Kris drew out the ice pendant he pocketed earlier and held it up, summoning the Winter General to the location. Jack Frost froze the auctioneer in his tracks (literally) and his anger caused the rest of the patrons (including the ladies, apparently) to disperse.

Jack charged Kris, Jim and Stiches with returning his daughter to her mother safely. Jack offered Jim a boon for his role in saving his daughter. Stiches and Kris, on the other hand, had spent some time recently with a Summer Sidhe. Jack told them they “Smelled like Summer” and as their reward offered only to spare their lives. As the trio was leaving the market with Paige they caught a glimpse of the mysterious ladies again. They were off in the distance, standing in the middle of a group of red-skinned Ogres, staring directly at the group, and visibly unhappy.

Stitches stayed in Bridgeport, while Kris and Jim delivered Paige back to her mother. They received a monetary reward for their effort. Upon learning what happened Ellen spoke openly to them about everything. She told the two of them that she and Paige would have to disappear. They were no longer safe now that Summer had found her daughter. The next day, the mansion was listed for sale and vacant. Ellen and Paige were gone with no forwarding information.

Shortly thereafter, Connecticut was hit with an unseasonably early, devastating winter storm – one of the worst ever recorded.

William Garnett was contracted by a woman named Victoria Slater to find a book that her ex-husband, Victor Yorkshire, stole from her. It’s one of three she inherited from her father, John Slater. Will takes the case and begins investigating. His investigation reveals that Victor takes occasional trips to Dudleytown, so Will arranged for a police escort (since the area is off limits and patrolled) with Daniel Benjamin and set out to go there.

Kristopher Magnuson was accosted by a pretty neighbor who knew that he sometimes helped people out. She begged him to please find her missing teenage son. Being a sucker for a pretty face, he gave in and began looking into it. Kris soon discovered that the kid was an amateur paranormal investigator, and the last place he planned to visit before he disappeared was Dudleytown. Kris makes plans to visit the area and look around.

Charlie Kane and Mark Peter Brewer are both visited by The Gatekeeper, who cryptically tasks them to make a trip to Dudleytown and investigate strange supernatural activity there. With little choice but to accept, they gear up and set out.

Kris, Mark and Charlie run into each other at the forest trail leading to the abandoned Dudleytown. There they also meet the private investigator Will and his police escort Daniel. After a brief discussion all five decide to enter together.

In the woods along the trail to Dudleytown they spot a campsite. No-one is there but Kris quickly discovered it belonged to the missing teen that he was there to find. The teen however is still nowhere to be found.

At Dudleytown they come upon a crater with a naked man at the center of it. The man is alive but appears to have lost his mind. Kris determined this wasn’t the person he was there to find. Daniel took him back to the cruiser in order to bring him in and get him help.

On the other side of the crater is the book that Will was contracted to find. He flips through it with no ill effect. Charlie looks through it and becomes “Touched by Darkness”. Still reeling, he agrees to let William return it to its rightful owner. Charlie and Mark conduct a magical investigation which reveals the entire area is seeped with residual, alien (Outsider) magic. The group makes the decision to head back before nightfall.

Will tries to return the book, only to discover that “Victoria Slater” never existed and her place is abandoned. Further investigation reveals Victoria’s real name is Dolores Klowski and that she works for Victor Yorkshire. That evening they would both be at a private location in Ledyard for some function. Will decides to check it out in order to confront Dolores. Charlie offers to buy the book (to keep it safe and to learn how to undo what happened to him in Dudleytown) and Will sells it to him.

Charlie, Kris and Mark also decide to visit the private location in Ledyard, which is the Accorded Neutral Ground Casino, based on the results of their individual investigations and researches. Will is not let in, but he is able to sneak in and disguise himself as a waiter. He meets up with Charlie and they both confront Dolores. She doesn’t want the book; she just wants to keep it from Victor. She pays Will what she owes him plus some extra. She and Charlie banter briefly.

Kris and Mark find themselves at a game table with Victor Yorkshire and some other folks. Kris demands answers from Victor, but Victor won’t just give up the information for free. Kris and Victor square off in a heated card game with Mark as the stakes. Kris wins the game; he gets the answers he was looking for, and Mark gets to keep his freedom.

After everyone goes their own way, Mark and Charlie are at the bookstore again when the Gatekeeper arrives. He thanks them for their work and asks Charlie to destroy the book. Charlie agrees, but instead locks it up in his “vault” in the hope he can use it to reverse what came over him in Dudleytown.