Omar's In Nomine Campaign

June 18-20, 2009 (Session 5) — San Francisco

After the flurry of activity as Maggie was turned over to the Flowers tether for delivery to heaven, Thessin, the Ofanite of Flowers, approached Madian and Jarebai. He was concerned about a potential attack on the three Gamesters that were in town, and in particular worried that the human host of the Shedite would be gravely harmed or killed. He asked that he be brought along when the combat against the Gamesters occurred, and said that he would focus on trying to help get the host unconscious or otherwise restrained so that the Shedite could be fought while the host was not killed.

The PCs asked Thessin if the servitors of flowers could make discreet inquiries to any (hypothetical) renegades or demons with whom they had contact, to find out if there was any information about the Gamesters to be had. They also asked if it might be possible to use any (hypothetical) renegades as bait in an attempt to smoke the Gamesters out. Thessin was hesitant on this latter point; after all, if somebody really was a redemtion candidate, not only was it dangerous to risk them, it was perhaps not in good faith to risk them in this way. However, he said he would talk to the others.

Madian received a phone call from Naran, the Serpah in the triad of Judgement in town, indicating that she was to meet with him at a small park not far from Samuel Crane's office.

In the form of a bird, Jarebai staked out the tether to Gluttony across the Bay, in hopes of learning about the Gamesters there. He didn't observe much overnight; two people (a tall thin man and a short stock man) arrived at the tether, went in the back door, and left an hour later. Jarebai attempted to possess each of them but failed. He returned to a bird and watched the tether. The next morning, he possessed a human going into the restaurant after it opened. After ordering breakfast, he snuck into the back office, where he had a conversation with the seneschal. He convinced the seneschal that he was a shedite (although of unspecified Prince), told the seneschal about the Gamesters, and they arranged a signal that the seneschal would use to contact Jarebi if he was able to obtain any more information about them.

At noon, Madian met with the triad of Judgement. (Jarebai was also present.) She told Naran (the seraph, and the leader of the triad) that she had learned no more about any Renegades being harbored at the Flowers tether. Naran expressed disappointment, and expressed that he thought Madian might be being too easy on the Flowers servitors. He instructed Madian to let him know as soon as she knew anything. After he left, Jerabai called him, saying he didn't want to say anything in front of Madian, but that there was an operation of the Sword that was trying to smoke out some demons, and would need to use, potentially, any Renegades that Flowers knew about as bait. He asked if they could hold off on interfering with that for a few days so as not to cause trouble with this operation. Naran agreed, although somewhat reluctantly. He did say that he expected Madian to inform him not only of any Renegades, but to give him the names of any Flowers servitors who knew about Renegades but hadn't admitted that knowledge to the triad in the past.

Madian and Jarebai drove down to San Jose to meet again with Gulestrupniel (Gil Balter), the seneschal of the Lightning tether. There they learned that he had narrowed down the likely location of the renegade in the high-tech industry to the company Janinetech in San Francicso, a programming outfit. At Jarebai's request, he gave him paperwork and a box containing some hardware that was to be delivered to the Janinetech building in San Francisco, so that he could get in the door.

Madian and Jarebai drove back. At Samuel Crane's office, they met Ryan O'Connell, another Soldier of the Sword in Crane's outfit. Ryan went along with them to Janinetech. Once there, they got the receptionist (Carrie Ford) to take them back to the server room, where they physically installed (but did not electronically isntall) the router. On the way back, they spread out through the open area where most of the employees were, trying to see if they saw anything unusual. Ryan tried the tactic of doing some witnessing, asking people if they had accepted Jesus as their savior. He got a lot of confused and put-off responses. However, he did smoke out the Renegade, who was going under the name Ian. Ian took him out back (claiming to want to smoke while talking about being saved), and attacked him, asking who else knew about him. Madian, following closely, opened fire with her 44. Jarebai possessed an HR employee, while meanwhile driving the truck around back in his Jason Perry vessel. Madian and Ryan managed to subdue Ian; they tossed the body into the truck, and managed to drive off before the police arrived. Jarebai moved his possession from the HR employee to Carrie Ford, so that he could give a little misinformation to the police. In particular, he mentioned that there had just been a delivery, but he described the two Gluttony types ("tall thin man, short stocky man") as the ones that had come in.

Madian and Jarebai took Ian back to the Protection tether. They questioned him. He didn't know about the gamesters after him. He was a renegade servitor of Technology, a former minion of the Demon Prince Vapula. It also became clear to them, and to Hazana (the Protection seneschal) that Ian was a standard selfish Renegade, and not a redemption candidate. They kept him around in case they might want to use him later as bait.

Thessin called Jarebai to say that while the others were very reluctant, they agreed to work with him and allow him to talk to any hypothetical renegade demons they were protecting in an attempt to smoke out the gamesters. Jarebai, careful to have the conversation where Madian wasn't listening so that she wouldn't have to lie to deny knowledge of it, thanked Thessin for being helpful, but said that they had managed to find the actual renegade that the Gamesters were looking at, so they probably wouldn't need to involve the Flowers servitors after all. Thessin was relieved. He also reminded Jarebai that he wanted to be involved when they finally took down the Gamesters.

Also, sometime during Thursday, Jarebai got a call from Hank, a human in the Roadrockers, one of the few who know a little bit about the War. Pete, the Cherub of Stone and the leader of the Roadrockers, was off working off his dissonance, and had told Hank to call Jarebai if there was trouble. There was: some of the rest of the gang had got it in their mind that another gang— one based around the Tether of The War in Oakland— was responsible for the deaths of the two bikers who had in fact been killed by Maggie. Jarebai and Madian rushed across the Bay to attempt to defuse the situation. Although the bikers were reluctant, they did finally agree to be talked down from going into what certainly would have been a disastrous bloodbath.

As it was getting late in the day, they drove past the Gluttony tether— and saw the signal that the seneschal had information for Jarebai. They decided to approach it the next morning when it opened for breakfast, so that Madian could go in "naturally". Jarebai also contacted Samuel Crane and told him that he believed they were approaching an endgame where they might confront the Gamesters. Samuel Crane told him that things would be much nicer if they could lure the Gamesters to an abandoned warehouse, rather than risk a confrontation in a poplated area. He also said that he would start trying to get as many of the "front lines" people as possible to start staking out the warehouse, beginning the next morning.

Overnight, Jarebai, posessing Carrie Ford, managed to figure out enough of the HR database at Janinetech to get Ian's home address, and phone number, and to figure out that he'd worked there for a couple of months.

Friday morning, Jarebai and Madian went back to the Gluttony tether. Madian had a huge breakfast (probably much to the delight of the local servitors of Gluttony), while Jarebai (as Jason Perry) went to talk to the Senschal. The two other presumed-Gluttons (tall thin man and short stocky man) were also there. The Seneschal told Jarebai that he believed that the Gamesters had nabbed a Renegade in San Francisco... pointing to stories he had heard about the shooting that was in fact Madian, Ryan, and Jarebai nabbing the Renegade. Jarebai said he would take this information into account. The Seneschal said that the two other Gluttons could serve as backup for Jarebai if he tracked down the Gamesters. Jarebai thought about setting them up as well....

The police returned to Janinetech, led by a Lt. Ackerman, who talked to Carrie Ford (really Jarebai). Others at Janinetech had figured out that Ian had gone missing at the time that the gunshots were heard, and Ackerman was asking Carrie Ford about Ian. Madian intuited that Ackerman was possessed by the Game Shedite; Jarebai was dubious, although it later turned out that Madian was right, as Lt. Ackerman was really in Internal Affairs, not somebody who would normally be investigating the gunshots and Ian's disappearance.

Madian and Jarebai investigated Ian's home, and found a fairly Spartan home with just barely enough amenities that somebody might believe an actual human lived there. They staked out the home, and later, shortly after Carrie (i.e. Jarebai) gave Ackerman Ian's address, the other two Gamesters showed up, a distinguished looking man and a discheveled looking woman. The Gamesters went into Ian's house, and emerged some time later. Meanwhile, Jarebai had Ryan O'Connell bring Ian's cellphone from himself to himself (i.e. from Carrie to Jason).

Madian and Jarebai followed the other two Gamesters when they drove off. They saw them drive to the police precint, and pick up Lt. Ackerman. A quick phone call revealed that the phone number on the card Ackerman (i.e. the Shedite) had given Carrie was in fact Ackerman's cellphone.

Figuring that they wouldn't need him any more, Madian and Jarebai decided to dispose of Ian, sending the Renegade to Limbo. Before they killed him, they told Gil Balter about him, and gave the Lightning servitor a chance to debrief him.

Plots were formed. That night, eight of the local Purifiers, Madian, Jarebai, and Thessin all gathered in the abandoned warehouse that Crane had mentioned. Thanks to Albert Pillars, they were all very well-armed with illegal weaponry.... Carrie Ford (i.e. Jarebai) phoned Ackerman, saying that she had just received a call from Ian, and that he was in trouble and wanted her to meet him at the warehouse. Ackerman told Carrie not to meet him, that the police would take care of it, and that she should let him know as soon as she heard anything more. Shortly thereafter, the three Gamesters showed up at the warehouse, and a bloodbath ensued. The two Gamesters in vessels were killed. The Shedite in Ackerman's body was mostly taken out of the combat thanks to use of the Ethereal Song of Harmony by the combat-frightened Thessin. Eventually, the Shedite fled Ackerman's body. Madian pursued in celestial form, but due to an untimely Infernal Intervention, the Shedite escaped.

The Purifiers were left to clean up the mess in the warehouse (including Jennifer Alonzo, the SFPD officer who agreed to smooth over things with Ackerman, who was briefly conscious as himself after the Shedite left). Jarebai told Crane about the Glutton servitors, in case his crew wanted to have some more fun ambushing demons.

When they drove back to Crane's office, Dominic (in her female vessel) was waiting for Madian. She asked for a report from Madian. She told Madian that Naran had reported suspicion that Madian was holding information back about the flowers Servitors. Madian denied that. He also told her that he was curious about her decision to turn Maggie over to Flowers, rather than to bring the Outcast in for trial in Judgement. He said that he trusted her judgement in this case, but that he would have a Cherub attune to Maggie in heaven to track her progress.

Jarebai, meanwhile, invoked Laurence, to update him with what had been happening. He gave a very positive report about Crane and his team, saying that they probably didn't get a lot of action in San Francisco, but that they did very well when the time came. Laurence, pleased with how Jarebai had been doing, and especially happy that Jarebai had delivered the Bright Lilim Euodias into his service, upgraded Jarebai's sword with a summonable feature.

Finally, before they rested to recover from all of their activities (it now being past midnight between Friday and Saturday), a woman showed up at Crane's office. She claimed to be Alicia, a servitor of Destiny, and said she had a message from Yves. That message was simply, "Thank you."