Omar's In Nomine Campaign
Summary of Events : June 23-27, 2009 : Portland, OR; the No Dinero/Thor/Loki Affair
Session 6: June 23-26
Over the next few days, Madian researched Yolanda's case. She looked at the fuzzy footage from the security cameras at the store where Yolanda supposedly stole a jacket. She saw nothing on them. She decided that the best approach would be to challenge the procedural aspects of the case, together with presenting evidence that despite Yolanda's prior convictions, she did appear to be rehabilitating herself in the last couple of years. When the appeal came, she was succesful, and Yolanada was declared not guilty. Madian reminded Yolanda that it was her responsibility to be an example for others, to pay it forward. Madian also gave Yolanda her phone number.
Madian and Jarebai took a leisurely drive up to Portland, OR, arriving on Friday, June 26. As they arrived, they noticed newspaper headlines mentioning that a cop had been killed two days previously and that the killer had evidently still not been found.
Madian and Jarebai discussed with whom they should check in now that they were in Portland. Although the Flowers tether in San Francisco had been friendly enough, they decided that given who they were, the Flowers tether in Portland was probably not their first choice. Instead, they decided to check in at the tether to Protection, at The People's Garden, a lot that had turned into a community garden and "junk art" gallery. When they introduced themselves to Ahazia, the seneschal, she asked if Invictus had brought Jarebai in. Jarebai didn't know who Invictus was, so Ahazia filled them in on what had been going on.
The cop whose murder they had read about was actually a demon serving Greed. The same day that the cop was killed, Alexius, a Mercurian of Protection, had also been killed. Portland had been in a sort of stalemate; two stable servitors each associated with a local Tether in town has put the celestial community on edge. Invictus, a Elohite Vassal of the Sword, had been sent into town by Laurence to evaluate the situation. Malleus, a Seraph of War, had also arrived, wanting to bust some heads in revenge. Ahazia was loathe to upset the stalemate, but she wanted to know what had really happened.
Ahazia said that for the last week or so, Alexius had been investigating No Dinero, a sort of commune of sqatter artists on Atherton street. The Atherton Arts district was a part of Portland undergoing active gentrification— and much of the impetus behind that was the "Equality Corporation", an investment company owned by Mahari, the Balseraph seneschal of the Greed Tether in Portland. Ahazia's interest was to protect the poorer citizens and the artists who benefitted from the real vibrant and diverse community that existed before gentrification brought in all the middle class hippies-turned-yuppie who wanted to play angst-ridden art appreciator in the comfort of Starbucks and Whole Foods. Ahazia did not know what was significant about No Dinero.
Ahazia also mentioned that there was a Soldier of Judgement in town, an assistant DA by the name of Sharon Press. Madian phoned Sharon's office, and made a dinner appointment for that evening.
Madian and Jarebai went to No Dinero to check the place out. They met MP, the president of No Dinero. Madian said that she was interested in doing some textiles art, and asked if there was room for her. MP said that there was, and said that she was welcome to set up in their basement. MP said that No Dinero had a few years ago had a grant of the building from the city, but they had lost it a couple of years ago, putting them in their present precarious situation as squatters. He also told them that on Saturday night, there'd be a concert of several local punk gangs with various offensive names.
During the rest of the day, Madian and Jarebai investigated the scenes where the demon and the angel had been murdered. Although the sites had already been investigated and cleaned up, from what marks they did see, they were able to conclude that both celestials had been killed probably by a group of people, and that it was likely that they used large heavy melee weapons-- perhaps large axes, or improvised weapons such as lead pipes.
Their attention was also caught by some of the homeless people. In particualr, Jarebai (in the body of a rat) observed Don lifting up the back end of a car while others cheered him on. This was a startling display of strength for a human, which made Madian and Jarebai suspicious. When they approached him, he clearly suffered from some mental problems. He seemingly couldn't speak, but would only sing. Sometimes the songs he sang appeared to be in answer to questions he was asked, but sometimes he would just default back to one of his favorite songs. ("If I Had a Hammer.") Madian also noticed, across the street, another homeless person who seemed to be staring at Don all the time.
Madian was not able to detect dissonance in either celestial. In using some Song or another that I forget, she was able to determine that there was something odd about Don's Ethereal Forces— it was as if part of his mind were missing somehow. Madian and Jarebai decided to take Don back to the Protection tether. They drove off with him. As they did so, Jarebai (in a pigeon) noticed that the other Celestial across the street started walking after them— not running, but definitely following.
Back at the Tether, they met Invictus. (Actually, Jarebai had already met Invictus at the tether, posessing Duke.) To Madian's suspicion, Don reacted negatively to Invictus, evidently being afraid of him. Leaving Don with Zeke and Jeffrey Coolidge, the three of them went to intercept the other possible-celestial who was coming. Although they were tactically careful, it ended up not being a confrontation. The other possible-celestial, who introduced himself as "Tank", was also extremely confused. He seemed certain of only one thing: that he had to chase Don, and ultimately to Destroy don. He did seem, vaguely, to recognize Invictus, thinking that he had worked with him before. Invictus did not recognize Tank. When Laurence was mentioned, Tank also seemed to recognize the name. "Laurence was good," he said, evidently praising capability more so than virtue.
They called Zeke and asked him to deliver Don to the Flowers tether, and they brought Tank back to the Protection tether. At the Flowers tether, Ophelia, the Elohite seneschal, and Madian spent some more time trying to understand Don. At the Protection tether, Invictus and Jarebai, guessing that Tank might be a Remnant of a servitor of the Sword, summoned Laurence. Laurence, after taking a report from first Invictus and then Jarebai, spent some time looking at Tank. All he was able to say was that Tank had once been a servitor of Purity. This explained why he thought he had worked with Laurence and Invictus before. Laurence said that, given the nature of Remnants, he would not be able to learn more details without taking apart Tank's forces, and he said he was not willing to do such violence to Tank in this particular quest for knowledge.
Madian and Jarebai were unsure what to do. It was clear that there was the faint echo of some ancient battle still being waged here. They had no idea if this was related to No Dinero, or to the killings of Alexius and the demon. They were not sure if they should cut them lose to continue their "sad ballet" (in the words of Jarebai), or if they should try to resolve the situation. They decided short term that Madian and Jarebai would stay with Don, and that they would leave Tank at the Protection tether.
Somewhere during this time, Madian and Jarebai also met Sharon Press, the Soldier of Judgement, at dinner. Sharon gave them a file that had all the information she was able to obtain about Equality Corporation and the Happytimes Textile Factory, the Tether to Greed. She also had information about No Dinero. As far as the records were concerned, No Dinero was what it appeared to be: a building that developers wanted to condemn, but that was in uncertain legal status as a result of the efforts by a No Dinero lawyer trying to keep the building as it were. The only odd thing was that the Equality Corporation had expressed interest in buying the location starting just about a week ago— at about the same time Alexius, the now vessel-killed Mercurian of Protection, started investigating No Dinero.
It was now about midnight between Friday and Saturday, and Madian decided that it would be a good time to go back to No Dinero (with Don) and set up her textiles. (They had gone shopping earlier in the day.) They arrived to find the front door locked. Madian picked the lock, but after getting inside was faced with MP (carrying a shotgun) and another local. Evidently they slept upstairs. They thought they were facing an intruder. Since he didn't know Madian very well, MP was rather taken aback to find her coming in at midnight through a locked door. He asked her to leave and come back at a humane time the next day. He also asked her why she was bringing in the big homeless guy. Madian refused to leave, and in fact barged on downstairs. There was a brief confrotation between Don and MP, with Don lifting MP by the scruff of his neck, but Jarebai was just barely able to defuse the situation. Thereafter, MP and the other No Dinero local went downstairs and demanded that Madian leave, and told her that because of her behavior she was no longer welcome there. Not wanting to get to a confrontation that would require her to kill them, Madian left.
While that confrontation was playing itself out, Don defused the anger he had built up by hitting some brick walls in a nearby alley. Jarebai did notice the minor amounts of symphonic disturbance that his destruction of bits of wall caused.
Session 7: June 27
More stuff happened. Due to delays in writing the summary, details have been forgotten, but here's the upshot:
Futher investigations of No Dinero, including via a Jarebai-possessed N.D. groupie, showed up nothing that was of particular interest. This also included investigations at local historical archives.
Via Malleus' further head-pounding in the underworld, they found out that there was another cop who was a demon : Lannie Perkins, a Habbailte with a Role as a homocide detective. She has a servant, a Soldier named Bernard Franks.
Investigation of Roger Francis' computer (Roger Francis being the Greed cop who was killed before Jarebai and Madian arrived in town) showed Bernard Franks address.
Bernard Franks was confronted.
Lannie Perkins got killed; witnesses reported seeing Malleus fleeing the scene, and there were also witnesses reporting him having used a flaming sword. Malleus denied it all.
A visit to the scene saw the witness trying to spread the flaming sword stories. Madian and Jarebai managed to capture him, but he disappeared while they were driving him off, trussed up, in Jarebai's truck.
Madian found herself drawn to an anthropological museum near the historical archives. Eventually this lead to the discovery of a very powerful artifact, a Scandinavian war hammer with a short handle. Jarebai guessed that this was Mjollnir, Thor's hammer. This led them to realize that Don may well be Thor.
Don— or, rather, Thor— was reunited with his hammer, at which point he got his marbles back. He had been out of it for a long time. Jarebai also guessed that the person behind everything, and the person they almost caugt, was Loki. Thor confirmed that Loki had the ability to shape change into anything from the size of a mouse up to the size of a Giant... and that he probably turned into a mouse in order to escape.
Invictus guessed that Tank was probably the remnant of Tancred, who was a Malakite of Purity in charge of taking down Thor back during the Purity Crusades many centuries ago.
Malleus also figured out that a couple people (unknown if they are humans or celestials) associated with the Death tether in town were almost certainly responsible for the occasional disappearance of a homeless person. The people were described as scruffy sorts who ride motorcycles.
Session 8: June 27
Knowing that Loki was probably in town stirring up trouble, and knowing that despite the fact that both sides should be aware that it was a third party, things were still on edge with the Protection tether, Jarebai suggested that nobody leave the Protection tether without a buddy, for protection, and that they should stay on alert.
Jarebai, Madian, and Thor went shopping for some clothes for Thor. They found some good things for him at an Army surplus stor. Jarebai spent some time trying to explain things to Thor which Thor, who had been out of it for a long time, was confused about. The conventions of modern society were very different from what Thor remembered, as a result of there being so many more people, so packed together. Jarebai also explained guns.... Thor was vaguely horrified about the changes in personal combat. He thought he would be able to adapt, for during his centuries as a confused wanderer, he had picked up some things, but much of that time was very fuzzy to him.
After this, Jarebai, Madian, and Thor went to investigate the scene where Lannie Perkins had been killed. Investigating it the evidence at the scene— incidental damage to the walls of the alley, blood spatter patterns, that sort of thing— they concluded that it was probably three people; one main person with a sword, backed up by a couple of people probably with lead pipes. Not exactly the same MO as the killings of the demon and angel that seems to have started this whole thing.
As they were investigating, Madian noticed that there was a person— a dirty blonde white guy in jeans and a Seattle Seahawks T-shirt— observing them. They tried to stroll towards him nonchalantly, and he started strolling away. Jarebai went around the block to head him off, and eventually they grabbed him. They pulled him into an alley, Thor holding him head down. Madian resonated on him, and when he lied, Thor banged his head into the ground (hard) to get across the point that lying wasn't allowed. They figured out that this was Granach, a demon associated with the Greed tether, and that he wasn't responsible for any of the deaths — and that he didn't know who was, but suspected that the angels were responsible for killing the two demons.
As they were questioning Granach, Japhia showed up. She was in the vessel of a short, stocky, muscled, and tatooed Puerto Rican woman. They were not far from the Greed tether, so she probably came from there. Weilding a .44, she demanded that everybody freeze. Due to an Infernal intervention, Madian lost both her sight and hearing temporarily, and she began screaming. Eventually, she got her marbles back, and Japhia didn't have to shoot anybody. Japhia wanted to speak alone with Jarebai. Madian objected forcefully, but eventually and reluctantly gave in. Madian and Thor returned to the truck, while Jarebai— leaving his cell phone open so that Madian could hold her resonance on Japhia through it— went to speak with Japhia.
Japhia confirmed that indeed she was a servitor of the War, sent to investigate what was going on, and indicated in broad terms that her investigation confirmed what Jarebai had learned. She said that normally she would prefer to be fighting Jarebai on the battlefield, but did not want to engage in this fight where both sides were clearly being manipulated by a third party. Jarebai remained cagey and did not reveal to Japhia that he had figured out who Thor was, and that he suspected Loki's involvement. He did say that he had found nothing special about No Dinero, and Japhia confirmed it. Jarebai told Japhia about the upcoming concert at No Dinero, and Japhia said that she would go there.
Madian said that for as long as her resonance had lasted, Japhia had not lied. The three of them returned to the Protection tether.
At the same time, Jarebai, in the body of one of the No Dinero flunkies, was approached by another flunky who started asking him similar questions to what he'd been asking yesterday: gee, isn't it strange that so many weird people have been interested, do you think there's something odd about this place, do you think there's anything occult, etc. Jarebai and this new friend did some more investigation around No Dinero, not finding anything.
The evening of the concert approached. Initially, Jarebai (in his Jason Perry vessel), Thor, and Madian, all in Jarebai's truck, patrolled near the Greed tether, just in case the No Dinero concert was intended as a distraction. Meanwhile, Jarebai, still posessing the No Dinero servant, was at the concert, and Invictus was to join him there. Zeke and Malleus were patrolling the general area around No Dinero in Zeke's car.
As the conert approached, things began to happen. Jarebai became more suspicious of his "new friend". The offensively-named bands showed up. Lots of punks, kids, and the occasional "slumming it" yuppie came for the concert. Japhia arrived; Jarebai spoke with her. She indicated that she had with her Buck— a slouching and lazy looking demon— and four Soldiers of Hell. Jarebai pointed out his new friend, and asked if she had any Shedites present; she did not. Jarebai also pointed out his new friend to Invictus. Jarebai watched as Buck, probably a Djinn, evidently attuned himself to the new Shedite.
After the concert begain, Jarebai begain to feel more and more antipathy towards Japhia, thinking that she was going to betray them, and that he hated her. He realized that this was probably manipulation, and began to suspect that his "new friend" might in fact be Loki, having taken on the form of one of the No Dinero flunkies. He warned Invictus of this. They decided that Jarebai would try to get the new friend upstairs (as nobody else was on the second floor), where they would corner him and question him.
Meanwhile, Jarebai (as Jason Perry), Madian, and Thor drove back toward No Dinero. As they arrived, it was clear things were coming to a head. Madian noticed that there seemed to be a number of skinhead types, many on motorcycles and some others in old beat-up cars, converging on No Dinero. They arrived, and went in, initially intending to join Jarebai in his questioning of his new fried and suspected Loki.
As this was going on, Jarebai's new friend used a Song on him— later identified as the Ethereal Song of Attraction— that suddenly made Jarebai feel very protective of the new friend, and wanting very much to defend him. This started to get ugly, as Invictus came into second-floor bedroom, and Jarebai opened fire upon Invictus with MD's shotgun.... Invictus was rather surprised and ordered Jarebai to stand down. Meanwhile, downstairs, Jarebai was suddenly obsessed with protecting his new friend, and expressed the same to Madian and Thor. Madian, suspicious, resonated on him, and figured out something was wrong with him. As all of this was going on, a whole group of skinheads burst through the door, armed with lead pipes and axes, and began beating on random punks who were hanging out on the first floor. (The actual venue for the concert was downstairs.)
Jarebai began performing the Song of Thunder, and Thor, excited by the prospect of that song, joined him in Chorus. The two of them sang the song, stunning most of the skinheads and punks in the room; Madian was able to resist. Madian was also able to convince Thor that Jarebai had fallen under the influence of Loki. Thor grabbed Jarebai, constraining him; Jarebai used the Celestial Song of Motion to teleport away... but a Divine Intervention on the performance of the song allowed him in some ineffable way to teleport out from under the effects of the Ethereal Song of Attraction.
Himself again, Jarebai, in two bodies on either side of his new friend upstairs, did a log of damage to the man and got him captured, a sword at his throat. Oddly, the damage did cause Disturbance, indicating that this was probably not Loki... but could be a human possessed by a Shedite. Thor and Madian joined them upstairs, and the four of them (including Invictus) started questioning the man. He revealed that he was a Shedite, and while they guessed he was a Shedite of Factions, he didn't admit to it. He did give his name as Asahel. He claimed not to be responsible for the deaths of the angel and demon that started all of this (confirmed by Madian's resonance), but that he was taking advantage of the situation. He also was dragging out the conversation, so that enough time would elapse after his failed attempt to go celestial so that he could try again. The angels decided to let him do it, and he did— and was quickly pursued by Madian.
Madian and Asahel began a celestial slugfest. Asahel was outmatched; although he was able to get some damage in, Madian was the better celestial combatant, and she managed to strip two forces off of him. He remained a demon, so it was clear that this wasn't a base demon, but somebody more important. Invictus, eventually finished with the corporeal business detailed below, joined Madian, and together the two of them stripped a third force form Asahel. Asahel begain to plead for his life, saying he would go away and cause no more trouble, that he was just an opportunist, that he wasn't responsible for the real mess, and that he would never bother them again if they let him go away. Madian and Invictus pressed the attack— and a favorable Divine Intervention allowed them to suddenly go all Celestial-fu and force strip him down to nothing much more quickly than normally would have been necessary in a Celestial slugfest.
Meanwhile, Jarebai (in both bodies), Thor, and Invictus went back downstairs to deal with the skinhead situation. Japhia and her Soldiers of Hell had come up to the first floor from the basement, followed by some other gawkers who had been at the concert. They had engaged the skinheads, and were battling them. Also, the skinheads' leader had entered... looking very much like Odin, an elderly Nordic man with one eye. Thor recognized him as Odin, and was taken aback. Odin told Thor not to ally with the angels, for the angels were against their kind. Jarebai tried to convince Thor that they had restored him to his full capacity, and that they had dealt straight with him. Thor was torn, and stayed back from the combat.
Combat ensued. "Odin"— who would later reveal to be Loki masquerading as Odin, as Jarebai suspected— used an Ethereal song to do serious Mind hits to Jarebai. Jarebai opened up with guns, and "Odin" responded with a .44 of his own, hitting both of Jarebai's bodies. Invictus, after missing "Odin" with his sword a couple of times, realized that Jarebai might be in trouble from another song that did Mind hits to Jarebai, and used the Ethereal Song of Shields to form a protective area from which Jarebai could shoot. The exchange of gunfire continued, while "Odin" contined to plead to Thor to help him against their mutual enemies, the angels. (Japhia and her Soldiers of Hell kept the other skinheads occupied during all of this.)
Jarebai eventually convinced Thor that this was not really Odin, and Thor flung Mjollnir at "Odin". "Odin" was already weakened from Jarebai's gunfire; Mjollnir caved in his head. He returned to his natural form— with flaming red hair, recognizable to Thor, at least, as Loki— and died.
Invictus took off to help Madian in her celestial combat, while Thor and Jarebai, assisted by Japhia and her Soldiers, chased off the skinheads who were not too wounded to move.
Invictus and Madian, their celestial combat with the Shedite complete, returned to No Dinero; together with Thor and Jarebai, to find that things had more or less been wrapped up. At this point, the concert below had finally stopped, as despite the tremendous noise of the concert, everybody realized that something very violent was happening on the ground floor. Quite a number of gawkers from the audience had made their way up, and indeed a goodly number of punks had joined in the brawl with the skinheads.
The floor was littered with wounded and unconscious punks and skinheads, and the skull-caved body of Loki. Zeke and Malleus arrived, the latter extremely disappointed that he had missed all of the action. MP, the leader of No Dinero, saw Madian, recognized her, and said "Of course you would be here when there's this much trouble!" The angels had a quick tete-a-tete, and, since the police were almost certainly on their way, decided that a quick exit stage right would be a good idea. Presumably, Japhia and her contingent decided the same.
They returned to the Protection tether. Madian spent a fair amount of time performing the Celestial Song of Healing to restore some of the damage she took in her combat. Jarebai phoned the seneschal of the Greed tether to inform him that their mutual problem had been resolved. Mahari, the seneschal, indicated that he was pleased that he would be able to resume sparring with the Protection angels on their previous level. Hanging up, Jarebai muttered that the guy was a creep... but what can you expect.
And, so, things, evidently, were resolved. In the coming days, presumably they would deal with the reamining loose ends. Jarebai had a host who'd been damaged that he needed to get healed up and returned to No Dinero. And, there was bound to be some complications from the mess left behind at No Dinero. As far as they could tell, No Dinero was a red herring from the very beginning, something Loki used to suck in the angel and demon who were killed in the first place.
Malleus, eager to get involved in some action himself, suggested that they now go and attack the Death tether. Invictus indicated that since this would be a battle they had planned, rather than one they were suddenly drawn into, he would be willing to consider it. However, he didn't want to rush in headlong as Malleus would have them do, but wanted to spend the time to investigate and determine if that were a realistic potential course of action.