London 1802: The Shadow's Trap

Monday November 1, 2010 at 5:30pm world of darkness, london 1802, game session notes Comments (0) »

The group sat in the kitchen as the rains continued the afternoon of Thursday, April 19th.  The group had been talking about the the murdered Bishop and had decided to attend the public funeral which was to be held in square of St. Paul's Cathedral the following morning when Robert returned to the bathhouse with some other news.  He told them he'd spoken with Diana again, and that she was upset.  Apparently the person called Lance was being held prisoner on the Isle of Dogs.  She had tried to go to him, but had been driven away somehow.  Despite the pouring rain, they decided they needed to return to the Isle, an action they'd been discussing for some time.

The group took the carraige as far as they could manage, but the east side was in shambles.  Robert had also reported a significant increase in inter-gang conflicts that were remaining just below the public's consciousness due to certain factors.  Carefully, they made their way through the docks.

There were very few people on the street.  Recent events, the poor weather and the general sense of fear that permeated the city seemed to have caused certain aspects of city life to grind to a halt.  Gerald noted several people peering suspiciously out their windows as they passed.

The Isle of Dogs itself was all but destroyed.  Never a "nice" area of town, the fires and rampant crime had left it ravaged.  It wasn't until they'd nearly reached the center of the Isle that they saw anything truly unusual.

At the very heart of the district there was a broad area that had been burned completely - to the point that it was nothing but ash and loose rubble.  Even the cobblestones and foundations of now-destroyed buildings bore signs of melting by extreme heat.  Katherine immediately got the sense that there was something else present.

Focusing her eyes into the twilight, Katherine beheld a massive stone obilisk and around it, some sort of swirling spiritual ephemera.  Chained to the bottom of it was an unconscious man.  She tried to approach it, but it seemed to always be some distance away.  It was then that she remembered Elston mentioning something about a place called the Shadow - a world that was completely distinct from this one.  Katherine closed her eyes and willed herself through the gap and into the realm of Shadow.  Her companions were shocked to see her completely disappear.

It was dark on the other side, but less hazy and Katherine was able to see details much more clearly.  She approached the man, who seemed to be faintly struggling in whatever state of unconsciousness he was in.  She tried to rouse him, but he did not respond.  Deciding this must be Lance, she tried to consider some way of freeing him, eventually deciding tor try pick the locks on the manacles that bound him there.

Back in the material world, something was happening.  The other three watched as dozens of dogs began emerging from the alleys into the burned clearing.  Apart from just their numbers, there was something else strange about their behavior that they couldn't quite quantify.  As another group of dogs approached from the alleyway behind them, they discovered that the dogs seemed unnaturally aggressive and they did not hesitate to attack.

The resultant combat was chaotic  The three attempted to batter or stab the dogs to keep them at bay.  Gerald felt a strange muscle spasm that caused him to drop the medicine bag he'd been using to bludgeon a nearby dog whereupon several objects scattered out of it - a few of which Gerald didn't remember putting into his bag.  Molly felt a strange piercing in her mind and the world became hazy and indistinct.  Looking around, she saw Katherine at the base of a massive obilisk.  She had only just thought that she wanted to be over where her friend was when she was suddenly there.  Gerald and Robert were once again astounded to see their other friend vanish.

At this point, many of the other dogs, having wandered into the clearing and not finding anything, turned there attention to Robert and Gerald.  Gerald looked around and noted the cracked door on the building next to which they stood.  Bashing it open, the two dashed inside, scattering whatever furniture they encountered behind them in an attempt to block the way for the crazed dogs as they clamoured upstairs.

Katherine had managed to pick the locks and she and Molly attempted to extract Lance.  When they were successful, the howling wind-like sound they'd heard stopped suddenly and it was eerily quiet.  The two then willed themselves back across the Gauntlet. 

By the time they reappeared in the clearing, the dogs had left.  Gerald and Robert were looking out the window of the second floor of the shack into which they had fled.  Katherine and Molly re-materialized but Lance, whom they'd been carrying, was not with them.  Katherine peered once more into the Twilight and saw his translucent form lying on the ground.

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