Well, that was certainly interesting...
The night before last, I was called to Marcus's mansion. In the garage there, he and one of his associates, Eobshin, were waiting to present me with a piece of equipment (on loan). It was a 9mm handgun with curious properties. Supposedly, it could ignore all mystical armor and could sometimes dispel magical effects upon a the target.
I was curious as to the occasion, but he wasn't very forthcoming. He bid me go on to meet my team (who had just called a meeting) and to remember the weapon. And so I did.
At the meeting, Ilsa (as well as the rest of us) helped us to figure out how to narrow down our list of suspects. She also instructed us in how to protect our minds from possession. After some (what I assume was) prodigious hacking on the part of Agnes and some others, we discovered that the riots at the band's shows began after the new manager, Travis Delamont, took over. That seemed as good a place to start as any.
The next night, the concert. I was not personally looking forward to it, as I had no desire to wake up next to Chunk again. However, Cyril worked some of his magic and protected our minds. Which allowed me to see some very interesting things...
There were...things, whirling around on the ceiling. Every once in a while, one of them would swoop down and enter someone. As the band started playing, Ilsa suddenly made a beeline for the corner of the stage. I looked to where she was headed and saw a man in a suit - and William Birkin.
(For a recapitulation, Birkin was the fellow with the shocking machine and the stabbing games.)
We were accosted on the way by various dancers or attendees. After a few minutes worth of effort, the others were able to extricate themselves, while I remained surrounded. A few minutes of posturing and word-slinging later, and Ilsa had drawn her sword. That was enough for me, so I drew Thunder and fired into the ceiling, clearing the area around me, before moving over to Agnes to keep myself in between her and this Travis fellow, who had, incidentally, turned pale white.
Birkin, in his own frustrating way, did absolutely nothing for a time. Between us all we quickly dispatched Delamont, only to have him replaced by some sort of demonic creature with four arms. He lashed out to punch three of us (Greyson, Ilsa, and myself), but only succeeded in hitting me. I managed to get off a lucky shot with Marcus's enchanted handgun before Ilsa completely annihilated it.
Right around then, Birkin was angry, and some of the possessed folks erupted into blood with those things we fought during the Oliver rescue. Turning my focus to the "child" demons (as they were far too close to the mages for my comfort), I saw him try to backhand Ilsa. For some reason, his hand didn't make it. However, that was apparently just the impetus an unexpected attendee needed.
Marcus walked right up to Birkin. Eobshin wasn't far behind him. Marcus did something that caused a whole bunch of shadows to leap from his hands towards Birkin...
...and nothing. Nothing happened at all. Perhaps the most frightening part is that Marcus, himself, looked surprised.
It seemed a fairly even fight between the three of them, Marcus, Ilsa, and Birkin. It didn't seem that one could hurt another. We, for the most part, quickly mopped up the children demons, and I had just enough presence of mind as Agnes was dragging me off to safety, to fire off a parting shot at Birkin with the 9mm. And it hit.
It serves the bastard right.
Nadya was in the corner farthest from us, with the powerhouses in between. Greyson was off to the side watching. Then Marcus did something that...that even now I find very difficult to explain. As best I can figure, he opened a giant hole in the ground and an innumerable amount of ghosts swarmed out of it to attack Birkin. Nadya screamed and curled into a ball and it looked like Agnes was about to have a full blown breakdown.
I wonder what that says about me.
At any rate, Birkin then sprouted large, clockwork wings and took off into the sky (in a hole in the roof that he had created). On the other side of the door (where Oliver had stayed) was the sound of a battering ram (and a bit of hut-hut-hut nonsense). Marcus got us out of there, and back into Cyril's office.
Nadya healed both Ilsa and myself before she made her way home (I plan to go and check on her soon, but sleep will serve her best now). Agnes seemed near catatonic, so we made sure to get her home. Greyson wandered off, dealing with his own inner (and please dear God hopefully figurative) demons.
It was here, with just Cyril, Ilsa, and myself in the room, that I displayed a weakness. I moved as far away from Ilsa as possible. I have no doubt that she could destroy me as easily as she did the demon, but I am no longer scared little Gavin, I am Geralt, a Ventrue, and should be acting accordingly. Cyril seemed to be having a crisis of faith (he had been raised Catholic - I would not have guessed) which they discussed for some time.
After Ilsa left, I found a few willing women (and at least one quite more than willing) that let me feed upon them. After leaving the last one somewhat deliriously content, I walked around the projects, looking for candidates for my, and hopefully our, new venture.
(NOTE: I must contact someone within the Camarilla, likely Lavarial, for information regarding the filing of reports. No doubt both Tessa and the Prince will be well aware of it by the time I have done so, but it pays to be thorough.)
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