Sessions
On Tuesday each of the members of the group were asked to meet for dinner the next day.
Campbell discovered a note in the book she was using for research.
Olga was contacted about a possible job.
Renee received a letter that intimated he was in danger.
Cas simply found herself at the restaurant, and later decided to go back.
Lindsay had a temporary job washing dishes.
None of them were able to readily establish from where the invitations had come (with the exception of Lindsay, who knows who got the job for her, for what that is worth).
Cas and Olga were the first to arrive. Actually, Lindsay had been there since opening, washing the few dishes required as the largely nondescript patrons came and went. The area is crummy, and so are the clientle. Cas was a more self-confident patron that normal for them, coming from a harder part of town (by a few blocks). Olga, on the other hand, with her velvet coat and careful presentation, was right out of the experience of this place. And she didn't even order anything to eat.
The third arrival was a mature woman. She immediately took control of the situation, commanding Cas and Olga to help bring some tables together and join her. As the others arrived she drew them all to the same table and ultimately introduced them to each other, after noticing and nabbing Lindsay as she went past. She seemed to know at least a bit about everyone other than Lindsay, who she pleased she had spotted.
Campbell Jones she indicated was a cop, good at discovering people's secrets.
Olga Troynikov she identified as someone who finds things - interesting things.
Renee Saint-Clair she described as a doctor - someone who helps people.
Cas was simply someone who neither finds things, nor helps people; but is good in a fight.
And Lindsay introduced herself, and was then labeled "quiet".
The woman was not forthcoming with her name, or any sort of description. She did call herself None at one point. But that might have been rather than giving any sort of name.
She made it clear that she'd called people together, but the woman was somewhat circumspect about why. She indicated that some sort of group was watching all of them. Perhaps the group was called the New Inquisition. She intimated that they could be dangerous, perhaps even fatal. She claimed not to be part of the group, but perhaps had some knowledge of them from past dealings of some description.
Alex Abel was mentioned, perhaps in association with this New Inquisition.
She talked about a missing or captured or hidden child who, she said, must be found. At one point she seemed to indicate the kid was white. She seemed to indicate the knowledge of the child was, in itself, important. But actually locating the child might give them leverage to get out from under their difficulty.
There was some indication that the woman had been involved in hiding the child, along with someone else. It seems that the other person (a man, it would seem) had told her that to find the child one would need to locate the Heart of All Sorrows. She claimed not to know what, or where, it might be.
She talked a fair bit about being chased or oppressed in some way by others, perhaps the same group she was warning them about. At one point, shortly after muttering some foreign words and blurting out a lot of the above information, one of her hands seemed to leap of its own accord to the table, grab a fork, and stab her other arm before she was able to control it.
At that point she made to leave, and after a few final words she dashed out of the place, warning the others to watch out.
The group was not silent through the conversation. Renee, in particular, was quite vocal about voicing his concerns at being invited to such a group meeting with people he didn't know. Others asked questions, or ventured that the woman (or the rest of the group) was nuts.
By the time the woman had fled, Lindsay was also gone, and could not be found.
Renee ended up paying for the meal.
It was decided that people would see if they could find out anything about the stuff the woman had told them, and then meet for dinner on Friday. The venue selected was a restaurant that Olga frequents.
Renee's car was attacked and he lost the wheels and CD player, a window was broken, and he later found the pistol in the glove box was missing. Cas was signaled by a local who was able to lead her to the location of the tires, and the two helped to put them back on. Money changed hands. And at some point Renee managed to lose track of his wallet; Cas was impressed at how much cash he still had left in it.
The following day, Thursday, Campbell tracked down Lindsay and gave her a business card. She also told her about the meeting on Friday, and urged her to come along.
Coda
A mature woman runs thorugh the back streets. Her steps are firm and deliberate - she has run like this before many times. Every few yards she throws a glance over her shoulder, although she knows that it will do no good: they don't have to be able see her.
Her flight is brought to an abrupt stop as her whole body spasms. Her arms fly out at improbable angles and her back arches impossibly. For a long moment her form seems suspended in the air - the front of a single extended foot the only contact it makes with the ground. The moment passes. Her limbs fall, as though released by some unseen force, and a scream rips its way out from her throat. Her body hits the cold paving stones.
As her body lies there it twitches and writhes. It is not her muscles, though, its the very bones beneath - the essential stuff of her body. Her joints buckle and twist as the mass shifts and melts.
She screams to an uncaring sky: "Not again! You bastard!"
Session 2 - 22/08/2000Thursday was a day for everyone to find out things. Some opted to look into The New Inquisition, some into Alex Abel, some into the Heart of All Sorrows. And some into each other.
Cas did a lot on Thursday, let's just get that out in the open. For starters she set out to find out where Renee lived and worked. On the way she discovered that she was being followed by a quite competent and suprisingly appropriate tail. She ditched him on the way up to the far north, where Renee had his home.
Now, Renee had made sure to get up early and take the damaged car to the repair place. He'd also set it up with his friends to meet before work in the secret second basement below the medical facility. One of them, Michael Warnock, didn't show up, so they sent Claire Dowd over to check out what was going on.
Unable to see an easy way to waltz into Renee's property, and fairly sure that he must already be at work, Cas used a business card from Renee's wallet to set herself on course for his offices. When she arrived, however, she was equally certain that they would not be pleased to see her in there, and even an attempt to set up an appointment by phone went all wrong. So she opted to wait for him to come out for lunch. And that's when she noticed what she was certain was a tail watching Renee.
Meanwhile, Campbell had gone to talk with Lindsay, as mentioned in the last report.
Lindsay spent much of the day at the library, looking up the various terms mentioned, and becoming increasingly worried as she found out what the "Inquisition" (the Spanish one) was.
Olga set out to see what she could find out from her contacts. She asked her police friend about The New Inquisition. He seemed to think he'd heard the term, but wasn't sure it was anything too serious. He perked up when told about a potentially missing kid (white), and said he'd look into it and get back to her.
Renee did eventually head out for lunch, and Cas managed to get him to agree to meet with her later in the afternoon. While she was waiting she called Campbell, and the two of them shared information. Campbell had not been aware of anyone watching her, but vowed to be vigilant.
Cas found her tail from the morning waiting in the McDonalds they had selected for their meeting, so she and Renee went to another cafe and she told him about the various tails and offered her help. Eventually he agreed to let her watch out for the tails, at the very least.
After leaving her police contact, Olga went to talk to an antique dealer about the Heart of All Sorrows. He hadn't heard about it, but he said he'd see what new he could locate, although knowing something of its form or origin would help a lot. He did have a concrete impression of the New Inquisition as being a possibly large group moving in on the occult fringe. He indicated they perhaps used strong-arm tactics and even might have bumped some people off. He gave her the name of an exorcist, Father Tipsy, and told her to look for him in bars. He said he knew more about them.
Renee returned to his offices, where the radiology machines were playing up. He was immediately assailed by questions about the whereabouts of both Michael Warnock and Claire Dowd, neither of whom had shown up. He decided to head out to Michael's place to see what had happened.
When the tail outside the medical facility finally left (apparently not following anyone), Cas called Renee's mobile to alert him. She found that he was in transit, and was instructed to take a taxi to Michael's home.
First Renee, and then the two of them, searched around Michael's home, which was by all appearances quite empty. In the end they found the door to the basement was open, and located Claire's dead body; she had her throat cut, but there were no signs of a struggle.
Renee got into trouble chasing a nosy neighbour, and was ultimately cuffed and put into a police cruiser to settle down while a statement was taken about his "home invasion". Cas had used Renee's mobile to call Campbell, in the meantime, and the detective soon arrived. She took a uniform with her and located the body. Renee's connection to the body was established and he was released to her care. Campbell managed to claim the crime scene as her own, and started an investigation.
Renee departed hastily when he realized that his family might be in danger as well, and was unable to contact them by phone. Cas eventually made the trek back to the south side.
Renee sent his family off to visit a relative and then called the rest of his team at work. They organized to get their families safe and then book themselves into the Hilton for the night. Soon he called Cas and convinced her (really had to twist her arm, let me tell you) to come over as well, as protection.
By the evening Olga had managed to determine that Father Tipsy was out of town and would be back on the weekend. She also had some idea of where to find him when he was around.
When she returned home, Lindsay found a message from a considerate Campbell. It warned that some of the group seemed to be being watched or followed. Lindsay was unable to detect any such observation taking place, but made herself ready to leave at the drop of a hat. She made her bed amongst the animal cages she is responsible for tending.
Over in the Hilton, Renee, Cas, and the other doctors all had a bit of a chat about what was going on, and decided to sleep on it.
Coda
Glenn was trying hard to read - the others had turned in, but Cas kept pacing the floor like a caged animal.
"Uh, look, do you want to get a drink downstairs, uh, Cas?"
"You don't get to go outside until I say so. Its dangerous out there. Order us a bottle."
By the time room service brings the nightcap, the two of them are already dancing around each other verbally, each trying to find out about what the other knows. But the liquor helps to relax the mood a bit.
"You got any other tatoos?"
"Sure, Doc, come over here and I'll show you..."
Not too much later Glenn is giggling and putting his finger to his mouth: "Shhhhh! We don't want to wake up Renee." Cas has a cat-like calm in her eyes...
Glen lurches: "Aww damn! I think I'm gonna..."
Session 3 - 5/09/2000Friday morning, both Lindsay and a man we will call Aidan (for now) were to be at the Saint-Claire medical facility rather early to meet various people. Aidan had been called as an expert consultant to discuss a case with Michael Warnock. Lindsay was to do filing duties for, it turned out, the same doctor. Neither were too impressed at having to wait around, nor at being told they'd be contacted during the next week or two to reschedule, as the doctor was out of town.
Aidan spent most of the rest of his day taping interviews about his newest book.
Lindsay opted to watch the building for a bit, having worked out that the loud frenchman was connected to it. Her diligence resulted in a long bout of tailing, which took her all the way back to the Etruscan to overhear a somewhat subtly probing conversation about the events of the other night when she (and others) were there.
Meanwhile, Olga had set out to contact her federally connected friends. She asked questions about a variety of relevant topics, but got no direct responses, but did get promises of information, and of dinner.
Campbell hooked up with Renee and Cas. Actually they dropped in on her at work and they all had a sharing session regarding the disappearance of Michael and the death of Claire. Then the three of them went to both the medical facility and the Etruscan, looking for any useful information. Not much was to be had, however.
Renee had a certain amount of adminstrative stuf to deal with at the facility, although he managed to delegate to Michelle and Glenn where possible. They all found time to look for a divination ritual, even though it meant showing Cas into their secret lair. Michelle was responsible for obtaining the required components while Renee and Cas dealt with Campbell.
During the afternoon Glenn managed to get in a shopping trip with Cas. Where the two of them went, and why they came back giggling, remain a mystery to those at the medical facility. But Cas seems to have netted rather a lot of gear, including leather pants and a long coat.
Renee managed to put a few things together and contacted Aidan, who he realized specializes in cults and cult-deprogramming, topics which seem suitably relevant to groups called "The New Inquisition" and such. He's perhaps a bit suprised to find that Aidan knows of such a group, and babbles a lot in the process of trying to arrange to meet the man for a late drink at the Hilton.
Some time during all of this the party of Doctors is booked back into the Hilton under an assumed name.
As Renee and Cas set out for the dinner appointment at the Russian restaurant, the other doctors are preparing the divination spell, promising to be careful, and call Renee whenever there is any news at all.
As people arrive at the Russian restaurant, some of them (or someone) realizes that the man over at another table talking to his friend is Aidan... a noted expert on psychology and cult deprogramming... And Aidan can't help but recognize the anxious tones of a the voice of certain Frenchman at the next table...
Coda
Its getting dark, but he tries not to let that bother him. It was worth the risk to spend a bit of time with her - they never seem to get a chance to really talk. But he'd expected to be back before now. They'd be sure to notice that he was not there.
A sound in the bushes by the road startles the boy, and the jumps involuntarily. He peers into the leaves, straining to see whether there is anyone one there. Anyone watching. Anyone waiting. It is too dark to tell, so he backs away, out into the street a bit, before continuing down the road, casting a glance over his shoulder every few feet, just to be sure. He picks up pace.
Without warning, a black car powers around a corner and comes to a sudden halt on the road in front of him. A window opens, and he can see a sillouetted face within.
"Get in! You can't get away that easily!"
The boy's shoulders sag. He trudges resignedly to the car. And puts his hand on the door for a moment before getting in. He looks a long moment at his hand - stark white against the black of the car.
He shakes his head and climbs back into the life he cannot escape.
Session 4 - 19/09/2000Friday evening
The group gathered at Babushka, the Russian restaurant that Olga frequents. As chance luck and destiny would have it, Aidan was meeting with his agent for dinner and a game of chess. It was not long before he was introduced to the table; Renee invited him over to tell them what he knew about the New Inquisition.
In the early stages of the table conversation it became clear that some people needed to catch up on some of what had happend - not everyone knew of the disappearance of Michael, nor of Claire's death. While it was not definitely established that these events were related to their Wednesday evening encounter, the events seemed to be important, at the very least. Several questions were raised about Renee's medical partnet Michelle, as Lindsay described someone matching her description making inquiries that Renee was not aware of.
During the conversation and information swapping, Cas spotted the person that she had seen a day ago following her. He was seated casually across the street. It took some time to alert everyone to the situation, and by the time they began to talk about what to do, the fellow was gone, most likely into a car not unlike the one that had been watching Renee's medical facility.
It was suggested that one or more of them might be bugged (explaining the ability of these tails to turn up where they were headed, rather than simply following them around). Olga indicated she had some equipment that might verify whether bugs were involved. It was decided to adjourn to her apartment, and only written addresses were passed around.
Several different groups made their way to Olga's apartment by different and roundabout routes. The first to arrive (after Olga) was Campbell. Olga experienced Campbell's arrival twice, and was greated the first time with an empty door and a slightly chilly breeze. After the second arrival, however, the detective was definitely present. A quick check indicated that there were no bugs on her. Campbell, however, indicated that a significant magical presence was in the apartment, and recommended departure.
The others arrived uneventfully. A bug was found in one of Renee's coat pockets. Olga put it aside in a secure location for later examination.
Renee asked Olga how the bug got into his pocket, to which she retorted something akin to: "Using my mental powers.... I have no idea!" This greatly amused Cas, who was soon laughing uncontrollably. And was still laughing uncontrollably as people were making to leave. In fact, by this time it was clear that Cas was in trouble. She was unable to catch a breath at all, as thogh something was preventing her from breathing.
Various people attempted to help Cas to breathe. Eventaully Aidan used a heimlich manouvre and she was able to breathe again. During this time a semi-solid tentacle (or so it would seem) attempted to grab Renee as he stood near the doorway. He dashed off towards the hallway window while others tried to work out what to do about it.
The glass in the hallway window shattered, and Renee was spun part way around. Fearing that he had inadvertently become a target, Renee fled up the stairs. Part way up he noticed he was bleeding significantly in the leg, and a sudden wave of shock swept over him. He missed a step, and before he knew what was happening he was tumbling head over heals back down the stairs. Somewhere along the way his arm was battered, and he received a serious blow to the head. He cast around worriedly, in a daze. It was at that point that he felt he could sense the thread of his destiny, however briefly, heading off into the future, unbroken, and perhaps even wrapped in some sort of protection. He passed out, quite content actually.
Cas made a dash to assist Renee and found that her arm was seriously damaged in some way. Eventually she managed to drag him down the stairs, where most of the rest of the group where determining what to do next. Campbell has scanned out the window, but had been unable to spot the origin of the shot, nor any solid sign of danger.
A they were in teh ground floor hallway, something strange happened.
Everyone experienced some sort of vision or impression or event. It is not entirely clear what happened, how long it took, or even whether anything happened at all. As it faded, there was a sense of some sort of linkage between each of them.
Lindsay paniced and tried to run out the front door. Cas was unable to grab her. In her frantic state, Lindsay was unable to make sense of the front door, giving Aidan a chance to talk to her. His words were calm and focused, and touched something within her. She collapsed.
It was found that mobile phones were not working (no power, apparently). Olga asked for help from the friendly ground-floor windower, and they tried her phone, to no avail.
A plan was made. Olga ran out to her car (parked just outside), while covered by Campbell, and watched by Cas. The car was brought around the back of the appartments, and the rest of the group squeezed in. A getaway was effected.
Cas recommended an all-night no-questions-asked emergency room further south in the slums area. Renee was taken there to have his wounds looked at. Bandages were applied and painkillers applied (and purchased). On the way some money was withdrawn from automatic tellers.
There is some disagreement about the next course of action...
Coda
He'd been driving for some time now, but he couldn't remember how long, exactly. The tank seemed to have enough gas to carry him quite a bit further, so he opted to skip the glow of the service station.
Things were a bit hazy. This wasn't his car, at least he didn't remember it. And he wasn't quite sure he could recall where he was heading, at least not when he concentrated on it - it was fine while he was just driving. Indeed, concentration itself was a bit of a challenge. Perhaps he was really exhausted?
The windshield wipers were squeaking. The window was dry. The rain must have stopped a while back. Had it been raining at some point? When was that? And where was he going, again?
Suddenly it struck him that he didn't know about his family.
Panic flooded his veins.
On-coming lights.
Eight of them. (Eight? How could one car have eight lights? Why were some so high off the ground.)
What was that bellowing sound?
Impact.
Session 5 - 3/10/2000Renee was wounded, and had been treated at an all night clinic of sorts. He seemed to be on the mend, but had a fair amount of anesthetic in his system. There was some discussion about where to go next and what to do.
There was a brief stop at a very cheap looking hotel on the far south side of Aurora, but people were quickly convinced that it was not for them, and a tottering Renee was diverted from falling prey to local hoods. It was decided that a moderate hotel near the center of the city would suit the situation.
Olga's car was parked some distance away, in a parking garage, after dropping off those who would not take to the blocks of walking well, and some others to help them out. Two rooms were obtained for "a few days" and the group was nominally split into boys and girls. Renee collapsed into needed rest.
Campbell and Cas opted to catch a taxi out to Renee's facility and see what had become of the other doctors (Glenn and Michelle). After a bit of looking, Cas takes them to the sanctum in the basement.
In the sanctum they find Glenn and Michelle apparently enacting some sort of extended ritual. Oddly, though, their actions seem to be extraordinarily slow. Eventually (after looking around a bit) they decide to see if they can get their attention. A hands-on approach doesn't work at all well, and when things are finally disturbed through the use of a chair, the two participants are tossed around the room. Both are unsure what had happened, and expect it to be a lot earlier than it actually is.
There follows an interrogation of Michelle. She is asked why she checked out things at the Etruscan over lunch, and why she later said that she had not been there. Her answers are evasive, at best, initially. Cas starts to look cheerful at the prospect of some violence...
Session 6 - 10/10/2000Eventually a careful approach by Campbell leads to an admission that she's not sure what she remembers - none of it is clear.
Eventually the two doctors, Campbell, and Cas, all return to the hotel in the city via taxi. Renee is looked over, and people retire to sleep.
Notably, perhaps, Lindsay opts to keep to herself and sleep apart from the others. She does not reappear early the next day (Saturday), but no one takes a great deal of notice.
Saturday morning Cas and Olga take a trip to visit Olga's electronics supplier friend. On the way they withdraw money for a few people, increasing the group's cash reserves. Some of those reserves are used in purchasing another two bug detectors. Questions are asked about the New Inquisition, and some response is forthcoming.
Lindsay wakes late, with a dizzy sort of feeling. She comes down to see what people are doing and comes in on a discussion that takes a lot of the morning. People share information and ideas about the events of the last few days.
At some point here Lindsay indicates that she's not certain of the events of the supposed lunchtime jaunt by Michelle anymore, as she can somewhat vividly recall another set of lunchtime events (concerning a dog hit by a car and a trip to the vet).
At some point Lindsay heads off into the shower. After a while people notice that she has not returned, and Campbell goes to see if she is alright. When Campbell does not return, Michelle goes to see what's happened to the two of them, and eventually Glenn goes to find out why she has not returned either.
Michelle is collected by Olga and Cas as they return from their shopping trip - she is walking along the street seemingly in a daze.
Glenn surprises Campbell and Lindsay in the foggy bathroom, startling the two of them out of an almost trance-like state.
These events bother some people and there is more talking. Magic is mentioned seriously.
Renee's phone rings, and a voice identifies itself as Michael and asks for help...
Session 7 - 12/11/2000Renee's phone rings, and a voice identifies itself as Michael and asks for help. Its unclear where the person on the phone is, nor what he's been doing. He seems hazy and disoriented, and mentions an accident and a truck. He wants to know about his wife and kids. Eventually the connection conks out, perhaps as the result of a bad battery on the remote end. Renee does manage to get the phone number of the calling phone, however, and verifies that it does not answer.
It is decided to report the situation to the police through Campbell, as it relates directly to the matter of the death at Michael's house. Campbell is wired up so that the others can hear what is going on. Details are given to the police, who are adamant that its Campbell's day off and they can handle contacting the relevant authorities to determine the probable location of the phone and any accident.
The phone is found to be registered to a truck driver who should be passing through South Dakota towards North Dakota. His last communications with his company indicated he was in South Dakota.
Campbell locates the local address for the truck driver, and speaks to a woman that should be his wife. She doesn't know particularly where he might be in the state, and is worried that he might be in trouble.
Eventually, frustrated with the slow progress being made, Olga determines to call her contact in the FBI and see whether he can use their resources to locate the last transmitting location of the phone.
Cas notices someone seemingly watching them out of the window of a building opposite the police.
While waiting, Lindsay remembers that she has a phone call to make. Just as she finishes at the public phone down the street from the rest of the group, she catches a glimpse of someone behind her out of the corner of her eye, in time to partially avoid their attempt to grab her.
There are two attackers/would-be-abductors, and a car pulls up to the curb next to them as they try to wrestle and subdue Lindsay with a chemical-soaked rag. She manages to more than hold her own, however, leveling one of them with a very nasty back kick to the groin.
The rest of the group, noticing what is going on, have rushed over, and Cas manages to clock one on the head, and dive after the other as he jumps into their car in an attempt to flee. He is unaware, perhaps, that Olga has already blocked the car in with her own vehicle.
Cas catches sight of the one who is driving, and realizes it is someone she knows, and the voice of the one she has tackled belongs to another person she knows...
Session 8 - 26/11/2000Something happened near the start of the session, and Lindsay found herself holding the telephone in her hand as she caught sight of someone passing her out of the corner of her eye. The events of the attempted abduction had been in some way rewound or erased. The same was true for each of the others, all of whom retained their vivid impressions of the events, but found themselves returned to where they were before they occured.
The person passing Lindsay turned out to be completely non-threatening.
Most people reacted at least a bit to the experience. Olga started the car and picked up a silent and dazed Lindsay. Both Renee and Aidan were unable to deal with the situation and froze. Cas was able to stun Renee out of it, but Aidan proved to be in deeper shock. Notably, perhaps, Michelle and Glenn seemed to be unaffected, and did not recall the other events at all.
Campbell returned to the police office and made enquiries to the mobile phone company. The queries took some time, and the result was that as far as they could tell the phone in question had not been used since late on Friday evening (9pm?) in Rapid City, South Dakota. Campbell asked her work-mates about their progress on the same line of research and was told there was some problem with the information that they were waiting on.
Meanwhle, Cas had talked with Lindsay about the apparent watcher in the building across the street, and the two of them went to locate the person. They had some trouble getting to the correct floor when the door was jammed or locked. Lindsay opted to try the floor above, and investigated an unlocked door, but didn't find out much before she felt that Cas was nearing someone on the floor below. Cas had been unsure which of two doors to open. In the end she knocked on both and pushed aside the ceiling tiles to make her way into the legal firm (the other was an importer). Once inside she unlocked the door and played the part of someone who had walked through the wrong door. The person in the legal office (for there was someone, and this seemed to be the right office) claimed to be a hard-working junior suit. When pressed by Cas and then Lindsay, he eventually indicated that perhaps he had been watching out the window, but he didn't mean anything by it. He offered money, and threatened to call the police. Eventually Cas and Lindsay left, unable to detect anything beyond a spineless peon in the man.
In the meantime, Renee and Olga struggled to deal with Aidan's shock. They asked for help from Campbell and got an office assistant who didn't provide very much assistance. By the time that Cas, Lindsay, and Campbell were all finally back, everyone was ready to leave.
Olga received a call from her FBI contact. He also had been unable to detect any phone calls made by the phone that he'd been asked to track. Having blown his afternoon to search for the information for Olga, he seemed pretty keen to at least get a dinner date out of her in the future.
The group were headed initially to a bar to track down "father tipsy", but detoured to the medical facility. There they tended to Aidan and searched for a ritual that claims to ensure "True Sight" of things, in the hopes it would allow them to protect themselves against future visions and odd experiences, or at least see them as false. The notes and translation of the relevant text were extensive, and Michelle and Glenn took them back to the hotel where they went to look after Aidan.
The rest of the group went on to the 34th Street Bar, to search for the famous tipsy father. There were several stops made along the way, including a shopping spree to outfit those with a lack of changes of clothing. A stop at Campbell's allowed her to confront her cat and check her messages as well as change and grab general stuff.
The 34th Street Bar turned out to be a bit of a dive. Olga made directly for the bar and asked after father tipsy. While the father was not in evidence, the barman indicated that a fellow named Barney might be able to help them. The bar maid (after taking drinks orders from the others) said she'd seen Barney leaving out the back door a short time ago. Olga grabbed Cas and the two of them investigated.
Someone was being beaten up out back. Identifying with the underdogs, Cas and Olga intimidated and beat the stuffing out of the two (Cas seemed to have at least broken a few ribs in the end) aggressors, and helped the other, somewhat drunk (but thoughtful enough to vommit away from Olga's new clothes) back into the bar. There Barney offered them a round it became clear he was probably unable to pay for.
When questioned, Barney indicated he had made a promise not to tell anyone how to locate father tipsy, but he'd be able to take them there, at least partially as thanks for their help with the thugs.
Coda
The mature woman stood her ground, her hands on her hips. Her eyes and shoulders gave away her exaustion - all that running, only to be caught where she expected to be safest.
"It wasn't me, you know. I just took advantage of the situation when I realized what was going on. You can't blame that on me."
Her body said she was still sure of herself. That meant one of two things: either she was lying, or she had already used all of her mystical energy. The question was, which was it?
"Look, you can stand there all night trying to scare me, but its not going to change the fact that its not my fault. I'm on your side, really - I always have been."
She was still standing strong. But her scent was changing, an acrid taint becoming more and more noticable. That meant fear. At least she knew the situation for what it was.
"Surely you realize how important what I know is? You can't just come in here and bump me off - it'll change the balance of power too much and..."
She never knew what hit her. She was still looking at the shadowy figure in front of her, but the blow came from behind - the figure was never really in front of her at all...
But she was right - killing her would only make things worse. Other methods would have to be used this time. None would live to guard her secrets...