The Umbra Group e03 : World of Darkness

06/09/2013
The Umbra Group
Episode Three
"Drones Among Us"

World of Darkness
Home-brewed Setting

Dylan "Dil" Harris meets with his wife, Samantha, who has been quite worried about her husband.  She had heard about the strange events at the art gallery and fears that her husband is having some kind of breakdown.  Or worse, based on the photos her private investigator had taken of him with some woman (Rayne), an affair.  It has been a number of days since the strange incident in the building next to the gallery.  Dylan tries to find a way to explain what has been happening.  "We're involved in supernatural things," Dylan tries to explain but Samantha won't have it.  For her, the discussion just sounds too crazy.

Dylan tries over and over to explain the truth without saying the truth, but sadly, for Samantha the pictures speak far louder than Dil's words.  Samantha tells him she is leaving with Tim to live with her mother instead.  "I can't take it, Dil.  Whatever it is you are caught up in.. get it done.  Find us if we matter to you."  She gives him til the end of the night to come home.

Elsewhere, Rayne Calloway has gone to visit Emilio.  In the past few days, she has discovered how she seems to easily "jive" with the gang nowadays.  The experience almost feels like a second life she's never knew she had.  Having been there for three days, Emilio's gang have been giving Rayne a semblance of normality.  Rayne realizes the food set in the place is too familiar.  Its the kind of food her Aunt prepares.  She overhears Emilio and her Aunt talking about her, but pretends not to have noticed anything when Emilio returns.  Rayne feels frustrated she could not get more information on the "drug" that was used on Sophie.  She realizes she may have to find a sample to get more information.  Emilio starts teasing Rayne, misconstruing her actions to suggest she likes him, but then realized the truth with a shock, "You're in love with Enzo?!"

Detective Olivier wakes up face down in an alleyway.  He realizes he is not alone, and looks up to see John Doe feeding birds with some bread.  Olivier stares at the ground and sees many of the birds twitching and dying.  He realizes the bread has been laced with gun powder.  Ted has fragmented memories of the events that happened when he stepped through the door on the wall. He has vague recollections of visiting the Red, and of talking about Hatters and Masks.  John Doe seems wrong.  Different.  He's the same guy, and yet... not.  John Doe casually mentions having spoken with Olivier's wife in the past, and Ted realizes he may be someone he nearly caught before.

Ted tries to recall what happened in the other world.  He vaguely remembers a woman dressed in red, asking him if he is the new hatter.  "A replacement to the first four?"  She tells him that they are at war with the Umbra Group for the many atrocities that the organization had committed, such as the kidnapping of wizards, the abduction of drones, and the like.    The discussion fades in and out of his memories.

Muggers.  John Doe looks at the rag tag fellows who approach him and Ted, clearly intent on mugging them.  John Doe resists, and loses an ear in the process as a pistol gets fired.  Ted quickly handles the situation, and arrests the young punk for his actions.  He discovers a week had passed since he left.  He notices a top hat on the ground and picks it up.    A cop tells him that bodies were found in the river.

A hint of awkwardness.  Ted finds his ex-wife, Elena Valenta, present and happy to see him alive.  Ted worries if she senses he's keeping something from her, given her skill set.  The Captain takes him to the morgue and there he sees the five bodies that have been pulled out of the river:  All were decapitated, and their hands and feet were amputated.  Most of them had Ted's build, which caused Elena some concern given his disappearance for a week.  Each one had a word carved into their skin:  Croc,  Puppet, Scarecrow, Diety and Mask.

John Doe, in the ambulance to have his ear treated, is asked for his identification.  But before John Doe could answer, something slams into the ambulance and forces it to come to a complete stop.

Patrick Beckett talks to Frances about what had just happened.  They struggle to make sense of those mirror-shifting things which they saw in the condo.  But then a phone call breaks the discussion:  Maxine.  Patrick answers it and hears her sobbing as she tells them she had been abducted and she still is in someplace dark.  He hears the sound of something like gears in the background whirling as she is takena way.  "Yutaka," she mentions and claims it is copying her form.  Frances realizes the call is coming from her own house, where Patrick was earlier attacked.  As Maxine is caught by her captors, the omnious sound of a buzzsaw can clearly be heard.

Patrick realizes the Sliding Room is the fastest way to get to her.  But he also realizes he cannot handle this alone.  Leaping into the Shadow Cabinet, Patrick emerges at the closest darkness near Dylan.  He tells him to come with him, leaving Dylan no choice but to comply, and they slide back to the Sliding Room.  There, Patrick and Dylan slide a second time, this time emerging at Frances' home as Patrick uses his anchor to Maxine to emerge there.  They catch the sight of Maxine being dragged out of the basement that moment.

Arguments.  The two clearly inhuman things were arguing, with one called Yutaka arguing with another called Isabel on whether or not Maxine should be killed Yutaka's buzz saw is forced away by Isabel to reminds her companion that, “Freedom is the right of all sentient beings,” a phrase which irks Patrick as he realizes its from a cartoon he loves called Transformers.  The two rush out to rescue Maxine, and Yutaka, seeing the intruders, throws Maxine at Patrick to slow him down.  Dil rushes in and catches her in his arms.  But just as Yutaka charges forward to strike at them, Isabel transforms into a Mini-Cooper and slams into the other one to force it back.  Angered, Yutaka shifts into a feline form, and leaps out of the shattered window to flee.

Thankfully for Patrick and Dil, Isabel seems to be in a talkative mood.  She explains to them that she and Yutaka were trying to lure the Four out, because they wanted to find a way back to their home.  "Though our land is struggling in a Civil War, we hope to find a way back to Vector Sigma to return home."  She tells them how the Umbra Group abducted their people and stripped them apart to become component parts for something called the ModulArmy.  Dil warns them that Maxine is in a pretty bad state, and Patrick comes up with the idea of having Isabel as the car strike the area where Maxine is from outside the house to look like a hit and run accident.  They call Emergency Services to come to aid Maxine, knowing they would have a better chance at keeping her okay, and slide back to the Sliding Room with Isabel with them.  Apparently, Isabel claims the Sliding Room was how they were taken.  Sophie sees them return and upon Patrick's prodding, she hands him the folder to Drones Among Us.

Rayne returns home to her studio and there quickly builds a few "sliding room-ready" chambers.  As she works on her projects, she eventually senses that she is not alone.  A man with strange hair wearing a purple jumpsuit is observing her, and addresses her as a Hatter.  He informs her that he is from the Red and gives her a disturbing smile.  "The Queen has reconsidered the offer.  She is willing to have in exchange half the Hatter's captives instead of all of them."  Rayne's perceptiveness catches that the jumpsuit isn't actually clothing, rather its short cropped fur that is growing upon the figure.  "The Red merely desires the citizens of OthEarth to be returned to us."  And when Rayne tries to ask who handled the earlier negotiations, the purple figure admits it was another Hatter.  The description immediately matches Ted as far as Rayne can tell.  "We want returned all the citizens that were abducted through the Vector Sigma."

Ted still has flashes of his talk with the Queen.  The Red Queen occasionally asks advice from a man in a black hooded robe.  His skin is pale and almost illuminated from within.  His grin is menacing.  His eyes dark.  Ted, however, tries not to chuckle in disbelief.  The man is a splitting image of the Emperor from the Star Wars films.

The Purple Man asks Rayne if she is hiring.  He admits to absolutely adoring her tea and admits it is almost luring him in.  Occasionally, the Purple Man fades into nothingness leaving only his smile visible as a floating grin.  Rayne realizes he's the Cheshire Cat from Through the Looking Glass.  "You will have a week to consent before the Red brings the war to Earth."  He fades away.  Rayne realizes the others best know about this and jumps back to the Sliding Room.

Ted brings the Captain to the alleyway earlier to bring him to John Doe, whom he feels might have something to do about the bodies given how John Doe is "the Joker" from the Batman comic books, and the five bodies suggest key Batman villains:  Killer Croc,  the Scarface Puppet of the Ventriloquist, the Scarecrow, Maxie Zeus the Diety and Mask possibly being everyone from Black Mask to Two-Face.  They find no sign of him, however.  Ted asks the Captain to head off to look for him but before the Captain could respond, John Doe emerges from an alleyway covered in blood.

John Doe recalls what had happened.  The ambulance skidded to a halt because somehow a human body had been thrown to the hood of the vehicle.  The body had no head, no hands nor feet.  On its back, the word CAT was carved into the flesh.   John Doe hears a second bang, and realizes it is a second body just like the first, but the word ASIA this time is carved.  Then a third slams atop the second and this one rolls down to the ground beside the ambulance.  John Doe, wet from the blood, peers at it and realizes it is a young girl.  On the back, carved into the flesh, is the word DAUGHTER.

John Doe rushed off to leave, and that's when he walked into the Captain and Ted.

As Ted demands answers from John Doe, the man drops to his knees and starts to cry.  The explosion of incoherent hysteria infuriates Ted, and perhaps to make him focus calls him the "Joker!"  The Captain and Ted try to subdue the crazed man, but John Doe instead reverses the grapple and pins Ted instead.  But then a cellphone rings, and both look up to see the Captain on the phone.  He had just received a phone call informing him that animals had been found, stripped of their extremities and heads.

Rayne, Dil and Patrick are all in the Sliding Room when Rayne confronts Isabel and almost explodes as she tells them of the Red's plan to bring the war to Earth.    The three are juggling the information they've been given, uncertain how to make sense of things, and know only that the only people in the world who might know about this is them.  Sophie tries to share what she knows of the Red, talking about its two courts that eternally are at each other's throats, and the three realize she's pretty much referring to the two Courts in Wonderland.  But Sophie seems to have no such recollection of it just being some book.

Patrick decides to take Isabel to the building where he had found the ModulArmy.  Part of him thinks having her meet Tappuman might bear some fruit.  Rayne and Dil instead opt to find Ted.

The animals are in the same train station where Ted first walked into the Sliding Room. Dylan and Rayne emerge in that same room as Ted steps inside the room.  Dil sees John Doe and the two end up having a bit of a fight before Ted calls it off and drags John Doe to one side to talk.  Rayne and Dil have Sophie help them eavesdrop on the conversation.   John Doe goes through the files as he searches for information about himself.  They look through the Desert Collosi folder and find a bunch of invoices for something called Vector Sigma.  Then they find an image of Harvey Dent.

John Doe has a flashback.  The date shows the 1930s.  A young man named Jason is with him.  The two are asking about some kind of work and John Doe, who Harvey refers to as "Joe" tells them he will introduce them to the guys who have a job.  These men are named Watson and Griffin.

In the other room, Sophie tells Dil and Rayne that John Doe seems to be struggling to unearth his memories.  Rayne suggests that Sophie should restore his memory, and Sophie admits she cannot do that.  "It is something beyond my training."  She admits that someone before must have been helping her achieve what she had before, because a presence was palpable then.

John Doe accepts the offer.  Ted has a very bad feeling of something about to happen.  Everyone readies themselves for a fight, each one expecting something to emerge in the Sliding Room.

Nothing comes.

Patrick emerges in the ModulArmy building and as they step out of the shadows the Autonomous Robotic Organism named Isabel breaks into a panicked shriek.  "Not here!" she screams and Patrick realizes this was once her prison.  It was like bringing a Holocaust survivor back to the camp.  As the security drones of the location activate, Patrick and Isabel do quick work of them, and Isabel starts gathering some of the dropped parts - intent to use them to rebuild herself.  Or her friends.  Tappuman emerges, however, and for a moment seems intent to fight them as his old programming would have him wont to.  He refers to Vector Sigma as the greatest deliverer from where all technology comes from.  Patrick starts berating Tappuman, who is swayed by the insults to start using the other weaponry he had recovered from the other destroyed ModulArmy robots.  But before he could win, a figure in the distance kills Tappuman with a wrist-launched rocket.  The attacker is a bounty hunter Patrick recalls to be Boba Fett of the Star Wars movies.  Panic rises and Patrick allows his mental calm to let go...

John Doe tries to link up with Ted to see if he can sense what the man is feeling.  What happens instead, however, is he discovers a different existing link with someone else entirely:  Himself.  He sees a darker version of himself in a massive room, much like a Library.  And worse, the darker Him seems to sense his presence.  The darker Him is talking to a man dressed in heavy robes, who has a large heavy book chained to his arm.  John Doe hears the darker Him taunt him about how he only exists because one of them reached far too deep into themselves.  John Doe hears the darker Him suggest that he is the "product" and that the darker Him is the real deal.  Sadly, John Doe can't tell for certain.

Ted realizes the bad feelings aren't in relation to him.  Rather he senses something endangering one of his Anchors.  He rushes to the Shadow Cabinet, intent to protect her.  Rayne follows suit, but tells Dylan to stay behind because she still does not trust John Doe.  John Doe, however, leaps into the Cabinet as well.  Clearly he has less concern about those in the Sliding Room compared to someone else out there.

Dylan goes through the folders to try and see if he can discern any other important details in them.  He looks through "He who is Beyond Death" and "The Academy" and notes they are both mentioning a location set in Britain.  Sophie admits to feeling something "wrong" about that location.  Dylan tries to find more mention of it in the files.

Ted emerges from the shadows to find himself in a police precint.  The power in the area has been cut off.  He hears gunshots ring from the far room (the Captain's Quarters) and realizes he just knows Elena is there.  He silently moves closer and sees Elena indeed there, with the Captain already dying from a gunshot wound. Two furry figures are inside.  The immense coldness of the room wraps around them and Ted draws the pistol and trains it at the furry main with the gun.  The shot kills the man.  As he sees the man's cloven feet, he feels immense pain as his gun arm is suddenly encased in a cocoon of ice!  A second figure steps into view and she calmly disables Ted with a few more freezing touches.  Ted realizes she is the Ice Queen from the Chronicles of Narnia.  The man he had just shot was the Faun, Tumnus.  The Queen demands that Ted yield and shares that she was told if she threatened Elena, one of the Four would appear.  She has come to give a counter-proposal to that which the Red had made:  Identify all of the OthEarth refugees that have been killed.

Rayne arrives at the same location, but to her the place is less familiar.  The cold strikes her and she eventually notices the illuminated office which serves as the only source of light in the room.  Then the Queen's minions are seen - a sight which tests Rayne's sanity to its brink.  The massive trolls are moving through the room and Rayne realizes she will have to find a way to deal with them on her own.

John Doe meets his darker Him for the first time in a very long while.  In the chambers of Destiny, John Doe stands before his doppleganger and the two regard each other's existence.   John Doe worries what his darker self has been doing in this place.  Worse, he has no idea what this place even is.

Patrick recovers and finds Isabel and Tappuman screaming.  The Bounty Hunter is injured, but still skilled enough to beat up the two.  Patrick raises the gun to aim at the Bounty Hunter and this act seemingly unlocks a few new memories from Patrick's head - memories that do not seem to be his own.  A young woman leans on his extended arm and calls him, "Dash," and tells him how he was always a good shot.  Two other images seemingly appear at his flank, of a man called Watson and another man called Nicola.  As Isabel falls down, beaten to a damaged hunk, the Bounty Hunter turns and sees Patrick with the weapon trained at him.  "By the Umbra Agreement, I yield!" the man declares, but Patrick ignores the words.  The gun is fired.  The Bounty Hunter drops dead.

Patrick sees a small device fall from the Bounty Hunter and tries to ignore the sick humor of realizing the man is a splitting image of Boba Fett from the Star Wars movies.  The message that emerges from the device is that of a robed figure - the Emperor - telling the Bounty Hunter to fulfill his mission in secret.  Patrick takes Tappuman's head to Isabel, and coaxes her to use its parts to repair herself.

Dylan reads about a place called "the World" and as he learns more of it, Sophie seems to be adversely affected.  The place seems to bring out something traumatic in her and she begins to go hysterical and hurt herself!  Dylan drags Sophie and Artie to the Shadow Cabinet and they slide to Dil's house.  Samantha tries to fathom what is going on, but cannot die what she sees as Dylan asks her to help him care for the injured woman and the strange mutant child.   Dylan does not wait for a response and slides once again to wherever Ted and Rayne currently are.

Ted defies the Ice Queen's offer.  He twists and ignores the pain as he still shoots the pistol at the Ice Queen.  She retaliates by having an immense avalanche of snow explode through the building.  Ted emerges from the cold and realizes he and Rayne are the only survivors of the blast.  The others from OthEarth were gone.  Dylan arrives to help the two out.  But clearly, there's no denying how things have escalated and moved faster now than before. Earth may be caught in a war which it does not even know to exist.  Against enemies it would never believe to be real.

John Doe stares at the darker Him who reveals why he wasn't afraid to meet.  The darker Him did not come alone.  The Masked Jason steps into view and the darker Him begins to maniacally laugh.

Isabel works on her repairs and a communication device on the dead Bounty Hunter springs into life.  Isobel matches the Bounty Hunter's face and answers it.  The Emperor speaks to (her)  him and gives him a list of new targets to focus on:  Patrick hears the name of his brother mentioned, as well as others.  The Emperor tells (her) him that the "Door" will be open only for three more nights.  His job is to make the Umbra Group think the Red has reneged on their negotiation.

The repairs helped Isabel more than she realized.  She realizes she is starting to remember more now.

And Patrick's phone rings one final time.  The voice is that of the Asian woman from before.  She offers to help once again, and asks if Patrick would be willing to do so.

Patrick has yet to decide.

The Umbra Group e02 : World of Darkness

04/21/2013
The Umbra Group
Episode Two
"Thee Who Is Beyond Death"

World of Darkness
Home-brewed Setting

The Sliding Room.
Step into total darkness and you can exist the Sliding Room to join any of the others.  But since all four of them were inside the room, getting out was the problem.

Compelled by the telepathic push which Emma Frost had forced into their brains, the four found themselves setting aside their differences and mistrust and turning their attentions to finding a way to find Sophie Stepford.  Patrick Beckett steps into the adjoining room and finds the many metal lockers.  He peers through some and finds them unlocked with clothes in stacks, and photographs in some of them.  He feels confused upon seeing the photos as he recognizes the names to be characters from the comic book Batman. He picks up the revolver he finds in the locker for Harvey Dent.   Rayne Calloway joins him and finds some of the lockers still sealed.  While she uses a hairpin to start picking the lock, Patrick moves to the room with the Shadow Cabinet and steps inside.  He thinks of Sophie but fails to slip out of the Sliding Room.  It seems the darkness does not work that way.  Rayne pops the locker open and playing cards spill out.  All the cards are marked with the words:  Dead.

Ted Olivier and Dil Harris step to the other room.  As Ted feels the panic of the telepathic order upon him, he barks at Dil to help him drag one of the metal gurneys to the room with the dead Emma Frost.  Dil stares at the world map and begins to notice a certain detail which Ted had overlooked before.  All the locations marked in the map have threads that gather to a single pin that is outside the map:  The pin is labelled "The Sliding Room"  He wonders aloud if that means the Room is outside the world.  Ted insists that's unimportant for now, and the two drag the gurneys to the earlier room.  They place the dead bodies of Emma Frost and the other Stepford on the metal beds.  Ted decides to focus on the folders in the filing cabinets and starts taking out all of the folders he can and lays them out on a table.  He begins opening each envelope in hopes of seeing what these are about.  He reads through the folder about The Academy and finds a line that offers a solution to their predicament of getting out of The Sliding Room.  The Shadow Cabinet, it seems, allowed a group called The Truth to travel from the Shadow Cabinet to each other, or through the locations marked in the map.  Wanting to get back to New York quickly, Ted realizes the a trip to The Academy might be the solution.

The group gathers by the Shadow Cabinet and Rayne has been trying to travel by thinking of Sophie.  Sadly it doesn't work.  Rayne tries thinking of the man in the rubber mask, but that fails as well.  Ted informs them of his findings and Rayne decides to try thinking of the Academy: The Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters.  She vanishes, and the three finds the Cabinet empty.  It worked!

Rayne steps out of what seems to be a cabinet-like chamber that doubled as a bench in the ruins of a gymnasium.  Broken tiles are scattered about.  Burn markings and bloody splotches scar the walls and floor. As Rayne ponders on what had happened, the others emerge from the bench-cabinet as well.  It becomes very apparent to the four that they stand in what was once the grounds of a private school.  But signs point to it having been attacked.  Glazing outside one of the holes in the wall, Dil notices a figure moving outside past the burning flames and charred grass.  The figure seems to be walking listlessly.  Ted checks and spots the man as well, noticing his weird clothing and the strange lights that dot the sky.  Patrick peers out the nearest door and sees it leads to the corridor of an opulent mansion.  With its oak walls and high ceilings, the beauty of the place is marred by the signs of violence that dot it.  Rayne feels another telepathic message from Sophie, and wishes she could do more.  Patrick sees a smoldering metal skeleton on the ground, with strange metal talons embedded into the wall itself.   Dil peers at Patrick and suggests he head back, but Patrick kicks at the skeleton and discovers it is pretty heavy.  He hurts his toe. 

Ted and Rayne slip out of the ruined building and start walking across the charred lawn.  The dancing lights that surround the academy seem to be an energy sphere that encloses the school.  As they get closer to the figure in the distance, Rayne realizes the man seems to be wearing a robe of some sort.  The moment the man hears their approach, however, he spins to face them and trains what seems to be a foot-long wooden thing at them in a threatening manner.  Rayne sees that the man has a jagged scar from his hairline to his left eyebrow.     

Back at the academy, Patrick and Dil find more dead bodies.  A metal clump that looks like a man can be seen having succumbed to its own weight.  A dead body of a man can be seen with many missing body parts, but where the missing parts are, puddles of water have spread.  The mail scattered on the ground around him confirm they are in New York.   The two enter a side room and both perceive the sound of possibly someone hiding in the fire place. They cautiously approach, with Patrick noticing the hole in the ceiling, showing the remains of a young woman of Asian descent.   When Dil tries to reassure whoever is inside that they are here to help, an illuminated holographic image manifests in front of the fire place.  The pictogram shows an S.O.S. symbol.  When Dil admits they are here to help, the figure finally skitters out of his hiding place, to reveal his mutated features, pink skin and deformed head.  The young boy is clearly distraught, and Dil picks him up in hopes of comforting him.  He calms down, however, once Dil explains they were sent by Emma.  The boy identifies himself as Artie.  Dil notices the confrontation outside at the grass, and decides to head out to see if he can help.

Patrick heads off on his own, deeper into the University, he considers what he "knows" of the X-men and finds the staircase leading further down below.  A woman is seen half-embedded in the ground, dead after having solidified within the solid surface.   A broken brain in a jar can be seen.  As he approaches two doors, one reads Armory and the other simply mentions Danger.  He approaches the Armory and realizes there are still figures inside that are moving.  He peers through the broken glass and notices the two figures are grossly overweight and strangely seemed to hold a sheen that suggested their skin was not flesh.  One of them holds the battered remains of a woman.

The scarred man felt threatened and held the "wand" trained at the two.  Identifying himself as Harrison Potter, he questions if the newcomers are working for The Umbra Group.  When Ted tries to calm him down, it works for a moment - but Rayne's attempts to pose as someone from Beauboton fail and Harrison gets more upset to learn that Emma had sent them.   Ted maneuvers into position, pins Harrison Potter quickly to the ground with his police training, and disarms the wizard.  But Rayne grabs the Elder Wand and smacks it against Harrison, shattering the old wood. A white explosion throws them all to the ground, and dissipates the barrier that surrounded the Academy.    Ted and Rayne get back to their feet to see Harrison Potter unharmed by the blast.    As Rayne secures Harrison, they learn that he was indeed the one who attacked the Academy.  After a "purge" happening in his school, he is the only one left alive.  The mage admits he cannot die, having already killed the one and only man who can kill him.  He has truly become The Boy Who Lived.    He claims the Umbra Group abducted him as a child and forced him to live among them "mudbloods."  Rayne digs through his pockets and finds various things, including a notebook about the Academy (marking the exit and entrance points, the locations of personnel and the like).  The notebook mentions a second target: a place called The World which was to be in England, UK.  "This is for revenge," Harrison spat out.  And admits all the things he learned of the Umbra Group was gathered from the NetNavi.

Patrick pops his gun at the two, striking one on the chest and popping the other in the head.  The first one hit the ground and escapes by vanishing into what seems to be a sudden swirl of colors after he mutters, "Home."  The colors plunge into the beanie hat which is left behind.  The other drops dead, with what seems to be powdered sugar pouring out of its forehead.  Patrick steps inside and finds the place a mess, with most of the technology inside damaged beyond repair.  He notices some blue prints scattered all around, showing what seems to be a weapon that was to be implanted into one's arm.  A sort of plasma cannon.  The details called it a MorphArmy Cannon.  And at the lower corner, the plans are said to be sourced from a Carrier E.  He walks down to the other room and finds  more dead bodies.  Pulling at the switch nearby, he engages the hangar bay doors to open and is raised up to the garden grounds where the others are.

All four now grouped with Harrison Potter and the pink-skinned survivor, Artie, the group considers their course of actions.  Harrison offers to help them travel, but demands in exchange Artie.  Countering that, Harrison Potter is offered a chance to find a way back home, given his anger towards the Umbra Group having "abducted him" from his home world.  Ted considers that the Sliding Room might offer a way.  Harrison does admit that now that his barrier is dropped, people are soon to notice the existence of the school.  But Sophie's attacker, the man in the rubber mask, has found her and in her panic, a telepathic cry for help is unleashed.  The cry reaches Rayne, who is mentally exhausted and unable to resist.  She tells the others they have to move and given there's no way to use the darkness to get to Sophie, Harrison Potter offers to help them travel in exchange for the future attempt to go home.

Potter uses the Sorcerer's Stone in his pocket to transmute some lint in his pocket into Floo Powder.  He tells them to think of their destination, and to stay close to each other in order to travel safe. A small fire is quickly lit and the group tries to travel through the magical means.  Ted and Dil arrive first, with Ted quickly rushing out of the morgue where they had apparated, hoping to find where Sophie is placed in based on Rayne's information.  Dil sees flashes in her mind of Sophie's panicked thoughts, and tries to see more details to suggest where she is.  Patrick arrives then, and tells him they best hurry up before things get worse.  Rayne does not arrive.  Rayne is alone in the academy grounds.  She experiences more visions as Sophie panics.  Unable to travel in any other way, Rayne is forced to settle with a motorcycle she finds in the garage.  Ted sees a duck once again, but ignores it to rush to the room.

Harrison interrogates Patrick, demanding he explain how he knows so many things.  He tells Harry about J.K. Rowling.

As Ted rushes ahead, the lights begin to flicker once more.  He notices a duck in the distance, ignores it, and kicks the door to Sophie's room open in time to see the man in the rubber mask reaching for someone under the bed.  He fires a few shots.  Rayne finds herself experiencing Sophie's attack!  As she struggles to maintain her focus, she comes up with an incredible idea:  She offers to house Sophie's mental state, opening herself up as a host.  But as Ted watches the rubber man ignore his shots, a pistol is pushed against his temple from the side.  John Doe gently asks Ted to choose:  Either step into the room, or stay out.  Ted chooses to go in and in response, darkness erupts outwards from the man in the rubber mask.  Was consumed by the darkness, the three vanish.

As Dylan arrives in the same area, he kicks his way in only to find no one inside save for Sophie.  Patrick turns to the gathering staff and fast talks his way into making them think he's some authority figure.  The security staff question Dylan on what was going on, but he jokes his way out, goes back to the morgue, and slides into the morgue cubicle with Artie to Shadow Slide back into the Sliding Room.

John Doe and Ted are in the Sliding Room, and here the two discuss what they know of The Umbra Group. John Doe admits having his own files of the four, and Ted notices there are dates in the folders of each of them, and the date on his matches the time he was hospitalized and unconscious for a few days.    Both of them are part of The Umbra Group, though none of them were part of its inception.  John Doe and two others were supposed to be part of the group back in the 1920s, and its purpose seemed to depend on which folder you happened to be reading.  He admits to be going around, foiling the established plans of the Umbra Group.  His masked companion, Jason, is able to control the darkness more because of his Awakening.   John Doe and Jason then step back into the shadows, with John Doe promising to speak with Ted once more in the future.

Dylan and Artie arrive, and Ted admits to being so exhausted he needs to get some sleep.  Dylan and Artie talk, and Artie admits to Dylan that he is afraid.  Dylan promises to watch over him whenever he can.

Patrick, avoided the hospital's scrutiny without a hitch, decides to try to wrap up some matters of his own.  He calls Frances and she informs him she's made contact with the "dream company."  She seems quite confused about some things.  Patrick pushes to ask her about the videogame, Megaman and asks if she is aware of any relationship between Megaman X and Sigma.  Fraces reports she is unaware of anything called "Megaman" and admits the closest thing she has heard of is that of a Modularman.  She admits she would like to meet with Patrick face-to-face to discuss "the nature of their relationship."  Patrick's phone then chimes due to a message from Maxine about a dream she had.  The doctor arrives, asking about administering "the cure" to Sophie's sleeping body, in case she was suffering something called "the Legacy Virus."  The doctor then blinks a few times, and does not seem to realize he is asking Patrick to respond.  Patrick steps into the Sliding Room.

Patrick opens the folder on the ModulArmy and takes the folder with him as he walks to the Shadow Cabinet.  He ignores the others and closes the doors behind him.  He Shadow Slides.

Rayne arrives in the hospital and finds Sophie alone but unresponsive.  She had mentally transferred her consciousness into Rayne to survive the ordeal, and had no idea how to go back..  She covers the bathroom up as much as she can, and she slides back into the Sliding Room.  Upon arriving, she learns from Ted that the place is not safe.  Ted admits that John Doe and the Masked Jason are both able to slide there as well.  And starts asking Sophie (through Rayne) questions on what happened at the Academy and what is going on.  While Sophie does confirm it was Harrison Potter who attacked the Academy, she seems very confused with the events that are transpiring.  The Academy was being funded by many groups, with the Umbra Group being the primary one.  The school was involved in training "acquired" offspring from somewhere else, and were being groomed to integrate with human society.  All of them, however, were also being given military training, which suggested they were groomed to handle some manner of threat.  "These were all in accordance to the guidelines set by the Truth."  Artie shares his own stories, of being adopted after he was rescued from the tunnels.  Ted is bothered how these all seem to match knowledge he has of Marvel Comics.

Patrick emerges and finds himself somewhere sunny.  Though cold, he realizes he is at some skyscraper like structure facing the ocean.  The whole place is old and worn down, however, with cobwebs and rust marking most of the place.  He investigates the area, and soon finds a skeleton in a white coat.  The papers scattered about seem to talk about the successful development of a ModulArmy.   To Patrick's surprise, the elevator in the structure still works, and as he steps inside he finds something that bothers him.  Instead of buttons to choose a floor to go to, he finds a grid like pattern with portraits of people inside them.  Of the portraits, only one remains lit, however.  He reads the words TAPPUMAN beneath it and presses it.  The elevator shudders and he finds himself in a long hall with pipes, ladders and weapon turrets.  Everything, however, is frozen, broken down and old.    At the end of the long walk, he finds an old man with metallic parts still strapped to his body.  A massive weapon protrudes from his right arm.  A top-like shape adorns his head.  The man admits Patrick's voice analysis matches the algorithm of Dot or Dash, and Patrick opts not to admit not grasping what that meant.  Tappuman shares that they helped the Academy build a super robot, but things went south when a man with a scar on his head arrived and used "Quantum science" to wipe the others out of existence.  Patrick realizes this place was attacked by Harrison Potter too.  With further conversations, he realizes the Beast worked with them to adapt alien technology called Super God Force Technology to work with human flesh. The alien technology was being supplied by a Carrier Σ, some kind of transportational navigation hub.  "Assimilating it for the Truth's purposes was vital."  Patrick looks at what tech remains available and only finds a massive Rocket Arm.

Rayne decides to go to the hospital and Dylan opts to accompany them.  Ted opens one of the folders, taking the one labelled Closet Cases.  He reads that it leads to a location called St.James.  Rayne and Dylan grab the folder called Drones Among Us after consulting the map on the wall and seeing it has a location close to New York as well.  The three, with Artie, slide.  They emerge in the subway tunnel which Ted had first been led to by the duck to enter the Sliding Room.

Patrick returns to find the Sliding Room empty, and decides to study the remaining folders.  He decides to experiment with the cabinet and tries to slide to someone dear to him.  He emerges out of the cabinet of his brother, Matt, who was busy using the computer at his condo unit.  Not giving Matt a chance to ask what's going on, Patrick steps out, happy to know that the cabinet allows them to slide to people very important to them.

Ted, Dylan, Artie and Rayne take the train.  Rayne talks to Sophie (in her head) and tries to grasp more of what's happening but sadly Sophie does not have more answers.  Dylan and Ted talk, with Dylan hoping to pick some things up.  Ted hallucinates for a moment the guy and girl he had "attacked" to be in the train, but Dylan proves to him the images are not real.  Ted, however, is very bothered by all this.

Patrick receives a call from the hospital and learns from a doctor that Sophie is to be administered some kind of  "cure".  He does not understand why he was called, how his number was found, or what this cure is about.  He decides to just say yes.

Dylan and Artie head off on their own to handle some errands.  While Dylan discusses things with Samantha, his wife, who is genuinely concerned for him, Artie walks off on his own.   The call to her is not particularly fruitful and as the phone is placed down, a woman walks up to Dylan.  Her black hair shimmers in its darkness.  Her skin is pale and white.  Dylan looks around for Artie and realizes the boy has made a tragic mistake!  The wind had blown Artie's hat off, and after chasing it off the curb, the young mutant finds himself on the receiving end of a moving taxi cab.  The cab skids to a halt and the people in the area gather, drawn by the sight of an accident.  Though someone does call for 911, it seems like the injuries are too grievous and  the young mutant won't make it.  That is when Dylan notices the raven-haired woman woman beside him, who encourages Dylan to pick the boy up, and to reminds him that the boy will be fine.  Dylan freaks out as the woman reminds him of another comic character: a woman named Death from Sandman Comics.

Rayne and Ted arrive at the hospital and lock the door behind them.  Rayne talks to Sophie and attempts to help her find a way to "return" to her body.  Ted ignores the two, however, as he finds himself drawn to the bathroom as a duck once again waddles to the room.  As he steps inside to check, he finds John Doe sitting there with an empty syringe in his hands.  He claims to have dialed a number after finding a case marked "Legacy Virus" and called the number he found listed inside.  The voice that answered, he claimed, told him to inject the cure.  So he did.  Rayne and Sophie continue to try to find a way, and Rayne starts sprouting information based on stuff she had read in comics about telepathic powers.  To her surprise, the advice works and Sophie slides back into her own body!  She opens her eyes and as Rayne asks if she is doing well, Sophie immediately tells her, "Ted.  He is not alone in there."

Death, if it is indeed her, is suddenly standing alongside two other people.  One is a dreary man in jeans and a white shirt who looks like a splitting image of Robert Smith of the Cure, the same look of Morpheus the King of Dreams.  The second person is a red-haired man with a beard.  Dylan confronts Death, asking if there is any way they can help, and they offer her a choice:  For Artie to live, but for his son, in the future, to die upon birth.  Dylan grits his teeth and declines.  Artie expires.

Patrick heads to Frances' house and to his shock finds Maxine with her.  As he asks his ex-girlfriend what is going on, Fraces admits it was a business meeting.  As it turns out, Maxine owns 51% of the strange company behind the Asian woman calling Patrick.  Maxine was offering Frances a job to switch and work for her instead.  Fraces does not accept the offer, but does ask Patrick to consider what relationship they share.  Patrick looks at the technology featured in the notes Maxine shares and realizes it resembles those he had glanced upon earlier in the folder entitled, Her Voice A Wet Dream back in the Sliding Room.

Rayne offers Sophie her house key, suggesting she feel free to visit her whenever she wants to.  Sophie turns it down.  In the bathroom, Ted argues with John Doe over the files he has of the others.  John Doe admits he isn't that interested about the files of the other three, admitting Ted somehow draws his curiosity the most.  As it turns out, John Doe has no recollection of any Bat Man and seems happy to learn from Ted more of what the Umbra Group had taken from him.  Ted asks John Doe, however, to explain who the "Fourth man" with them was, given only the three others (Cobblepot and Dent) were the ones they were aware of.  John Doe admits it was Jason, before he wore the Mask.  "There is always four," John Doe admits.  John Doe asks Ted to dance with him, asking if he ever "Danced with the devil in the pale moon light?" and when turned down, offers instead a box as a present, "For your mother."

Ted steps back out to join Rayne and Sophie, and breaks to them the news about John Doe having injected something into her.  When Sophie tries to say something in response, she instead starts to laugh, and her face contorts into a grimace that twisted into a smile.  Rayne asks Sophie to jump back into her head, while Ted fears this John Doe is starting to act like "the Joker" himself.  He looks at the case and finds "the cure" in the box shattered.  Rayne's phone then rings that moment, and the voice offers her help.  Suddenly, Sophie seemingly shuts down as she seems to slip into a calm passive dream.  When Rayne demands answers from the caller, the caller admits they will soon be having an office in New York.  And until then, Rayne may visit them at Hong Kong if she wishes to meet the people who helped them.  She tells them they are called the Yumekami.

Dylan speaks more with Death and learns that Dylan is part of "the Final Four" and she offers a new exchange: Artie's life for a boon that is to be requested for in the future.  With Dylan clarifying "So long as it has nothing to do with Samantha or his son Tim," he accepts.  As Artie breathes in a new life, the two hurry off from the watching crowd of onlookers, and after getting Artie some clothes to wear, the two head for St. James which Ted had earlier mentioned.

Maxine admits she started working on purchasing the company the moment Patrick mentioned it... a few years ago.  Patrick admits he would want to invest and the two negotiate, with Patrick purchasing 24% of her stocks, but agreeing not to compete with her for three years and that he promises to talk with Mark, his ex.  Patrick notices the watermark on the documents for the company read Carrier Σ.  Apparently, that group is the main company.  Patrick starts to notice something odd.  Both Maxine and Frances seem to be pushing for this contract to be signed quickly.  And Frances, who has always been very... dutiful, seemed to act more slutty for some reason.  It takes Patrick a moment to realize the two are moving in perfect sync  as if they had "rehearsed" the conversation.  There is the sound of a thud in the nearby room, and something suddenly shatters in the room.

Maxine's face begins to distort as she chides Patrick to sign the document! Patrick, realizing something odd is up, pulls out his pistol and decides to shoot Maxine on the shoulder.  Sparks fly as the bullet connects and suddenly Maxine unravels, and shifts and becomes Maxine again.  Frances arrives, and tells Maxine "someone" had escaped, and Patrick quickly grasps the two are not who he thought they were.  As Patrick fights with the false Maxine, who transforms into a shifting blob of silvery mirrored boxes, he starts to realize the person who escaped most likely is the real Fraces who lives in this house.

Ted and Rayne talk and Ted tells her it was Patrick who did this to Sophie.   Dylan arrives with Artie, and the group decides to head their separate ways, but not before giving each other their numbers.  Rayne opts to check on her old gang member friends to try and study whatever drugs or chemicals were used on Sophie.  She calls Emilio, who reluctantly agrees to help.  Apparently, some masked man appeared and attacked the gang, wounding 17 of them.  No one has seen her aunt either.  They agree to meet at an old pizza place.

Rayne is purchasing stuff from a nearby vending machine when she overhears someone looking for Sophie Stepford.  The guy is a man in a top hat with gloves and a suit.  Dylan, back in the room decides it might be best to slide away and starts covering the bathroom up to make it dark.  She finds Rayne by the door, panicked over a strange man who seems to be looking for Sophie, but unable to read nor count.  Rayne consider staying to learn more, but eventually decides to join the others.

Ted purchases a new phone and adds their numbers in.  He sees a couple of odd people arguing in an alleyway.  Their appearances and actions seem like a caricature to him, as they talk about "the Red" and search for an address.  Ted walks over to them and asks if they are of the Red or the Black, of which they readily admit they are of the Red.  Ted figures these guys might be related to the book Through the Looking Glass, which tells the tale of Alice in Wonderland.  They are here "under the Shadow Agreement to use this world to travel to them."   Ted admits he is of The Shadow and asks about what the two were fussing over.  "Who died in your world?"  The tall one explains that someone had "lost their sweetness" and Ted figures this may be the one that Patrick had shot at the Academy.  They offer him a tall box, which he realizes contains a hat, and asks him to come through with him.  Ted pulls out the box John Doe had given him and looks inside to find a string of pearls.  Ted re-pockets the necklace, wears the tall hat, and agrees to go with them.  They step through the nearby wall and vanish.

Patrick deals with the Fakexine and Fakeces by blasting them with the fire extinguisher.  As the two writhe on the ground from the blast, he leaps into a dark encompassing shadow and slides away.  He just feels lucky to be alive.

Sophie wakes up, though her face is still frozen in a smile.  She finally sees Artie, and the two hug tight, happy to be alive given the circumstances.  Sophie has no idea why these people with the mask have been coming after her.  She admits they were being trained though.  Their late Professor spoke of a dark Earth that exists, and once a night people from the other side are allowed to slide in.  Dylan decides to focus on the lockers in the Sliding Room and finds the following things inside:

The twelve packs of fifty-two red playing cards, all marked with the word: Dead.
The pictures of Cobblepot and Dent.
The three sets of doctor's scrubs.
The two sets of heavy military rain coats.
The two sets of fur-lined clothing, including boots.
The wooden crucifix stained with blood.
A music CD of Pachelbel's Canon.
A single shirt that has a Chinese symbol on it and a blue-colored rising sun design.

Ted finds himself in another world where candy, colors and swirls seem as frequently normal the way concrete and plants are for us.  The grass is fondant. The trees have jelly leaves.  Soldiers with bodies resembling pretzel sticks come forward and with their gumball helms, escort Ted down the path.  They refer to him as "a Hatter."  One asks what "52?" means and Ted realizes they have no concept of numbers nor counting.  Ted notices they walk upon a yellow brick road and sees a massive castle in the horizon.  The soldiers offer information though, admitting how many are afraid of hatters, given their voracious appetites.  If the Hatters become too hungry, they become Rippers.  Ted asks what the protocol is once he is doing being a hatter, and he is told he simply has to eat his own hat.  "There was another batch before you.  The last batch of Hatters, which numbered four.   But one ate the three.  They were all very hungry though.  Very hungry.  The one that remained laughed, they say.  Laughed and laughed and his hat grew larger and larger, until it became a mask."

Ted thinks he know has just learned the secret history of John Doe's Jason.





 

The Umbra Group e01 : World of Darkness

04/07/2013
The Umbra Group
Episode One
"The Academy"

World of Darkness
Home-brewed Setting

Started a whole new chronicle with the Sunday group, and this time we get to use the World of Darkness rules again.  Admittedly, I miss this game system, even if deep down I always liked the classic World of Darkness rules more.    Excited to run the game, I actually ended up mapping out the whole story's premise and outline within 24-hours and even made a teaser for it.

I'm tempted to explain many of my plans, plot points and ideas, but given how my players do read my blog, I'm worried of spoiling them the story which I feel is best described as my attempt to do my own version of Planetary if it were to have the lovechild with Fringe.  The list of sixteen titles already suggests the many directions the game will go, and I even warned the players I currently foresee only sixteen game sessions for this chronicle.   Given the short span I have in mind, I informed the players that this game will still not require them to work as a team, or help each other out, nor be giving out any experience points.  Any developments will have to be portrayed during scenes, and then if done enough, can be simply added to the sheet ( such as a character who spends a few scenes reading up on ghosts might be allowed to get the first dot of Occult a few sessions later).    Anyway, I can discuss more on the game itself in another post.  Here's the Actual Play report for now.

Introducing the main cast for The Umbra Group:
Theodore "Ted" Olivier (28), played by Erich.
Burglary- Commercial Crime Divison : Detective  (Museums, etc)
Vice: Pride  Virtue: Faith
Merits:  Trained Observer, Good Time Management, Status Police 3,
Ally: Elena 4, Resources 1, Iron Stamina
Specialties: CSI (Investigation), Black Market (Streetwise), Long Distance (Athletics)
Anchors:
Elena Valenta (4) - Psychiatrist, handles cops trauma.  Ex-wife.  Messy divorce due to dept. politics.  Met in college.  Met again as precint shrink.  First Gen Check immigrant.
Francis Olivier, Dad (1) - Former beat cop.  50s.  Still working.
Jessica Weaver - Mom (no rating)

Dylan "Dil" Harris (28), played by Rachel.
Security Officer of an Art Gallery.  Former Prison Guard of a Maximum Security Prison.
Vice: Pride  Virtue: Prudence
Merits: Boxing (4) Body Blow (# more than 5, Lose action), Duck and Weave (Higher of Wits/Dex), Combination Blows(second/-1), Haymaker (# more than 5, KO. Stamina check to stay conscious)
Fleet of Foot, Resources 2, Danger Sense, Iron Stamina
Specialties:  Boxing, Sprinting, Lockpicking
Anchors:
Son - Tim (2) - Precocious, two years old, likes music
Wife - Samantha (1) - Boxing Trainer, works in gym. Orphan. Health buff.
Mother - Susan (1) - Accountaint, Good at cooking, nearly retired.
Brother - Jun (1) - 31, Dotcomer.  Gay.  Also good at cooking.
Father - disabled (no rating)

Patrick Beckett (35), played by Rocky
Venture Capitalist. (EDIT:  Sorry love. Heheheh!)
Vice: Greed Virtue: Prudence
Merits: Quick Draw, Retainer 5 (Assistant Bodyguard: Frances), Resources 4, Striking Looks 2, Fame 1, Barfly 1, Combat Marksmanship 4, Encyclopedic Knowledge.
Specialties:Pistols, Negotiations, Trends
Anchors:
Matt (3) - Brother, 17. Estranged with Patrick. Religious.
Maxine Steele (1) - Ex-girlfriend, 31.  Art buyer.  Cheated on her.
Mark (1) - Ex-boyfriend, 24.  Dotcomer.  Didn't get enough time.

Rayne Calloway (28), played by Mahar.
Artist, rose from gang family.  Popular among rich people.
Vice: Pride Virtue: Charity
Merits: Striking Looks 2, Fame 1, Barfly 1, Resources 4, Improvised Weaponry 1
Specialties: Sculpture/Installation, Blades, Gangs
Anchors:
Best friend (3) - Enzo, Latino.  Superfriend zoned. Grew up together. Not Liza's son.
Aunt Liza (2) - Family Friend, not real Aunt.  Gets involved in life. Passionate.  Interventionist.

Episode One
"The Academy"

Each one was enjoying their simple lives.  But the shadows of the Umbra Group were to reach out and wrap around them whether they wanted to or not.

Ted Olivier was on the subway, on a long ride home, struggling against the urge to fall asleep.  The constant rocking of the train seemed to hypnotize him.   The train stops, but he is still a few stations away.  He sees an odd sight.  A duck is standing by the train doors.  And just stares at him.    And that's when the sounds came.  An argument between a woman and her boyfriend.  Ted glanced over and saw the two were the only other people in the train car he was in.  And she wasn't too keen on his persistence that they have sex in public.  The train starts moving again, and as he hears her struggle against him, he decides to walk over and try to help out.  The lights flicker.  And when they stabilize, the glass is cracked.  The walls are stained red.  The woman is far by the rear of the train, screaming in utter terror.  And her boyfriend is beaten to a bloody pulp with his face broken in.  Ted looks down and realizes his hands are closed into tight fists and his knuckles are bruised and bloody.

Dylan Harris is at a gallery called The Window and the owner, Imelda, is complaining about him and the two other security guards not being properly dressed for the gallery.  The owner demands the guys wear suits that shift from black to gray to white, then ushers them to step out while he talks with his client, a certain miss Calloway.  The three step out and Dylan quickly learns that of his two buddies, Dick and Tom, Dick is quite a close-minded homophobe.  While they take the chance to sneak in a smoke break, Dylan notices something odd which triggers his gut feel of something bad happening; across the street, a group of guys seemingly in some kind of American Indian feathery costume are heading up the fire escape and making their way to the roof.  Dylan tries to get a closer view at what he thinks are just cosplayers, and catches one of them pulling out some kind of a spy-glass like what pirates use in movies.  Knowing the place is beyond his jurisdiction, he calls in 9-11 to have them check.  But when the cops arrive, they consider his worries as unimportant.  It is only when one of the cops, who opted to climb up the fire escape,  is shot by an arrow into the throat, does Dylan realize the danger he is really in.  The archer trains the bow at Dylan and before Dylan could do more, lights seemingly flicker, then he faints.

Patrick Beckett's night does not start as quietly.  He receives a call from his ex-boyfriend, Mark, who is bawling over something.  When Patrick presses for Mark to explain, Mark finally admits he misses Patrick and wishes he didn't break up with him.  Patrick reminds Mark that they're at least still friends and begs him not to go through this every single year.  That's when his other ex, Maxine, calls.  She asks if Mark is on the phone, and seems to relish the emotional turmoil he is going through.  Patrick soon learns Maxine had a) called the radio stations Mark usually listens to and requested they play their old song, b) requested it as a Mark Beckett, and to twist the dagger a bit deeper, c) had a messenger bring a pint of ice cream, with a CD of Adele.  Patrick scowls at Maxine's mischief, but she reminds him she's just balancing the scales given he cheated on her.  The two plan out a lunch for the next day.  Mark starts to bawl about finding a Blue Power ring in the ice cream, which Patrick realizes was Maxine's final stroke! When he scolds her about crossing the geek line, and puts the phone down on her, he hears from Mark's side of the line that Maxine is actually THERE with him.  "We were always friends," Maxine hisses, "So don't worry.  I'm helping him get through breaking up with you.  I did it.  See you tomorrow."  But as Patrick tries to get some sleep, a second call arrives in the evening.  A woman's voice thanks him for availing of the Service, and asks for his consent.  Thinking this was some kind of thing his assistant, Rayne, he gives in.  But suddenly he has a strange sexual dream where both Maxine and Mark seem to hold him down while a third person attempts to mount him.  He wakes up, and hears a call again, and the woman apologizes for the dream.  Patrick tries to call again Frances and tells her to call off whatever service that was.  She profusely apologizes.  He tries to head back to sleep.

Rayne Calloway is working on a new set of statues to be featured in The Window.  Inspiration feels fleeting, so she hops onto a cab and asks to be brought to Central Park.  Enroute, however, she sees some weird ads in the cab about existential services.  Changing her mind, she has the cab bring her back home and finds the cab driver a possible inspiration for the art.  Her work is interrupted when Imelda calls, however, and Rayne finds herself horrified by the supposed merchandising pack that was to be part of her exhibit.   Stressed out by the kit (which included life-sized standees of her, ipod audio narratives that would accompany each piece, and even a giveaway that suggested it included some strands of her own hair), she pours her frustration into her work and starts transforming the last statue into that of a woman.  Her Aunt Liza visits, who insists Rayne needs to eat better, and as the two enjoy a meal, Rayne learns to her dismay that her childhood friend Enzo has started to see a white girl named Rianne.  When her Aunt opts to leave early, Rayne learns (after snagging Aunt Liza's phone) that Enzo had invited her to dinner to meet the girl.  Rayne feels immense feelings of jealousy, and lights begin to flicker in the area.  Liza leaves and Rayne finishes the artwork with all her anger channeled into its look.  A frenetic knocking.  Rayne looks outside to see a blonde young woman begging for help.  When Rayne opens the door, she sees the reason for the young woman's panic:  a masked figure stands across the street, staring at them.  Rayne pulls the blonde girl inside, notices she is bleeding from some cuts, and quickly slams the door closed.  "My sisters," the blonde girl gasps, "He killed my sisters.. the Academy..."  As the lights begin to flicker, she decides to call Enzo and ask him to come quickly and help.

Ted calls for security to help round the people up.  Uncertain what just happened, he asks the security to look for the woman (after sharing her appearance) and the train is pulled out of the main track and moved to the side.  There, the cops find the woman and call for Ted to speak to her.  But she panics upon seeing her, and before he could do anything else, he once again blanks out.  He recovers, only to find many of the security personnel on the ground, bleeding profusely from multiple stab wounds.  And he finds the woman screaming for him to stay back.  And that's when he wakes up.  Still on the train.  And the two lovers are still arguing.  Ted decides to duck out of the train, even if he's not yet at his station, and sees the duck once again standing in the hallway.  He decides to follow it and is lead to the service tunnel where trains are usually transferred to for maintenance reasons, and from there, to a small service office.  Stepping inside, the duck seems to motion for him to close the door, and when he does - plunging himself into complete darkness - he hears a voice address him.  Following the woman's voice, he realizes he is in a dark brick-walled chamber with a marble floor.  On a pedestal, a glass bust of a woman sits.  Shattered from the breasts down, the woman's face is frighteningly detailed and crafted.   And impossibly speaks.

She welcomes Ted to what she calls The Sliding Room, and tells him it was about time one of "the Four" finally showed up.  When Ted asks what she means, she explains she rather explain everything only once all four are present. "I rather not repeat myself unnecessarily."  Ted explores The Sliding Room and explores two other rooms - one that contained four metal gurneys surrounded by what look like devices and equipment one would find in a mad scientists' laboratory, and a second that showed a huge mural of a world map, marked with pins and markers the way a conspiracy theorist would mark one.  There were four metal filing cabinets, with files arranged alphabetically.  Inside were manila envelopes with labels such as The Academy, MorphArmy, and the like.  Ted considers opening one, but decides to try helping find the others instead to hasten their "reunion."  The Glass Woman tells Ted about the secret of The Sliding Room:  Stand in complete darkness, think of the one you wish you find, and the Darkness will take you there.    Ted finds The Shadow Cabinet, as the Glass Woman calls it, a huge wooden cabinet laid on its side like a coffin. He steps in, closes the door over himself, and mutters, "Dylan Harris."

Dylan opens his eyes to see the police in the area.  Imelda mutters something about never having trusted him (and points to Dylan) and a man identifying himself as Detective Grey asks Dylan to step into his car to return to the station.  Opting to be cooperative, Dylan steps inside and quietly waits to be brought to the station.  But being familiar with the area, he starts to realize the car isn't headed for the precinct.  And before he could question the Detective about this, a truck suddenly swerves in front of the police car and the two vehicles collide!  As Dylan recovers from the impact, he sees a young man step out of the truck.  The man wears a hoodie but peeking from underneath one can see a bird's beak   Eagle-like talons are where his hands should be.  The bird man leaps onto the hood of the police car and tears into Detective Grey!  Dylan kicks the window open and rushes away from the car, stumbling as he runs.  Being in the warehouse district, Dylan rushes to the nearest one and sneaks in just before the Bird Man gets to him.  It squaks, "Darkness!  Bring you to the Darkness!" but is unable to slip into the warehouse before Dylan slams the doors closed.  He does not find safety, however, as the strange "feathered-pirates" once again emerge, scouting from the warehouse's rafters.  One mutters, "This Instance is our opportunity.  Take the target down before we are recalled."  Outnumbered and trapped, Dylan sees the lights flicker once more.  And then black out.

Maxine and Patrick are at a restaurant and the two talk about relationships, as well as possible business options.  Maxine admits she is being a bit cruel but promises Patrick she's only doing what she believes is for the best for Mark.  Patrick's phone rings again, and his cellular phone shows it is an unlisted number.  Answering, it turns out to be the woman who called him the previous night.  She begs him to reconsider the cancellation, but Patrick hangs up.  As Maxine and Patrick walk down the street, more strangeness happens around Patrick.  A wall of display television screens shifts to show an Asian Woman staring at Patrick.   Total strangers walking nearby have their phones ring, and the people start complaining about the caller having dialed a wrong number.  One even mutters aloud as Patrick and Maxine passes, "No, I will not hand my phone to a Patrick.  Who the hell are you and why do you have my number?"  Patrick contacts Frances and she admits she cancelled the service already.  But Patrick admits he is intrigued how this service is tracking him and doing this, and considers a business option with them.   As he gets home, he hears the sounds of someone or something already in his home.  He hears the sounds coming from the closet, and very slowly approaches it and slides it open.  Of all the things he fears seeing, what he finds is a duck.

Exhausted.  Confused.  Tired.  Patrick sits beside the duck and wonders if this was something Maxine was up to - but given only he and Frances has a copy of the house key, considers if it was sent by his assistant.  The duck seems to motion for him to close the door and Patrick decides to just do it.  The door closes and plunges him into darkness.

Rayne awakens to find her house in a state of ruin.  Blood trails in various directions, and as Rayne studies the scene more she learns Enzo is also present but bleeding from a massive wound through his stomach! Unaware how long she was out, she calls 911 and emergency services quickly comes to respond.  The scene shifts to the hospital where Rayne sits in a room where Enzo is currently resting.  Somewhere else in the hospital, the blonde girl is resting as well.  Both have been stabilized.  Rayne looks up to see her Aunt Liza arrive, accompanied by Rianne.  When Aunt Liza confronts Rayne about what happens, the artist instead projects her frustrations out at her - leading to a massive argument.  As Liza accuses Rayne of disrespecting her, Rayne strikes Liza and tells her she has no right to tell her what to do.  Liza declares their relationship over and when Rayne considers leaving, the lights flicker once again.

She realizes she is standing in front of Enzo's room.  With a tire iron in her hand.  And the hospital security standing beside her.  They ask her to come with them and there, question her on what he had planned to do. Rayne watches footage that show her walking out of the hospital, straight to the closest ambulance, where she then took the tire iron and stomped back to the room.  Thankfully, she seemed to recover before she reached the door.  One of the security guys takes pity on Rayne and suggests they let her go since she didn't officially do anything.  The others reluctantly agree.

Ted emerges from the shadows to find himself in some warehouse.  As he steps out of the massive storage container trucks, he finds Dylan on the ground with numerous arrows embedded into his stomach, shoulder and arm.  Dylan is conscious now too, and realizes everyone else is dead, including the Bird man.  He calls 911 for help, but realizes his wounds don't feel as bad as they should be.  Ted hears the paramedics coming and sees the bodies of all the others quickly vanish, as if they never were there.  Only the Bird man's body remains.  When the paramedics arrive, Dylan asks if they saw the Detective outside, but all they saw were the car and the van that struck each other.  Confused, Ted suggests to Dylan that he comes with him.  Dylan senses he will find answers if he goes, and so the two step back into the Container vehicle and shut the door behind them.

Rayne is given a ride home by the security guy, whose name happens to be Jerry.  He offers to give her a ride home on his motorcycle and while he seems to try to offer some kindness given all the madness  that has been transpiring.  As they stop at a red light, however, Rayne sees the blonde girl she helped running down the street.  Consfused how she'd be out of the hospital, Rayne steps down and calls out to her, but she ducks into an alleyway.  Rayne takes chase, and Jerry isn't certain what is going on.

In the alley, as Rayne tries to get answers from the blonde girl, she suddenly demands that Rayne stop approaching and Rayne feels the voice "inside her head."  She finds herself suddenly unable to move closer! Jerry asks what is going on, and Rayne mutters some excuse about the blonde having stolen her purse.  Jerry backs away, not sure if they should just chase after the woman, but Rayne will not be denied.  Thinking quick, Rayne leaps up for the fire escape, and flings herself forward, allowing gravity to go against the mental compulsion not to come close.  As she lands, the blonde woman turns to run away but stops as out of the shadows a muscular man wearing a rubber mask steps out of the darkness.  Rayne realizes it is the same one from outside her home! As the blonde screams in panic, Rayne dodges in the last second as the masked man grabs the blonde by the throat, then uses her to try and bludgeon Rayne to the ground.  The lights flicker around the area as Rayne seemingly feels her body empowered by some unknown force.  She shatters the helmet's glass visor on the ground, then uses the jagged edge to tear into the masked man's throat.  Though she does draw blood, the Masked Man merely walks away back into the shadows without any signs of pain.  Rayne looks at the blonde girl and learns to her dismay she is dead, her neck was snapped when she was swung at Rayne as a weapon.  Rayne looks up, sees a duck standing at the edge of the shadow, and steps into the shadow hoping for answers.

The Sliding Room.

As the four find each other in the room, the initial accusations quickly fly as some question how the others are connected or part of what is going on.  The Glass Woman does commend Ted on finding the three others quickly, although Ted admits he had only found Dylan.  Patrick is struggling to grasp how the Glass Woman can speak while Rayne is on a warpath demanding for answers.

But when Rayne mentions about the blonde girl still being alive and out there, the Glass Woman seems to panick and try to get everyone's attention.  No one hears her, however, as the four begin throwing expletives and questions at each other.  Realizing time is of the essence, and not wanting to lose someone she cares about, the Glass Woman transforms in an eye blink into a severed human being, and in the split second before death claims her heartless form, she telepathically reaches out to the gathered and mentally imposes a compulsion on them all:  I am Emma Frost.  You Will Listen To Me and Obey.  You Will Save Sophie.

As the four feel the compulsion lock into place, they see the now flesh and blood bust of a woman slip into death, unable to remain alive in her current state of being.    In the silence of The Sliding Room, the group feel the tug of the mental command, and the other room, an enveloped labelled, The Academy, now begins to make sense.

End of Episode One

Coming this Weekend...

The Academy.  Thee Who Is Beyond Death.  Anti-Bodies.  Desert Colossi.   ModulArmy.  Sleeping Myths.  Drones Among Us.  The Relentless Feast.  Her Voice, A Wet Dream.  Marboro.  Rock, Paper, Scissors.  From far, far, away.  Closet Cases.  Swallow Me.  Grown Young.  Forever People.

"The Path of Totality was never without its price."

A sixteen episode modern pulp mystery theater.

Using a modified new World of Darkness system.

Starring Erich, Mahar, Rachel and Rocky.

The story begins this April 7th, 2013.