Session Date 2021-04-11

On the way back from Guatemala:
[[from DM: A single green, or is it hazel? hard to tell the difference at night. That single eye, unblinking, staring back at you from the void. Unblinking, but still more human than anything you have.]]
[[From DM (public): You are torn from the dream very abruptly as your head slams into the side of your cargo box.
It is approximately 15 minutes after sunset; you are still in your travel crate in the cargo bay, where you expected to be - free of the nightmares - but it appears the turbulence at least is real.]]
The radio isn't working (getting nothing but static), and there's a couple military jets forcing our plane down. The city - we're close to New Orleans, apparently - is in flames.
Soldiers, SWAT-equipped, burst into the plane, demanding our cooperation at gunpoint. They're apparently as surprised at our ignorance of the situation as we are at the situation. There's some kind of radiation leak that's interfering with the radio, which explains why the pilot didn't get any sort of notification that our route took us into a newly-declared No-Fly Zone, which led to the current confrontation. The soldiers promise we'll get explanations soon, and confiscate our belongings with the promise that they'll be returned as soon as our identities are verified.
A social worker comes to take Tono away, ostensibly to get snacks and keep him occupied while they talk to us adults. It doesn't sit right with me or Daniel, but Tono heard "snacks" and wants to go, so I reluctantly let him go. Daniel seems equally reluctant.
[[From GM (public): *NOLA is under martial law and has been declared a national disaster zone
*NO travel in or out of the city limits
*Riots, looting, firefights, and worse have been reported
*Two rival gangs are battling over the Southern side of the city, First Responders and military personnel have been attacked while trying to evacuate this part of the city
*Five days earlier, a containment breach was identified at a Power plant near the city. Dangerous to lethal levels of radiation are preventing travel into and out of New Orleans
*An environmental disaster of epic proportions, it is estimated that nearly 80% of the plant and animal life in the southern delta system will not survive
*For their own safety, no one cannot wander, once their questions have been answered, they will be escorted to a safe location outside the hot zone, provided with a list of resources and relief organizations, and all their possessions will be returned.
*Radiation levels across the city continue to ebb and flow oddly, spiking in areas far from the disaster site, and coming up almost clean close by. Until the area is determined to be radiation-free, no civilians will be allowed in.]]
Daniel heads off on his own, his contacts having made arrangements for him. Someone else has made arrangements for the rest of us ... probably Lorkian, as he turns out to be our bus driver.
[[Travel Montage: New Orleans burns. All across the city, the blanket of black smoke is thinner in spot and reveals hellish red-gold bonfires. In some places, a single home burns, while the neighbors remain untouched; in other spots whole neighborhoods are ablaze.
Monstrous shapes move within the smoke, stalking smaller prey through the smoke and ash. Gunfire, smashing glass, and police sirens create an eerie soundtrack for the violence.
As the bus turns to the northeast, just before reaching the suburbs, the brakes squeal and the bus comes to a stop.
Lorkian tells your group to stay inside the vehicle. He and the soldiers are going to start clearing the roadway.
There has been some kind of wreck here. A police cruiser is flipped up on its side in the median; the guard rail on your side of the road looks like someone split it with a giant can opener - but that isn't what's blocking the road.]]
[[The last one in pulls the door a bit too hard and it slams into place, as the birds surround the vehicle - blacking out the moon and the burning city skyline.
For a few long moments, all you can see is black feathers, sharp hooked beaks, and bird bodies battering themselves bloody against the sides of the bus.
Tonio covers his ears with his hands, closes his eyes, and curls up into a fetal position.]]
=====
Four Days Earlier...
Friday, 9 April 2021, 11:45 PM
New Orleans French Quarter
Raina Fader, Corax PI
 
The meeting was set for 10:30; we've been waiting since then...
[[Shortly before midnight, you are waiting to meet a local contact outside a converted warehouse building that stinks of sour beer, sweat, and chronic depression. Even from across the street, the reek of the place makes you want to gag.]]
[[A large rat scuttles out from the alley beside the club, and into the shadows of the dumpster. A small, wiry man steps out of the shadow that the rat disappeared into. You recognize the Ratkin local who has been helping your team gather intel.]]
He reports to me that [[Asher's grandmother and the gators]] were basically at ground zero for the breach into the Deep Umbra and are pretty much all dead...or worse.
[[The faint thump of trance music leaks into the alley, as the back door of the club opens. Ian signals you all to be quiet, and take cover.
A human female (dressed in little more than a few strips of brightly colored cloth and some sequins) pulls out a pack of cigarettes and promptly drops it into a mud puddle. You are close enough to see her hands shaking as she tries to shake the pack dry. After an intense few minutes of struggle, she finally manages to get one lit.
The Smoking Woman takes a few long, slow drags. Every so often her face contorts in a grimace of pain.
The door opens again, and loudly, slamming against the alley wall. A second woman (similarly un-dressed) stalks out of the club, grabs the smoking woman by the arm with a grip that was bound to leave bruises, and snaps at her.
Salty Prostitute 2: Eddie says to get your ass back to work. He isn't paying you to smoke cigarettes and run off all his customers. You need to stop telling every man that walks in about your damn cramps.
Smoking Prostitute: It will run off even more customers if I puke on them during a lap dance.
Salty Prostitute: You don't get special dispensation for being hungover.
Smoking Prostitute: It's probably cancer and I'll be dead in a month and all because you didn't believe me when I said I was sick.
She crushes out her cigarette and flicks the butt into the other woman's cleavage. The Salty Prostitute quickly brushes the ashes away.
Smoking Prostitute: I don't have to put up with your shit, or Eddie's much longer. I'm going to take my act over to the Quarter and land me a spot at the Lagniappe.
Salty Prostitute: Riiight. Because you're such a classy ho. Last month Eddie plucked you up outside St. Martha's trading blow jobs for a pack of smokes. And now you want to work for the "L".
You can hear her laughing all the way back into the club, and see the Smoking Prostitute's angry scowl as both women walk past your positions.]]
We watch as Smoking Woman casually kills a man...
[[Salty Prostitute 2: Are you ok? I heard some...oh. Did you have to make such a mess? Eddie is going to make me clean this up for sure.
Smoking Woman/Fomori: Told you I wasn't feeling well.
Salty Prostitute: I stand corrected. ... Do you smell that?
Ian: There is only one way to deal with fomori. Kill it. And after it's dead, we kill it again just to make sure it's really down.]]
We destroy the two fomori and three Bane, then head out to the Pentec facility by boat.
[[As the ship approaches the location, the sky darkens. Strange traces of what looks like oil streaks across the surface of the water. And in the distance, casting a grim shadow across the frothing sea, you can see the facility you must destroy.
It sits on a rocky isolated island, surrounded by sheer cliffs and guarded by crashing surf.]]
We swim down to ask permission from the local Guardian to cross the boundary. It's willing to help, but we won't be able to come back this way.
=====
Present Day
13 April 2021
Two hours before sunrise
University of Louisiana, Beaufort Campus
NEWS REPORT: The big shots over at Pentex Headquarters have finally released what little footage there was of the explosion. Although security had been increased following the recent terror attacks, the heat from the explosion was so intense that it rendered all available security recordings unusable. In the wake of the containment failure at the Power Plant, many are hoping to hear at least some explanation from the company..."
[[It took a few hours to clear the corpses and wreckage from the road, but since then, you have been making good time. You still aren't entirely sure where this "safe house" is located, who is responsible for securing it (and why they would help your coterie), or what to expect when you get there, but it has to be better than what is happening in the city.
Tonio is sleeping hard, stretched out across several seats. He has slept through most of this trip, for which you are grateful. Although nothing you have passed by out here can come close to the horrors you witnessed while skirting the city.]]