Practice Safe Sects

After finishing the other mission, we started another Victoriana mission.

It's a cold spring morning in London. Father Amorth is at his unfashionable London flat, and a knock comes at the door. He opens it, and there's a lanky black bearded middle class fellow with a scar across his temple.

He greets Father Amorth warmly, and says he's a tailor named Jack Vega, and Vicar Gunnerson sent him, suggesting that Father Amorth might be able to help. His brother Jack is a reporter, and three months ago he went to a village in Cumbria called Blackwood to investigate nasty supernatural things are rumored to occur there. Two weeks ago, he sent a disturbing letter which concerned Jack greatly.

tO MY BRotHeR;

IT haS bEEn To WAfe since MY laST POST. ThERE are ThinGS I MusT SpEAk wiTh YOU abOUt bUT ThE DARK thigNS HeLP eM. LAts CHRIstmAs TheY atE the BLOod BUt nO NEEd to WoRRy I havE thE AMUlets and ClocKS proteCTS uS AlL. THE dONkeY HeadED AdviSSSary OpENs tHE DiSScusioN. i WiLl ReTuRN on THE MARROW. HeRSaNT Si GOne

With MOve
HaRRold VagE

Ryan asks Father Amorth can help, and Father Amorth agrees to look into it. His brother looks similar to him, although he's a bit more portly.

At Ingram and Taylor's, Freddie arrives with a box after being in the Congo for two weeks. He's haggard and his clothes are ripped, and he tells Edwin Ingram that he had malaria, but he's cured of that. However, he does need the mortar and pestle to deal with the witch's curse. He can't speak further, as the faerie queen won't let him, only that he managed to seal the sun god back in its tomb and the tribe threw him a feast. It's not clear, but it sounds like he used magic to get there and back again, and the Fey might not be happy with him.

Freddie promises to take care of the witch's curse, but he'll hold shop for Edwin, as a messenger has arrived, indicating that Edwin is needed at a very fashionable flat.

Have I ever told you how fashionable my flat is?

We meet up, and Father Amorth shows us the letter and tells us the mission that he's been entrusted with. We agree to investigate it, and we leave for Cumbria by train at once.

Blackwood can't quite be called a village. It's really more of a bunch of loosely connected ramshackle buildings. The inhabitants here don't seem to like outsiders, but they don't get many.

We discover that most visitors end up staying at a converted barn. We pay the "innkeeper", and go in.

Inside, Father Amorth finds an ink stain. The ink looks similar to the ink used in Ryan's letter, so he was probably here.

Sidney touches the ink, and senses through it. She sees that Ryan and another man was here. The other man is tall and had short blond hair and a goatee. They're talking, and Sidney catches that the other man's name is Hercent and he is some sort of investigator. The vision fades.

Sidney and Edwin Ingram ask around town. Nobody wants to talk to Edwin, but Sidney isn't so lucky. She gets cursed at, and as she's heading back to the barn, she sees several men approaching from different directions to intercept her. Sidney yells at them to stop, but they don't, probably because they can't understand her.

Sidney leaps forward, and runs to the barn, dodging two of them, but the third charges Sidney and grabs her collar. She slips out, and not having enough time to get into the building, runs up the side of it. She's hanging perilously from the eaves, and one of them throws a rock at her, clipping her.

Father Amorth and I are inside the barn, and hear Sidney screaming. We step out, guns in drawn but not pointed. They stop, suddenly nervous. Father Amorth asks them about the happenings here, and one of them says that outsiders brought the darkness, and the outsiders always disappear. Father Amorth then asks them where we can find Vega or Hercent, and one of them mentions to check Walson farm.

Edwin returns, having successfully made the villagers trust him even less.

Before leaving, we talk to the town clergyman. He's a bit reluctant to talk, but he does remember Hercent and Ryan. He also mentions demons, and that the Wolsons were more tolerant of outsiders. Ryan had gained the trust of a few of the locals.

We then head out to the Wolson Farm.

It gets dark, and a light mist sets in. Edwin Ingram's lamp is the only thing illuminating our way. Edwin's horrible humming keeps us company.

A strange shape flits across the darkness, and we draw weapons, and keep walking.

After another half hour, we see movement again, it seems bipedal. We hear a low growl, and we stop.

From behind a wispy creature of darkness attacks. Edwin fires, and the creature goes flying into Edwin knocking him onto me. Edwin is horribly slashed, and Father Amorth punches it. The creatures runs back into the mist.

Most of the oil from Edwin's lantern has spilled itself on the ground. Sidney sees the supernatural and sees a man hanging from a tree. She asks him what's so interesting, and he points behind her.

We continue on, and after a while longer walking, the lamp goes out, slowing us down. We're getting close to the farm, and the shadowy creature is trailing us again.

Before long, I turn and see it jump from the mist. It attacks Edwin, and I shoot it, lighting up it's green eyes. Sidney punches it in the face, and Father Amorth shoots it, killing it. It goes down without a sound, as if it's made of water.

Father Amorth collects some of the creature into Edwin's oil can, and gives it to me, suggesting I should test it later. I agree.

Edwin looks like he's in a sorry shape, but that doesn't keep him from humming.

We arrive at the farm, and knock on the hut door. A voice answers, it's Wolson, but he doesn't want to talk until it's light. Mentions he had a hard time getting Hercent to sleep.

We rest outside until morning. Edwin Ingram keeps watch.

Edwin wakes up by a stream in the forest. His bones ache.

He sees supernatural and wanders downstream and sees a ghost. The ghost's throat looks like it's been mauled out. Edwin asks where the nearest building is, and the ghost points towards the mountains.

We awaken, and realize Edwin Ingram is gone.

Luckily, Edwin arrives very shortly, babbling about infection. We hear whispering from inside the hut, concern about Edwin's babbling.

Wolson is otherwise happy we're not monsters, but Father Amorth's speech about how he has a religious duty to assist Father Amorth doesn't impress him. He does tell us that Hercent has been here about two weeks, after they found him.

We speak to Hercent, but he's twitchy as hell. He babbles about the darkness and how they found it all. I ask him some questions, trying to determine if the letter has any useful information he can corroborate, but it seems like it was either mostly nonsense, or he can only give us mostly nonsense anyway.

Wolson approaches and says he was up at Helford estate probably, where a lot of nasty things used to occur, like pagan sacrifices, kidnapping and torture. About 200 years ago it stopped. The Wolsons feed us, and give us some supplies.

We head up to the Helford estate, and arrive there around dusk.

It's a sprawling dilapidated manor, and it looks very much like it hasn't been maintained in the last two hundred years. Perhaps we should set it on fire? No that'd be a bad solution, we can't solve all our problems by setting buildings on fire.

We enter, revealing a front entryway. Inside looks nearly as bad as the outside. There's a stairway leading up, and several doors. There floor is wooden and in poor condition, and there's a little bit of dried blood. Sidney touches it, and sees a vision of Ryan getting torn apart by many smaller shadowy creatures.

Sidney looks, and sees the supernatural. There are several ghosts, clad in clothing several centuries too old.

One of the ghosts speaks to Sidney, and greets her warmly. "Hark thou Maiden!" Sidney asks him where the shadow critters go, and the ghost tells her the creatures come with the darkness, are apart of it.

Sidney then asks what happened to the Helfords, and the ghosts responds that their own creations, the shadow creatures tore them asunder. He himself was taken to this place, where the dark gods slumber, and was tortured and sacrificed. On the wings of a unbeknownst terror the creatures were summoned, and the dark heart of this vile darkness is in the basement.

We block the basement door with an armoire, and explore the house. Father Amorth ends up in the library, and finds a book of necromancy, which he takes.

We meet back up in the entryway, and notice that Edwin Ingram has disappeared. The armoire has also been moved. Looks like we can't avoid going into the basement any longer.

The basement is bare, except for a pedestal with a goat headed statue with antlers and a human face on it. Edwin is praying at it, to it, chanting "Vinotonus" over and over.

Sidney can see a black halo around the idol, and Father Amorth steps forward, and tries to put the spirit of the idol to rest. As soon as he touches the statue, he stops moving.

Sidney slaps Edwin in the face. Nothing happens. She touches her crucifix to Edwin, and she hears laughing. The statue speaks to her, telling her to join her. I think she's crazy.

I tell Sidney to knock Father Amorth from the statue, and she does so, knocking Father Amorth to consciousness.

With Father Amorth conscious again, our options have opened back up. We discuss what to do, and Father Amorth suggests using his necromantic power to disintegrate the statue. I'm not sure it's a good idea, but we don't have many other options. Gunfire probably wouldn't damage it much, and we don't see any other way to destroy it.

Father Amorth touches it, the statue fractures, and halo that Sidney sees becomes more intense. The laughing in her head increases, and the statue crumbles and then reforms, leaving Father Amorth's grasp.

Edwin wakes up, and complains that he wants to take a nap. Typical Jeff

The goat headed creature in front of us greets us, tells us that we have awakened it, and what boon we seek. We ask what it is, and it tells us that it's a celtic god and will soon spread its darkness. It offers us a place in his court in his dark regime.

I tell the others that any boon he grants us probably comes with strings attached. We draw our weapons and fire at it. Chunks of water flesh fly off, and then the creature explodes into black water. Father Amorth touches the water and tries to melt it, which causes the water to vaporize, filling the room with black steam.

We run out of the basement, concerned that we have not yet killed the beast but also don't want to deal with the steam.

There's a bird watching Edwin.

We decide that we should set the building on fire, so Edwin sets the curtains on fire. We also set the armoire on fire and shove it down the stairs. Where's a long legged ogre when you need it?

The bird is still watching Edwin so he shoots it. It squawks and falls.

We get the hell out of the building.

We watch the manor burns throughout the night into the morning. Edwin Ingram feels free, like he doesn't even need to hum.

After we've eaten some of our supplies from the Wolsons, and after the fire has mostly burned out, we clear out some rubble. There's no black liquid or auras remaining. Father Amorth inscribes some religious scripture on the pedestal where the statue once stood.

We get back to the Wolson's and rest a bit. After we've rested, we go back to Blackwood. The villagers tell us that there haven't been any reports of attacks since we burned down the manor. Edwin Ingram feels like humming again.

We make it back to the London. The Abbot is quite happy to see Father Amorth.

Sidney and Edwin are each visited by Adeen of the Fey, but they are unable to remember the name of the creature we fought, so she leaves disappointed.

Before she leaves, Edwin asks her if he can have the power to hum in tune again, and she says that maybe they could make a trade. She'll do it if she can borrow Freddie for a month. Edwin agrees but says it's ultimately up to Freddie. Freddie is willing, and he leaves armed. Oh and yeah, the Canadians want the dynamite he sold to the Argentinians. Oh, and don't mention it if the Prime Minister or any MPs come around.

Finally, Adeen comes to me. I tell her the name "Vinotonus", and she says that he's a god of death and destruction, and much stronger than her. Our efforts were not in vain, but we must prepare ourselves, for he'll be back to full strength on the Winter Solstice.