Hey there, folks. No real news for this week, unless you count that I finished up my Realms of Magic and Mystery draft. Also, there's another Under Alien Skies art piece previewed at the Monday Meeting Notes that I'm pretty sure is from my section.
But we are here for neither the World of Scion nor the Trinity Continuum. We're here for the Chronicles of Darkness. So let's get to it.[0]
So we start fresh on the next day with Kenneth making some calls and trying to get Mel's address so they can start looking for this 'melted bit of truck' that Victor was after. He can't find records on a living address, but there is an office. So they head out to a building very much like the one that Kenneth's office is in, and find a door labeled "Star Follower Holdings."
Eddy goes ahead and picks the lock, much to Richard's consternation (as he could have picked it faster) and Kenneth's annoyance (he just wanted to get the super). They open the door to find a pile of mail that's been slid through the mail slot, at least two weeks' worth. The office itself is pretty boring -- no sanctum, no magical lab. This appears to have been where Mel managed his mundane business dealings. They go ahead and toss the place, and eventually find a map that seems to have directions to Nelson (possibly specifically to the entrance to the cave with the Avernian Gate). There's some sort of symbol drawn next to the notes 'Suppression?' and 'Hide it there.'
Before they head out to Nelson, Kenneth loads up on water and booze because he refuses to deal with those 'culty old men' sober. Which, y'know, fair. But they make the drive, head out to the hills, and there they are, the four old men. Sitting there around a pot of stew over a smoldering fire as if they haven't moved an inch since the krewe last saw them.[1] The group stands around glancing awkwardly at each other, as nobody wants to be the first to talk to them.
One of the old men actually speaks up first, saying "He hasn't come back yet." Of course, they know that, but that's not what they're there for. The group describes the thing they're looking for as best as they can. And one of them says that Mel did indeed leave it with them for safekeeping, but they'd been asked to hand it off to one of his 'masked friends' if something happened to him. So they'd passed it on to 'the Ranger,' whom they clarify as 'the cowboy fella' so he could stash it in the Great Below.
Nobody is happy with this, because it means tracking down Abe. Richard trudges off to the cave while Eddy just stares at the old men, not understanding why they just don't 'get it over with.' But he and Kenneth catch up as Richard finds the pickaxe from their last trip and cuts his hand open on it so he can open up the Avernian Gate. They venture into the Underworld and hike to Las Minas, asking around about Abe.
Good news and bad news. The good news is that they can find him. The bad news is that he's at the Neon Table, a Dread Dominion that's styled like a casino where ghost and Sin-Eaters gamble and often wind up enslaved to work off their debt (at best) or, in the case of ghosts, turned into the Essence that makes up the drinks and appetizers served to the guests.
Kenneth wants nothing to do with this. In general he refuses to consider any plan that involves what are likely rigged games of chance in the Underworld. And on top of that, he doesn't want to go to the effort of saving Abe from whatever fate has befallen him there. Eddy wants to at least go and check in. They don't have to play, they can just look around. He wants to at least see if they can stop Abe from doing something stupid. But to sweeten the deal Eddy tells Kenneth that if Kenneth humors him and comes along, then he won't steal anything for a month.
So they flag down a ferryman on the River Lethe and Eddy pays a toll in plasm-booze from his flask. The ferryman produces a deck of playing cards, throws them into the water, and the cards float to the surface in the shape of an arrow. The ferryman punts the boat in that direction until they reach another shore, and he instructs them to keep going until they find a roulette table and spin the wheel.
So a short walk and a wheel-spin later, an entity appears. The entity is a Kerberos[2] with a thin, translucent body about the height of a normal person but only wide enough to hold two red eyes and an always-open mouth. Connected to her body by visible tendons are four muscular arms three times as long as the body and four times as wide.
Folks, meet the Bouncer.
She asks if they have collateral to bet, and they emphasize they're not here to play. But she makes it clear that whether or not they intend to do so, she won't let them in until she can be sure they can pay if they change their minds. But between memories and Mementos, they're covered there, and so she informs them of the Old Laws of the Dominion:
- Everything can be collateral, as long as someone wants it.
- Anyone who loses must accept the consequences.
- Never cheat the dealer.
They go inside and start looking for Abe. Eddy reaches for one of the drinks being carried on trays around the room, but Kenneth stops him because he doesn't know how much they cost. The waitress informs him they're free to players, and he backs off. After some searching, they find Abe working at a blackjack table.
He explains that he's working there voluntarily -- the best alternative for basic survival is working for the Dealer back in Las Minas, and he'd rather take his chances with the Bouncer. But he knows what they're there for, the pendant. According to him, Mel stashed the pendant where the energies of the area outside the Avernian Gate would hide it, but he knew he probably wouldn't be able to watch that zone of Ruin forever to make sure it lasted. So if something happened, he wanted it stashed in the Underworld. But where he's at, he's honestly not worried about it any more, so he offers to play them for it. Since he feels he owes them for the hospitality they offered, even when exploiting it, he gives them each a chip for a free hand of blackjack. If they win, he'll give them the pendant.
So he proceeds to play, dealing out the cards. He himself has a 2 showing. Eddy stands on an 18, Richard busts with a 23, and Kenneth stands on 19. Abe then flips over a King -- so he's on 12, and has to hit (dealer stands on 17) and gets a 7, giving him a 19. So Eddy and Richard are out. He's ready to give Kenneth a push and play one more hand, but rather than risk this going on long enough that someone catches him screwing around, he goes ahead and gives Kenneth the macguffin. Abe then wishes them luck with Rossi and says they're even now.
It's a metal pendant on a chain that's a mess of loops and swirls and pointy bits that, from certain angles, is physically painful to look at. Something about the shape of it just seems 'wrong.'[3] But they take it and get out while they can, with Eddy grabbing a drink on the way out.
They get back to the river and barter plasm-booze for a trip back to the nearest shore to the Nelson gate. Richard opens up the gate with the Stillness Key and they head back, with the pendant buzzing a bit in Kennth's pocket.
Eddy asks the old men at the fire if they want to go inside, and the men say they have everything they need. He asks what they're eating, and they just simply say 'stew.' He asks if there's people in the stew, and that actually provokes a bit of a reaction as, offended, one of them says of course not. Eddy then offers to open the Avernian Gate for them so they can go to the Underworld directly, but they don't want to go through the gate. He asks if they're just waiting to die. They say they're just waiting, until the waiting is done. Unable to handle it any more, Eddy just walks back to the car.[4]
They head back to Vegas, and when they get back to the hotel there's a message for Kenneth from someone at the FBI office. Kenneth calls them back -- it's a real Agent Milton this time -- and the agent comes out to inventory and impound the truck with the olive oil.
And we leave off there, with the group trying to figure out what to do with the pendant and thinking of calling Carmen.
[0]-- That segue was perfect, I tell you.
[1]-- Spoiler alert, they haven't.
[2]-- Powerful death-entities, sorta like spirits and sorta like ghosts, that guard the Dead Dominions. They enforce the Old Laws of the Dominions.
[3]-- I can't remember if I had Abe explain this, but just in case -- the metal is from a truck that was out at the atomic bomb tests and was warped and twisted by one of the nukes into the shape it's in now.
[4]-- What puts Eddy off about the old men is he sees them as wasting their lives, when he himself knows just how precious life is.
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