they come and go, as early warnings
My name is Curtis Scanlon. I’m a Biomedical Equipment Technician for the Red Cross, which is a really fancy way of saying that I wrangle expensive medical equipment that could spray blood everywhere if something fails. As for my track record, the whole “spewing bodily fluids” thing has happened much less often since I got hired.
I also have the uncanny ability of seeing things before they happen. This sounds cooler than it actually is. Most of the time it’s abstract thoughts and concepts that don’t make a lot of sense when you first see them. They may make a little more sense in hindsight, if you’re lucky.
One of these “visions” (if you would) was what led to me and my roommate, Robin, driving out to the theater district in the middle of the night. In the dream I saw one of our acquaintances, a young fae named Maeve, consumed by flowers and vines. The reality was Maeve bleeding out on the sidewalk and her attacker still at large. As I said, abstract.
I called an ambulance while Robin dealt with the hunter. Violence isn’t really my speciality and while I know a little bit about medicine, dying people are beyond my skills. I mean, I can keep them stable, but that only lasts for so long. Maybe it seems strange to call for EMS while in the middle of a firefight. I know Robin pretty well, though, and I knew that she would have the attacker down and in dire need of medical care by the time EMS arrived.
And that was how Robin and I found ourselves in Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center at a completely unreasonable hour in the morning.
I handled explaining the situation to the cops. That meant completely downplaying the whole “supernatural warfare” aspect. Cops aren’t super fond of that. They prefer hearing stories about drunken bar disagreements going wrong and violent. It makes them feel better about working while the rest of the city sleeps. At least they didn’t make complete fools of themselves.
After that was settled, Robin asked me to talk to the nurse practitioner on duty as she passed by to head out... somewhere... I didn’t ask, to be honest. She had this determined look in her eyes that told me that it wouldn’t be worth my time to stop her, even if only for a moment. So, yeah, I went to talk to the nurse on duty. Turns out that it was another person I knew in passing: Derek. He’s a stand up guy, even if he always seemed in over his head. We met after Robin saved him from a “drug deal” gone wrong. He spent some a couple of nights sleeping on our couch during the aftermath.
Derek complained of seeing odd things in ER change room. I told him that I would check it out. So-called “normal people” are actually pretty good at identifying when the supernatural oversteps its boundaries. Just as I predicted, the change room stank of the supernatural. Demons, in particular. The “drug deal” that I mentioned? That was part of a demonic ritual that didn’t fully go off. That ritual was still running on autopilot and was desperately looking for Derek so it could finish, like a demented rogue computer program.
It was time to call in backup. I went with Tenzin. He’s a wizard and one of the few ones I can tolerate, honestly. Plus he owed me a solid. I introduced him to Derek and explained the situation. Tenzin seemed really cagey until I reminded him again of that favour he owed me.
With that underway, I checked in on Maeve. She was demanding answers out of her attacker. The hunter said that the Amber Vampires had kidnapped his niece and had her in a warehouse by the docks. I suggested that the proactive thing would be to help save the niece from the vampires. Then hunter problem would then be able to solve itself. I texted Robin to see if she wanted to join in. What I got back was a terse message to save the kid and get out as quickly as possible.
Maeve and I were successful at getting into the warehouse (her more than me), but I found not just one niece, but countless other mortals trapped by the vampires. Maeve quickly found the hunter’s niece and ran. I waited until Robin arrived and made a scene before leading everyone else out and getting them to scatter.
The vampires were not as lucky as their captives.
When I tried to meet up with Robin after, I ran into the person who called her here: Merov King. Merov and I were briefly a thing in the past. Very briefly. We had a weekend fling, okay? He might be a little bit on the attractive side and I had no plans for those days.
Anyway, Merov said he had things to discuss with us. The Amber Vampires attacked his penthouse earlier than night and he wanted to relocate to his cottage upstate until the damage was repaired. As I mentioned taking Merov’s helicopter, Robin gave me this look. The kind of look people get when they realize something terrible that they can’t unlearn...
My name is Curtis Scanlon. I’m a Biomedical Equipment Technician for the Red Cross, which is a really fancy way of saying that I wrangle expensive medical equipment that could spray blood everywhere if something fails. As for my track record, the whole “spewing bodily fluids” thing has happened much less often since I got hired.
I also have the uncanny ability of seeing things before they happen. This sounds cooler than it actually is. Most of the time it’s abstract thoughts and concepts that don’t make a lot of sense when you first see them. They may make a little more sense in hindsight, if you’re lucky.
One of these “visions” (if you would) was what led to me and my roommate, Robin, driving out to the theater district in the middle of the night. In the dream I saw one of our acquaintances, a young fae named Maeve, consumed by flowers and vines. The reality was Maeve bleeding out on the sidewalk and her attacker still at large. As I said, abstract.
I called an ambulance while Robin dealt with the hunter. Violence isn’t really my speciality and while I know a little bit about medicine, dying people are beyond my skills. I mean, I can keep them stable, but that only lasts for so long. Maybe it seems strange to call for EMS while in the middle of a firefight. I know Robin pretty well, though, and I knew that she would have the attacker down and in dire need of medical care by the time EMS arrived.
And that was how Robin and I found ourselves in Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center at a completely unreasonable hour in the morning.
I handled explaining the situation to the cops. That meant completely downplaying the whole “supernatural warfare” aspect. Cops aren’t super fond of that. They prefer hearing stories about drunken bar disagreements going wrong and violent. It makes them feel better about working while the rest of the city sleeps. At least they didn’t make complete fools of themselves.
After that was settled, Robin asked me to talk to the nurse practitioner on duty as she passed by to head out... somewhere... I didn’t ask, to be honest. She had this determined look in her eyes that told me that it wouldn’t be worth my time to stop her, even if only for a moment. So, yeah, I went to talk to the nurse on duty. Turns out that it was another person I knew in passing: Derek. He’s a stand up guy, even if he always seemed in over his head. We met after Robin saved him from a “drug deal” gone wrong. He spent some a couple of nights sleeping on our couch during the aftermath.
Derek complained of seeing odd things in ER change room. I told him that I would check it out. So-called “normal people” are actually pretty good at identifying when the supernatural oversteps its boundaries. Just as I predicted, the change room stank of the supernatural. Demons, in particular. The “drug deal” that I mentioned? That was part of a demonic ritual that didn’t fully go off. That ritual was still running on autopilot and was desperately looking for Derek so it could finish, like a demented rogue computer program.
It was time to call in backup. I went with Tenzin. He’s a wizard and one of the few ones I can tolerate, honestly. Plus he owed me a solid. I introduced him to Derek and explained the situation. Tenzin seemed really cagey until I reminded him again of that favour he owed me.
With that underway, I checked in on Maeve. She was demanding answers out of her attacker. The hunter said that the Amber Vampires had kidnapped his niece and had her in a warehouse by the docks. I suggested that the proactive thing would be to help save the niece from the vampires. Then hunter problem would then be able to solve itself. I texted Robin to see if she wanted to join in. What I got back was a terse message to save the kid and get out as quickly as possible.
Maeve and I were successful at getting into the warehouse (her more than me), but I found not just one niece, but countless other mortals trapped by the vampires. Maeve quickly found the hunter’s niece and ran. I waited until Robin arrived and made a scene before leading everyone else out and getting them to scatter.
The vampires were not as lucky as their captives.
When I tried to meet up with Robin after, I ran into the person who called her here: Merov King. Merov and I were briefly a thing in the past. Very briefly. We had a weekend fling, okay? He might be a little bit on the attractive side and I had no plans for those days.
Anyway, Merov said he had things to discuss with us. The Amber Vampires attacked his penthouse earlier than night and he wanted to relocate to his cottage upstate until the damage was repaired. As I mentioned taking Merov’s helicopter, Robin gave me this look. The kind of look people get when they realize something terrible that they can’t unlearn...
CURRENT DEBTS AS OF END OF SESSION
Robin: Owe 3
Merov: Owe 2
Tenzin: Owe 1
Maeve: Hold 1
Derek: Owe 2
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