Session 33

← Session 32 | Session 34 →

Sam plays accessory to murder, Nyx uses her affection for Pax as a bludgeoning weapon, Kuno is still just checking in on people, and Colby finds UNITY isn't as ideal as he had originally thought.

## Characters

* The Party
* Fiorella Fells
* Benjamin Richards
* Silas Vance
* Kitty Vance
* Naberius MacLaughagan
* Raum
* Shax
* Monday Hackett
* Pax Furyk
* Kingston Ibarra
* Hollis Tucker
* Na'arisiel
* Neera Guinn
* Tressa Gillespie
* 0-771534
* Nate
* Weston

## Summary

At dinner the evening Sam accepted his new contract with MacLaughagan, he lets Ben know he's gotten involved and there isn't going to be an end to wait for. Ben admits he thought hoping there was an end wasn't really anything more than wishful thinking, and thanks Sam for being honest with him. After dinner, Sam finishes packing his sparse belongings, and moves out of Ben's apartment.

Sam takes up residence at Kuno's apartment, which has acquired a new couch, since Kuno keeps picking up strays.

##### **Monday, April 26th, 543:**

After texting ahead to Silas, Nyx visits the Vances. Silas asks after Club Revival, and Nyx dodges the topic by saying it isn't in business anymore--which isn't a lie. Kitty does some of her standard, habitual fussing over Nyx, and the Vances are generally trying to not having this interaction be too awkward. Nyx mentions they figured out what was happening to everyone going missing, and took care of it, but in no real detail.

Fells confronts Colby with a pile of paperwork to sign, which he does without reading it particularly attentively. His assorted possessions have been mostly moved in by this point, and Ibarra checks by every so often to see how he's doing.

##### **Tuesday, April 27th, 543:**

In the afternoon, when Kuno has stepped into the kitchen to make tea, he returns to the living room to see Sam has vanished.

Sam finds himself in an elevator with MacLaughagan, who is dressed for his office job and has an iced latte. It's a very long elevator ride to the higher echelons of the building, which Sam uses to ask a few questions. The demon says he'll explain on the other side of this, and the elevator eventually opens to a secretary desk, who waves the two on. They head through a familiar door, to an office that Sam recognizes from the party's previous visit to Hell.

Raum is sat behind his desk, and it turns out the shifting portrait is a good representation, since Raum doesn't have just one form but instead is a shifting collection of vaguely-humanoid pieces. MacLaughagan says this meeting is because Naberius sends his regards and is interested in some business, which Raum is very blasé about, since that's apparently impossible. Raum tries to dismiss the demon, but Mac refuses, calling Raum on his recent acts of conspiracy and claiming his jurisdiction over eliminating a potential threat to the Lower Plane.

At this, the door rattles as something slams against it, shaking Sam. He manages to close the door and brace against it. MacLaughagan resembles a cat toying with his prey, as Raum tries to insist all of this is impossible and wants to know what's going on. After finishing his latte, Mac puts two bullets in Raum, leaving the demon dead on the floor of his office.

Whoever is on the other side of the door spears through the door, startling Sam enough that MacLaughagan has to catch the door. The demon leaves, with an assurance he'll be right back. After the longest five minutes of Sam's life, the demon reappears, having discarded the business attire in favor of his typical flair. Mac takes the horns mounted over Raum's desk off the wall, which kicks up a firestorm in the office. When the firestorm dies down, the demon makes sure he's still alive, and returns the two of them to Kuno's apartment.

Kuno notices their appearance, and offers tea, though the demon has things to take care of before he gets arrested so can't stick around. When Sam asks him to explain what happened, the demon wants to know what exactly Sam would need to know. Kuno jumps in to ask about UNITY, to which MacLaughagan acknowledges the company exists, and mentions there are variable opinions on their altruistic motivations. He also mentions Valefor had been employed on the side as the chair of their legal department. The demon doesn't recognize "the amalgam", but is very blasé about the possibility of the end of the timeline.

Sam stumbles through asking a few more questions, and learns a bit about MacLaughagan's history and motivations. He killed Raum mostly to get revenge, but also so the Lower Plane wasn't being run by idiots who have been breaking the Vertical Treaties' nonintervention policies, as well as to reclaim the Morningstar horns. The demon has held many different occupations throughout his life, among those positions the only executioner in Hell, the best defense lawyer in the Lower Plane, and the Lower Plane Minister of Defense under the previous King of Hell, to whom he was married for a few centuries. Part of his position as Minister of Defense was acting as her bodyguard, a position he was never officially fired from after living through the assassination attempt. He's relying on this technicality in the upcoming court case. He's reluctant to explain who he meant by Naberius, but eventually elaborates that in order to infiltrate the Network he had to carve out a portion of his soul to give it an office job, which is the entity that actually bears the name "MacLaughagan". However, the demon technically known as Naberius has adopted it in his recent dealings, particularly with the party. He warns Sam that this knowledge doesn't mean he can summon the demon whenever he wants.

With at least some answers given, MacLaughagan prepares to leave, citing a building he needs to demolish as well as paperwork to go through. He gives Sam a keycard to his office, as that tends to be policy, before vanishing.

##### **Wednesday, April 28th, 543:**

Colby texts Nate, and at least learns the anxious doctor is still alive.

In the afternoon, Nyx goes in search of Pax, and eventually finds him in the abandoned storage unit. Monday is hanging around outside, but doesn't stop Nyx from yelling through the door to Pax. He doesn't want to talk, but she convinces him he at least owes her a conversation, since she helped save his life recently.

Pax hasn't been doing well recently, more than usual, and is obviously broken up over Arlo's death. Nyx asks after the Eldridge hunt, and while he's not any further than he was before he could have the confrontation whenever he feels like: Monday has to report in that Tuesday is dead, getting them a meeting with Eldridge. Combined with what Pax reports as Eldridge's tendency to run or hide instead of fight, he doesn't think it'll be a difficult confrontation. Pax doesn't believe Nyx's insistence she has a similar stake against Eldridge, since while she might have inherited the side effects of Eldridge's experimentation she wasn't subjected to any of the rest of Eldridge's horrors.

He's been trying to convince himself he didn't have any other option than what happened to him, and that Eldridge was getting something out of it, but apparently Devereaux ran his mouth when he had Pax kidnapped. Reportedly, Pax's nature isn't intrinsically tied to the costs Pax experiences, and thus he's after answers from Eldridge.

Nyx, not one to back down from a challenge, continues trying to convince Pax she's invested in this endeavor. After admitting she cares about Pax and thinks he deserves better, calling him a friend, the obstinate upyr finally breaks down and agrees Nyx can accompany him when they go after Eldridge.

When Nyx wonders what exactly he's after, aside from a murder, he explains he has bits and pieces of information but nothing particularly specific. Apparently, Valencia Gray was a result of similar experiments to Pax, but she's only been in Callum's brood for a year or so, and is also able to have a whole life in the film industry, while Pax is left killing COAST in the street. Pax mentions he's "incorruptible", or immune to the influence of the Starving Plane--which he doesn't really understand, since he (and all upyr) are feeding it either way.

With his questions for Eldridge explained, Pax kicks Nyx out, saying he'll contact her in a few days when it's time to go after Eldridge.

##### **Thursday, April 29th:**

The next day, Nyx calls a meeting of the party, which Kuno hosts. Colby, uncertain where to find a door out of the UNITY complex, tells everyone he's busy. The party catches up over dinner at Kuno's apartment, with everyone explaining their recent endeavors. Asa, unable to find a legitimate job, has been doing work for Cat recently.

Mainly, everyone ponders what Nyx heard from Pax. She texts MacLaughagan, but the demon is incredibly busy and tells her he needs at least a month. When she tries to ask him about the Starving Plane, her text isn't able to send. She muses Eldridge is likely also connected to UNITY, since most everyone important in the City seems to be. Kuno texts Fillan, letting him know there's an update, but doesn't get a response.

##### **Friday, April 30th, 543:**

Colby drops by Ibarra's lab as he's closing up, to ask where the doors are. Ibarra is surprised by this question, and explains to Colby that there's no leaving the complex unless you negotiate it specifically in the contract--which Colby signed without reading in any detail. Ibarra declares he needs a drink about the situation, and the two go to a bar. When asked, Colby doesn't have any particular plans about what he's going to do now he knows he's stuck in the complex.

After he texts ahead and Hollis doesn't actively stop him, Kuno brings Nyx to dinner at Hollis's apartment. Some amount of small talk later, Nyx starts to ask about the Starving Plane. Hollis cuts her off before she can finish, and has a chat with Kuno in the hallway outside the apartment. He's been treading carefully around Reis's amnesia, since he's worried about running into the cause, and doesn't think reminding the seraphim about the Starving Plane would go well. Kuno suggests they have this conversation a different time, when he can keep an eye on Reis so Hollis can talk to Nyx, which Hollis doesn't actively protest.

Kuno pulls Nyx into the hallway to tell her asking about the Starving Plane in front of an amnesiac seraphim isn't a good idea, as well as his idea to set up a conversation later. Back in the apartment, over dinner, Hollis mentions it tends to be a heavily-censored topic in general, so might not be worth the effort to learn about. Overall, dinner goes well, though Nyx isn't pleased to have not gotten answers.

##### **Saturday, May 1st, 543:**

When Kuno checks on Colby that morning, Colby tells Kuno he's stuck in the UNITY complex. Kuno makes a new group chat without Colby, so the party can talk without UNITY paying quite as much attention, and lets everyone else know. Asa starts sending Colby memes, in an attempt to help keep him sane. Colby also lets Nate know he's going to be unable to hang out for the forseeable.

Colby starts wandering around the complex, and finds the edge of where his keycard stops working. He runs into security, who don't actively stop him, but do request he heads back to the residential district. There's a pretty obvious line of where people are and aren't supposed to be.

When Colby gets back to his room, he finds blue tape scattered around. He collects all the pieces of tape, before realizing they were covering cameras. He stops by Ibarra's lab, where Ibarra wouldn't be surprised if there was surveillance. He doesn't know anything about black vent ooze, but advises Colby not to worry about it, since the facility is decently secure.

That afternoon, Sam has his meeting with Neera at the coffeeshop by the Children's church. Neera recognizes Sam's name when he introduces himself, since Anthony talked about him often. She's surprised he didn't drop by the church, if he was still alive, which he admits he would have liked to, but dying did a number on him. Neera brings up what happened to Anthony, and Sam mentions he'd heard--which Neera is also surprised by, since the investigation is still ongoing, and Anthony's death isn't public knowledge. Sam tries to brush it off, but doesn't particularly succeed, though Neera mentions that Naberius told her Sam is the one who killed Valefor--which she probably owes him for. Sam apologizes for Valefor's death, and, caught in a corner, admits he heard from Nyx that Neera was close with Valefor.

Neera catches the implications of that statement, and has to restrain herself from actively going after Sam. Astonished that Anthony's killer was someone who knew him well, Neera wants to know why Sam thought Anthony could have killed him of his own volition. Sam says death shook him up badly, but Neera doesn't take that as satisfactory, since she did Revenant work for Valefor before she got involved with the Children. Since Naberius thinks Sam is worth keeping around, she's willing to trust the demon's judgement, but tells Sam to stay out of her way and leave Nyx alone before leaving Sam alone in the coffeeshop.

Nyx gets a text from Neera, giving a basic rundown of her meeting with Sam and mentioning she seriously considered killing Sam on the spot. Nyx offers that Neera could come over, which Neera accepts. The two swap stories about Sam's general incompetence, with Neera astonished Sam managed to kill the wrong person and that MacLaughagan puts up with Sam. She also mentions she had a nice conversation with the demon where he laid out what Valefor was doing, and gave her direction as to dismantle the cult they put her in charge of. Neera's glad she knows what Sam did, since he wasn't going to admit it at first, and is stick of people using or lying to her. She threatens to kill Nyx if the oracle does anything like that, and then invites her to dinner.

##### **Sunday, May 3rd, 543:**

Having not heard back from Fillan, which is unusual, Kuno texts Tressa to ask how the wolves are doing. She responds with a blurry picture of Fillan, his hands wrapped in bandages, leaving him unable to use a phone. Kuno lets Tressa know they have some new information, and tries to schedule a meeting. Tressa doesn't think more stress is a good idea right now, but offers that Kuno can email the information over. Since email wouldn't be secure from UNITY, Kuno declines that offer, and Tressa says she'll let him know when things clear up.

Kuno also emails Ollie, checking in. Ollie and Zaida are doing alright, though Legacy is still about as stable as could be expected. They're all just trying to stay functional.

##### **Monday, May 3rd, 543:**

Having scheduled it ahead, Colby drops by Fells's office between her meetings. She did try to negotiate for him the ability to leave the complex on occasion, but had also been told to make sure he isn't getting any special treatment. In such a tight-knit community, it'd be hard to keep everyone else from knowing about such a privilege, so he doesn't get to leave the building, the same as everyone else.

He starts wandering around the complex at night, which makes it easier to get into places there tend to be people, but the security is less polite when he runs into them. On these wanders, he finds there are departments that aren't on the map he was given when he arrived. One in particular has a light on in an office when Colby wanders by late at night.

##### **Thursday, May 6th, 543:**

After Colby sees the light on late in the unlabeled department is a standard occurrence, he decides to investigate. The person on the other side of the door is surprised to see someone at 2 in the morning, but introduces himself as Weston. When he asks, Colby learns he doesn't have a high enough clearance level to know what this department does.

The two get to chatting, and it's quickly apparent Weston doesn't have much contact with other people. He's not particularly attached to most of UNITY's current projects, and has been working so he has something to do, not because it's urgent. Weston has been with UNITY for a few years shy of a decade, doing software design. It turns out Weston also makes a habit of wandering the halls at night, and the two have a bit of a walk. Apparently, Weston has a high enough security clearance that they shouldn't bother Colby if he's with the programmer. Colby mentions he was surprised to learn he's stuck in the complex, to which Weston replies he's known someone who tried to leave, and can't recommend it. Weston is surprised to learn Colby is a religious leader, though Colby brushes it off with the fact he mostly just ended up in that position.

## Quotes

**Kellen:** “You have two braincells to burn. Don’t spend them all in one place.”

**Kellen:** “Hey fam squad: we now know where Sam lives.”

**Abby:** “All you gotta do is hold a door open.” | **Kai:** “Nope! Closed.”

**Nyx:** “What does it take for you to realize it’s because I care?”

**Nyx:** “Asa what have you been up to—being sad?”

**James:** “Mac is the only reason this party still exists.” | **Kellen:** “Hi, it’s me, who wrote that to exist!”

**Tressa:** “No, he deserves it.” | **Abby:** “Nyx and Neera at Sam.”

**James:** “This is philosophy.” | **Kellen:** “What’s a conclusion?” / **James:** “If a question has an answer, it gets farmed out to the sciences.”

**Kellen:** “He and his cool squad of UNITY people—" | **Kai:** “Who, just Ibarra?”

**Colby:** “They didn’t really cover this on the tour—how do I leave? Like where’s the exit?”

**Parker:** “Jesus is just getting locked in Illuminati prison.”

**Colby:** “I’m kinda fucked. I can’t leave. There’s no exit.”

**Kai:** “Colby breaks out of jail and learns thing along the way ASMR.” | **Kellen:** “That’s the plan!”

**Kellen:** “Two roads diverge in the plot. One is the Samuel Fischer method and one is the Kuno method.”

**James:** “Jesus is the most oppressed minority.” | **Kellen:** “And he’s a gamer! *Gamer* Jesus is the most oppressed minority.”

← Session 32 | Session 34 →