Session 15

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The party attends the event of the year.

## Characters

* The Party
* Naberius MacLaughagan
* Fiorella Fells
* Zaida Loch
* Kenneth Chudwell
* Persephone Pastham
* Elsie Montcroix
* Alex
* Megaera
* Sephtis
* Cairo Nejem
* Morena Adams
* Emmett Malek
* Danila Kesler
* Idris "Lev1athan" Kear
* Rain Caudell
* Lyric Uaithne

##### **Thursday, December 31st, 542:**

MacLaughagan shows up at Nyx's apartment armed with the duo’s outfits for the evening, including a mask for Nyx. The two get ready and leave just in time for MacLaughagan to make a fashionably late entrance at the Gala. Sam, Asa, and Kuno arrive ten minutes early, and wait in line to get in. The line for the penthouse event has more security, and while Sam is dressed well, he sticks out as not of the same class as everyone else in line. Colby strolls right in with Fiorella.

The rave hasn't quite kicked off yet, so Kuno surveys the scene. He notices some backstage doors and well-guarded penthouse access in addition to the large front doors.

### **The Party Enters #PARTYTIME**

The penthouse is well-appointed, with a band, a buffet table full of rich-person food, and space for a dance floor. The ceiling is a massive glass dome, which provides an excellent view of the City. Colby and Fiorella are accompanied by three of the ladies from church, two of which brought husbands. MacLaughagan makes an appropriately dramatic entrance, with Nyx on his arm. Sam has been keeping an eye on Colby for moral support and generally sticking to the edges of the room. He chats briefly with a software designer named Zaida Loch, and learns that she’s between projects.

Fiorella introduces Colby to a number of people, including Kenneth Chudwell, who works in Astra's financial department; Persephone Pastham, PR representative for K&T; and Elsie Montcroix, C.E.O. of K&T. Fiorella chats for a bit and acts friendly, but it’s clear Elsie and Fiorella have some history.

Lacking anywhere else to spend time, Nyx has been in MacLaughagan's orbit. Mac is approached by a trio of work associates here to ask how his plan is coming along. MacLaughagan dodges the question, and Nyx assumes that they’re demons, which is slightly unusual. Alex, Sephtis, and Megaera question him about his Revenant, revealing that not only is having a Revenant unusual, MacLaughagan has a lot riding on his. Alex mentions that Sephtis is playing violin later in the evening, which MacLaughagan is pleased to learn.

Downstairs, Asa and Kuno are making bets on which people will pass out, and generally having a chill time.

### **Making New "Friends"**

About midway through the evening, the band picks up and people in the VIP lounge start dancing. Zaida approaches Sam and asks for a dance, explaining she's gotten some looks from her associates for being a wallflower. Sam reluctantly accepts.

Colby is set loose from Fiorella, and ends up by a table occupied by a man and a woman with bodyguards. The gentleman introduces himself as Cairo Nejem. The woman with Cairo, Morena Adams, leaves in a huff. Cairo has unspecified business interests and vaguely charitable inclinations. Colby sticks around and has a drink or five with Cairo.

Nyx leaves MacLaughagan to raid the buffet table when she hears a voice she recognizes as the host of the Dusk Radio program being reassured by a friend. They’re both barely older than high schoolers and cut off their conversation when Nyx approaches. Nyx implies she knows about Dusk Radio, which rattles the two. Nyx learns that the host, Emmett, is hiding the radio station from Emmett’s father, and that the duo are here to record anything that might happen. Nyx warns them that someone will get shot, but they decide to stay regardless.

### **Deep Sea Mimicry**

Downstairs at the rave, there are esports teams doing publicity appearances. Among the Pro Gamers, one face stands out: Idris "Lev1athan" Kear looks strikingly similar to “Squ1d.” Asa takes a blurry picture of his profile and asks Nyx to catch up with him upstairs. Kuno is still people-watching when he notices a woman in something remarkably close to a staff uniform head into one of the backstage doors. He and Asa follow her into a hallway with lots of doors and a security guard. The two get told to leave and Kuno plays drunk and cooperates. Asa disregards Kuno, telling the security guard he saw a suspicious young woman come through this door, but is ignored.

When the esports folks arrive at the penthouse, Nyx approaches Idris, saying that she thinks they've met before. He doesn't recognize her, nor the name Catalina Adams. She brings up illegally making ID chips, which still rings no bells for him. Nyx asks about possible clones or twins, to which he replies that he is clone-free. In parting, Nyx reads his mind and confirms he isn’t keeping any secrets.

Sam is freed from his dance with Zaida and checks on Colby, who is happily drinking with Cairo.

### **Grandpa Goes Backstage**

Kuno and Asa figure that the best way to get backstage is to use the other stage door, and claim that Kuno is the grandfather of one of the celebrities with Asa as his aide. They talk their way past the security guard and make their way to backstage. It’s extremely hectic and people are running all over the place. Kuno spots a woman drop a glamour as she enters a dressing room, revealing herself as fae. Asa knocks on the door to her dressing room but gets no response. Without any further leads, the two head back out to the main rave area. Kuno thanks the security guard on his way out and drops the old man act.

### **The Dancing Queen**

Back upstairs, Nyx goes in search of Colby and Sam. Colby is preoccupied, so she tells Sam about Idris and reminds him that someone is going to get shot. Sam thinks it’s strange, but doesn’t see what can be done about either of them. Nyx shifts the conversation to MacLaughagan’s business associates. Nyx mentions that apparently Sam is important to MacLaughagan's schemes, which surprises him, and he excuses himself to track down his patron. He is interrupted by MacLaughagan himself, who asks for a dance. Sam has no choice but to accept, and Nyx joins Colby and Cairo at their table.

On the dance floor, Sam confronts MacLaughagan about his place in the demon's schemes. MacLaughagan assures Sam that all he wants from Sam is him to murder Anthony. Sam presses him on the issue and Mac reveals that Anthony is the leader of a demonic cult who has killed probably seventy-five percent of his parish. MacLaughagan is scornful that Sam hadn’t put that together already, given the circumstances of his death, and is honestly surprised that Sam's morals hadn’t motivated him to act by now. The waltz ends, and MacLaughagan and Sam part ways, with Sam going in search of a drink.

Nyx takes this opportunity to talk to Sam, and she asks how his chat with MacLaughagan went. Sam doesn’t give a particularly coherent answer, but says it went poorly. He recounts all he learned, which he isn't particularly surprised by, but it still stings. Nyx says that of all the demons they know, she would rather be helping MacLaughagan, which Sam begrudgingly agrees with before asking after the murder that's supposed to happen. According to Nyx, predicting murders isn't an exact science, but she could try to find out some more specifics. She offers to do more drugs, but didn’t bring any, and grumbles about the side effects of her visions.

And then all the lights go out.

### **Your Regularly-Scheduled Plot has Arrived**

Downstairs, a new DJ has taken the stage: Lyric, who is very popular on the EDM scene. His music entrances the crowd and everyone – including Asa and Kuno—floods onto the dance floor. Asa notices opalescent fog descending, which should be concerning but doesn’t alarm him.

In the darkness of the penthouse, all the machinery powers down. There’s a second of absolute silence before the lights start strobing sickeningly and the glass dome roof explodes. A group of well-outfitted but mismatched people belay down through the roof into the atrium. They quickly take out all the Astra security personnel, whose weapons have been disabled, and chaos reigns.

## Quotes

**Kellen:** "My emotional state is in the hands of a few clinky cubes, so."

**James:** "So Sam is stalking Colby." | **Kellen:** "Yes." | **Kai:** "For moral support reasons."

**MacLaughagan:** "We have a lot riding on this boy."

**Kellen**: "As you're cramming cheese cubes into your gaping maw,"

**Ezra:** "I don't know if I want to be responsible for burning down the Winter Gala."

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