Session 05

← Session 04 | Session 06 →

Pax shows up unannounced, and the party participates in a seance where absolutely nothing goes wrong.

## Characters

* The Party

* Hollis Tucker

* Pax Furyk
* Pax's Dead Friend
* Kitty Vance
* Silas Vance

## Summary

### **Sam Harasses the Local Sad Man**

##### **Thursday, October 15th, 542:**

For the past week or so, Sam has been visiting Hollis's apartment in hopes of getting another conversation out of the very tired man. Eventually, he succeeds, and after a few minutes of awkward silence Sam asks after the general concept of angels. Hollis sighs, and recommends Sam not ask that question of him or anyone else, but does begrudgingly explain that angels tend to be isolationist and keep to themselves unless they're provoked. He also mentions that he's killed an angel, while continuing to advocate for not being involved to any degree. Sam says that Hollis must have been on his side of things, young and idealistic, at some point, to which Hollis replies by pulling out a photograph of a younger version of himself and seven other people, all of whom look happy. Hollis says that he learned not to get involved when he went from having seven roommates to having none in the span of four hours, and particularly not to get involved in anything that would result in divine intervention.

Sam, having been properly chastised, asks how to kill a upyr, since they've already made some enemies in that sphere. According to Hollis, upyr-killing is completed by wrapping them in red string, dousing them with holy water, and setting them ablaze. He mentions that holy water is a tricky thing to get, but Sam says it shouldn't be a problem in this case, and Hollis reiterates his warning to not get involved in anything holy. As Sam is getting up to leave, Hollis says that since Sam has shown up in his life he might as well introduce himself, and gives his name as Hollis. Sam introduces himself back, which Hollis isn't too fond of, but lets him leave.

### **Knock Knock. It's the Upyr Child.**

##### **Friday, October 16th, 542:**

The next morning, at about 4 a.m., there is a knock at Nyx's door. Nyx doesn't immediately answer, and the knocking persists, until she opens the door to reveal Pax. He is covered in blood, as well as obviously drunk, and there is a trail of about three bloody footprints behind him. He pushes past Nyx, saying he needs a shower, and Nyx directs him to the bathroom.

He cleans up quick before crashing on the floor of Nyx's apartment, and when he tries to light a cigarette Nyx drags him to the former Little Pleasures Cafe next door to ask him several pointed questions. She asks why he's here, and he explains that he needed a shower and to throw up the chair he ate. Nyx is concerned about this fact, and Pax elaborates that it was only some of a chair, while he was in a fight, and that he's eaten lots of things in fights--at least two chairs, at least one infant, before Nyx cuts him off to ask why he came to her apartment. He says he would have usually gone to the Nite Lyfe, but since the party burned that down her apartment is about the only building he knows.

Tonight was more of "Callum's possession bullshit," he says, and so he's just trying not to think about the people he killed, as well as apologizing for putting her in danger by being here. He takes a drink, and offers some to Nyx, saying it's a good cure for sadness and that she should try some. Nyx refuses, and confiscates his flasks, dragging him back to her apartment before declaring he's going to stay here, sleep, and answer questions in the morning. Pax doesn't argue, and promptly falls asleep.

### **What are Friends for if not Getting Drunk With at 2am**

With the immediate situation more or less handled, Nyx texts the group chat, telling them Pax is here, before starting to drink the confiscated alcohol. By the time Asa shows up, around 6 in the morning, Nyx is thoroughly drunk, and barely capable of answering his questions. Asa wants to know what Pax is doing here, which Nyx responds to with the fact he showed up covered in blood and needed a place to crash, before asking if Asa knows alcohol is for sad people, according to Pax. Asa tries to take the flasks, which are empty, but he confiscates them anyway. Around this point, Nyx passes out, and Asa starts making breakfast after telling the party Nyx learned what alcohol is.

Kuno arrives soon after, carrying breakfast food to add to the pile, and half an hour Sam shows up, also with food. Colby arrives later than everyone else, and has had breakfast already. With people around and making noise, Pax wakes up, and is obviously hungover. He eats a significant amount of the provided breakfast food, before dumping out his backpack and rummaging through the contents for a bottle of over-the-counter painkillers. Other contents of Pax's backpack include a raincoat and a set of rain boots, covered in blood, as well as a fire axe, some granola bars, and a collection of overstuffed manila folders that, between the bloodstains and Pax's handwriting, are *probably* legible. After downing a significant number of painkillers, Pax picks a spot on the floor and just lays there.

He lays there for a significant amount of time, during which Asa and Sam visit the local corner store to pick up ingredients for coffee and make coffees for everyone. Pax has a mouthful of the whipped cream right out of the can, declaring that he deserves it because he is a danger to himself and others. With that, and coffee, Pax is finally something approaching sentient again, and able to answer questions. Asa asks what's up, and Pax declaims that he's never going to be free of the curse of his existence, as well as explaining the basic situation that ended him here: namely, Callum had him do another dissociation murder. Asa says there must be some solution, and Pax agrees, saying it's killing Eldridge--which is a pain, far easier said than done, but Pax has a possible lead.

Pax shakes Nyx awake, saying that she owes him alcohol money. Nyx is confused and still mostly drunk, but--notably--has had no nightmares; Kuno hands over some cash.

### **Making a Plan**

Asa shows Pax a collection of photographs he's been carrying around, asking if Pax knows any of the people in them. Pax doesn't, and when Asa refuses to provide more information Pax pushes the subject, and Asa explains that those are photos of his family. They went missing one at a time over a period of time, and Asa has been looking into it. He thinks they were disappeared by upyr, and figured Pax would be a good place to start since Pax is a upyr assassin. Pax doesn't recommend that Asa keep looking into that, since he's not likely to get any answers--upyr assassins don't tend to remember faces they've fed on, particularly not if they aren't recent. He says that Callum keeps a list, so that's a possible way to get information, but if it was Callum they would have been experimented before being dying, which is by no means a pleasant end.

This turn in the conversation brings Pax back to his revenge quest, and Sam says that if he needs holy water they can help with that. Pax is ignoring that they know he needs holy water, and asks what goods or services he can provide, and Sam directs him to Colby. Colby doesn't have any holy water to hand, but does have a flask of blessed Gatorade on him, which he thinks should work. Pax pours some out on the table, and dips a knuckle in it before yelping and going for a bandage: it's effective. During this interaction, Sam has been rummaging around Nyx's apartment for a ball of red craft yarn, which he dumps on the table. Pax is continuing to not ask questions as to how Sam knows how to kill a upyr, but Asa is, and Sam explains that he talked to Hollis, who told him. Asa isn't the biggest fan of this fact, but lets it go.

With business more or less out of the way, Pax comments that he's mostly confused by the news, particularly the concept of the Sculptor. He mentions that he used to be tracked as a serial killer, and there's probably still an open investigation, but that it fell off the news when he stopped leaving ominous messages written in blood at his murder scenes.

Pax has some more of the food, before pulling out his manila folders to rifle through. He notices the board Nyx has for trying to track down the contents of her visions, and wakes her up again to get her to explain it. They start chatting about the party, and Pax mentions that Asa is a faerie--which Nyx probably didn't know for certain. Nyx wants to know what it would take for Pax to do a murder for her, which he would be happy to do in return for the party burning down the Nite Lyfe, but being a known associate of his is dangerous because he will unwillingly murder them. Sam, who has overheard this conversation, suggests that Nyx might be able to do something psychic to figure out what's up with Pax and his being-possessed-sometimes problem. Nyx takes Pax's hands, goes poking around in his head, and finds something: her vision goes very dark, and she gets the sense there is a very angry presence in the room, one that notices Nyx and turns its malevolence in her direction.

### **Who ya Gonna Call?**

Nyx pulls away, shaken, and while Sam didn't sense anything unusual Pax is also shaken. According to him, he had the same kind of dissociative episode that leads to him doing murder, and is impressed the party is still alive. Nyx shares this event with the rest of the party, and Pax starts hypothesizing. He thinks it's unlikely to have been a demon, as Eldridge doesn't work with demons, and Pax has gone drinking with demons before. The next possibility is that the figure was a ghost, and Nyx suggests visiting her medium friend to see if they can find out more. Kuno remembers that he's scheduled to give a lecture, so he has to leave, but the rest of the party along with Pax go to visit Kitty Vance.

The Vances operate out of a combination antique shop and seance parlor, which is full of shelves piled with assorted antiques and old things. The party is very quickly approached by Kitty Vance, who recognizes Nyx and is overjoyed that she brought friends. She escorts everyone into the back room, where Silas is, and offers tea. Kitty wonders if Pax is Nyx's kid, which Nyx denies, and asks if they have anything alcoholic for Pax, saying that he's older than he looks. Nyx asks what Kitty knows about upyr, and it isn't much: she recommends staying clear of them, since she's heard that upyr are more likely to become enemies than friends, and that they don't tend to be friendly. Nyx says the party is here because they're looking into a possible ghost that's bothering an unspecified friend of theirs, and Kitty offers to run a seance for them, which the party agrees to.

Kitty sets up for the seance, and the party sits in a circle with joined hands. The only light in the room is candlelight, and Kitty warns the party to not break the circle, above all else. To be able to communicate with any spirits that should appear, Kitty sets out a pendulum, which allows for mostly yes-or-no answers. Kitty invokes the spirit connected to Pax Furyk, and there isn't an immediately obvious response, but eventually a presence does coalesce: a very angry one. Nyx mostly leads the interrogation, and the party learns that this presence knows people in the room, as well as knows of Callum Eldridge, but is not him. When they are asked about the connection between Pax and Eldridge, they give the pendulum equivalent of a shrug. Nyx asks if they are the one causing Pax to commit murder, to which the pendulum gives a vehement *yes*, and assorted objects around the room start floating. Kitty warns that this is a very powerful force, and reemphasizes the importance of staying in the circle.

### **Ghost Interrogators!**

Kitty asks if the spirit is bound and kept from passing on, and receives a very angry yes in reply. Nyx, on a hunch, asks if the spirit is the other child who got kidnapped by Eldridge when Pax did. Pax stiffens at this question, obviously terrified. All the candles snuff, revealing a faint amorphous light in the center of the circle. The floating knicknacks and whatnot pick up speed, starting to orbit the circle and to break. The light in the center of the circle can flash, which allows the party to continue their questioning. They learn this presence is what Nyx saw earlier, and that they're connected to the link between Pax and Eldridge. According to them, if they pass on that would break the connection, but killing Eldridge wouldn't be enough.

Nyx notices that Pax is unresponsive, and has been actively dissociating from this situation. She reads his mind, and he is pleading with anything that will listen that this isn't him, it can't be. Nyx goes deeper, looking for Pax's hidden pain, and turns up a sense of soul-deep grief and regret that he's been harboring and trying to ignore for a very long time.

The presence blames Pax for their inability to move on, which is a fact they are obviously very angry about. They believe, with conviction, that Pax needs to die for them to be able to move on.

By this point, the trappings of the seance have been absorbed into what is now gale-force winds of knicknacks and assorted broken materials. Nyx notices that Kitty is unconscious, and has been for some time. The light in the center of the circle has been slowly condensing, and now resembles a figure. The hurricane of debris is closing in, starting to scratch and tear at the party.

## Quotes

**Nyx**, 4:30 am, the group chat**:** "Pax is here." | **Sam**, 7:30 am**:** "???" | **Nyx**, 7:31**:** "Pax is still here."

**Asa:** "Why do you have a pet upyr now?"

**Kitty:** "Well if you're here for a seance you should have just said!"

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