Session 38

The party helps prevent UNITY's amalgam.

## Characters

* The Party
* Kingston Ibarra
* Hollis Tucker
* Na'arisiel
* Zaida Loch
* Weston
* Pax Furyk
* Nate
* Absinthe Romero
* 0-771534
* Naberius MacLaughagan
* Giles Winsett

Appearing only in epilogues:

* Silas Vance
* Legacy Byrnes
* Monday Hackett
* Neera Guinn
* Turret
* Jamie Nejem

## Summary

Nyx has a vision of Colby dying, and Kuno checks in with Jamie, learning the wolves made it out of the war zone. According to the news, Astra Inc. has taken responsibility for putting down the insurrection at UNITY.

##### **Friday, June 4th, 543:**

After a few days of recovery, Colby gets a call from Kingston Ibarra. He saw the security footage, and suggests he and Colby meet the next day so Colby can explain himself, which Colby agrees to.

Kuno gets an email from an unknown address, with the fact it's happening in three days and there's likely a second location. He also asks the wolves about getting a debrief, but they're still recovering.

It having been a few days, the party heads to Hollis's apartment for dinner and to decide on next steps. Zaida is looking worse for wear, and Legacy isn't around. Zaida received the same email as Kuno, and after some thought Kuno realizes the location mentioned is the Dacosta Complex. According to Zaida, Romero was involved in the rebuilding of the Complex, so she should have seen it earlier.

At this point, the main goal is damage control, so the basic goal is to destroy the anchor to the Starving Plane, as well as Sam's charge to deliver Romero. Reis is prepared to play interference against the inevitable Host forces so everyone can get in the building, with Kuno and Colby accompanying Nyx and Pax while Sam, Asa, and Hollis go after Romero.

##### **Saturday, June 5th, 543:**

The next morning, Nyx drops by Pax's storage unit and explains the situation. Pax is characteristically unenthusiastic, but doesn't have anything better to do, so agrees to go along.

In the mid-afternoon,  Colby leaves Kuno's apartment, muttering something about groceries. After a fairly long train ride, he arrives at an out-of-the-way penthouse, where Ibarra is. They talk over dinner, and are at one point interrupted by security, though Ibarra assures them everything is fine. Ibarra offers Colby can stay over so he doesn't have to deal with the security, and the two can go talk to Romero in the morning. Colby, lacking any particular options, agrees.

Kuno and Sam get worried when Colby doesn't return, but can't do much about it.

##### **Sunday, June 6th, 543:**

   Everyone is worried Colby still hasn't shown up, but they can't do much about it, and head for the Dacosta Complex. When they arrive, they're surprised to find an event is happening: a sea of people from Colby's church have gathered for something similar to a street fair, contained by an impressive number of Powers and Dominions. The crowd is also filled with cherubim, as the party discovers when they start heading for the Complex. Entrance to the building is only possible because Na'arisiel unfurls, towering over the surrounding skyscrapers and drawing the Host's attention.

The party splits up when they get inside, with Kuno, Nyx, and Pax making their way up to a room full of metal boxes, which likely act as transplanar portals, but that none of them know how to use.

Meanwhile, the other three make their way down several levels lined with sturdy metal doors, running into some security and setting off the alarms in the process. On the lowest level, they find themselves faced with another door at the end of a hallway. They manage to haul it open after Asa fries the circuitry, but only after barely holding off the swarm of security droids that found them.

On the other side of the door, the three find Nate strapped to a chair, unconscious and badly injured. After a moment to catch their collective breath, Asa heals Nate some. Nate starts asking about Colby, and collects a key before leading the way out of this room.

Colby had a nice morning at Ibarra's before they took a train to the Complex. Both are surprised by the gathering, but make their way to Romero anyway. She's pleased to see Colby, and offers some explanation: they moved their plans up a day; and need Colby's power for their protective measures, which will cover a reasonable chunk of the area near the Complex. To Colby's hesitation about the Starving Plane, Romero assures him they've taken care of that. He's still skeptical, but agrees to a tour of the complex.

Upstairs, the alarms are blaring, but the responding security is taken care of by Ollie, who arrives soon after the party. Nate leads the rest of the party upstairs, through the door that got torn open by Ollie, to where everyone else is. He points out the box that he thinks goes to the Starving Plane, before slipping away. Ollie hacks the box, turning it on, and Pax enters, though not without declaring his distaste for the situation.

While that was happening, Reis arrived, and has been having a quiet argument with Hollis. Reis is astonished to learn the project that resulted in Ollie was successful, and thus has a solution: since Ollie is a soul not bound to orgone, he'll survive the journey to the Upper Plane, and can fix the computer that's been acting as God since the original died and was poorly copied into a very old system. Ollie isn't inclined to do this, and Kuno is determined to respect his choice, but after seeing Na'arisiel's devastated reaction Ollie decides he's willing to help. Reis takes the two through a wormhole, and after a few beats Hollis, Sam, and Asa head back out on their original mission.

Colby is being shown around by Romero when Nate arrives. He argues against Romero's actions, but breaks down when Romero threatens Colby, letting the two leave. Halfway down the hallway, Romero turns, and puts a bullet between Nate's eyes--which leaves Colby very rattled. Romero tries to convince Colby he has no moral high ground, and mentions Nate had been keeping tabs on Colby even after she told him not to, and drags Colby on down the hallway.

The group in search of Romero finds an overview platform to the cylindrical room running the height of the buildings. They put up a fight against the cherubim they find, but are swarmed and end up restrained in the hallway outside the control room.

Colby and Romero make it back to Romero's office, where Zaida is waiting. Zaida says she can't let Romero finish this, but Romero talks her down, and brings her and Colby to the control room platform. When Sam sees Romero, he starts muttering in what he hopes is the general direction of MacLaughagan, trying to let him know they found Romero. Colby, still shaken, unleashes his holy lightning on Romero, leaving her stunned. Cherubim start dragging him towards a machine in the center of the room, at which point Sam tries to make a break for it. He gets shot, falling in the doorframe, but Asa takes advantage of the chaos to disarm a cherubim and throw the halo to Colby.

Newly armed, Colby fries the cherubim holding him, charring his arms in the process. Romero makes a break for her office, with Asa hot on her heels. He's fully prepared to kill her, when there is a knock on the doorframe--and Naberius MacLaughagan ducks into the room, with a sparking ankle monitor. His presence heralds the arrival of the vengeful ghost of Giles Winsett, who drags Romero down to Hell. With that errand accomplished, Asa patches Hollis up some, and hauls Sam's unconscious form onto his shoulder to go in search of Asa and Kuno.

Upstairs, Nyx and Kuno have been playing cards, when Pax emerges from the portal. He had a bad time on the other side, and goes immediately for his thermos of soul water, but destroyed the anchor. These three head down, meeting the rest on the way down, and everyone heads out of the building. Colby is shaken once again by the fact the room where Nate got shot is empty and clean, but continues out with everyone else.

Outside, the crowd is as dense as ever, and still being herded by the Host. Everyone goes to leave, but Colby hangs back, and quickly gets recognized. He goes to start a prayer, though doesn't do a good job--which doesn't matter, as it gets picked up by the crowd. Surrounded by his church, he sees a vision of Nate, sitting in a small room and staring out at the cylindrical structure in the center of the building. Colby goes back inside, with everyone following him (though confused), to find Nate. Once he's been acquired, everyone leaves.

At Kuno's apartment, Nate starts working to do something about Colby's charred arms. Kuno offers that Nate can stay the night, but the doctor refuses, leaving as soon as he's seen to Colby.

##### **Mid-late June, 543:**

Soon after the events at the Dacosta Complex, Colby has a chat with Nate. He learns the doctor was part of a team presenting research at the 32nd Future Prospect Convention, and died in the explosion, before waking up--something Romero took note of, so she recruited him to UNITY. Nate didn't have anywhere else to go, especially since he kept waking up in the complex. He had been looking out for Colby, but only because he worried Colby would get taken in by UNITY. When Colby asks, he admits to being the Sculptor. Nate shows off his rat, which is a program that runs on his nanites, as well as constructs new arms for Colby.

##### **Circa June 6th, 544:**

Given the demon's legal issues, Samuel Fischer hears very little from Naberius over the past year. Sam ends up working closely with Silas Vance at the antique shop. With a steady source of income, he is able to move out of Kuno's apartment into his own place, though he drops by often--including for the weekly dinner Kuno hosts for the party.

Nyx Fletcher bounces around for a while, checking in on everyone she knows and making sure they're functioning. She helps out Legacy often, who took the momentum of the food riots to essentially go into politics. Nyx also spends a significant amount of time with Pax, who, after a few months spent recovering from his experience on the Starving Plane, took up Devereaux's research and turned his life around. Nyx and Neera get an apartment together, and she hears a lot about Neera's work with Turret to rebuild the warehouse district into an orphanage for supernatural children.

Asa Meiri helps out wherever he can. He sends Pax a very long apology letter with a bottle of whiskey. Asa's been trying to do less crime, and starts going to therapy, but is always in need of things to do for anyone he thinks might have ideas--Legacy, Hollis, whoever.

Colby Reed drops off the grid. Nate helps him stay unobtrusive, and away from his church, which he leaves to take care of itself.

Kuno Fernweh does what he does best: check in on people. He gets a position teaching English at the orphanage in the warehouse district, and continues dropping by Hollis's place with dinner. This is appreciated, as Hollis has been doing worse without Reis around. However, the seraphim returned a few months ago, though Ollie is only getting started on the project that is fixing God. Hollis and Na'arisiel are finally getting married in roughly six months, an occasion Kuno is doing some planning for. Jamie and the Bratva ended up with UNITY's assets, and have been working to keep the useful bits and get rid of everything else. He finally publishes his memoirs, and hosts a standing nearly-weekly dinner with the party.

## Quotes

**Nyx:** “Have you ever lived three seconds in the future?” | **Reis:** “Only three?”

**Kellen:** “Imagine getting out of baby jail. You fool.”

**James:** “Is this gonna be a fucking kaiju fight?” | **Kai:** “Was it ever going to be anything else?” | **Kellen:** “How did you think I was ending Urban Shadows?”

**Reis:** “I don’t program, I don’t know how to program, but no one know how to program in 1970s Unix, so,”

**Kellen:** “Ollie blinks, does a little fax machine moment, and goes,” | **Ollie:** “You want me to fix God?”

**Parker:** “Looks back at her and is just like—" | **Colby:** “Sorry Romero, but I’m sure you’ll understand. You’re just kind of in the way.” | **Parker:** “That’s a 13 to fry a bitch.”

**MacLaughagan:** “I’m happy to inform you that the right to drag your mortal soul to the lower plane for the crimes of everything under the sun literally,”

**Kellen:** “Giles Winsett’s concept was, man. Now he’s dead. Now he’s *back*.”

**Nate:** “I’m a doctor, and I’m choosing to diagnose this as not okay.”

**Abby:** “Rat could run Minecraft: Pocket Edition.”

**Kellen:** “Don’t put Olliver in the rat!”