Game session: ?/2011

Realizing his misstep, Peter puts his hand behind his back and manifests his liberty dollar coin Keystone Memento to bamboozle Abuela; he claims he speaks to his dead father all the time, and can feel his presence sometimes. Erika arrives at that moment, and looks around, confused. Abuela turns to the fourth gringo in her granddaughter's shop – and realizes Erika is the female teacher from Central High School. Sighing, Abuela tells Anita to be home at a reasonable hour, and puts Erika in charge of making sure she's home by midnight, "because you look intelligent and responsible." Now really confused, Erika hesitantly agrees while Isobel looks irate. Abuela departs, grumbling under her breath about gringos, and Anita apologizes.

The other Sin-Eaters bring Erika up to speed about the shared dream and they discuss it, but get sidetracked as usual. Erika gives a brief lesson on Underworld geography – specifically the Dead Dominions. Peter tries to coax information from his geist, but Fallen Snow seems reluctant to share. The Witch tries to get Anita to kiss "The Corpsman," but Anita refuses out loud. Erika offers to help the others get information from their geists via her Plumbing the Depths ceremony. Anita starts muttering in Spanish, and Isobel tells her, "Your abuela is showing." Concerned about the shared dream, Anita switches to English and suggests going for a quick trip into the Underworld now; she can close the store until 5 o'clock as she's not going to get any business anyway. That would give the Sin-Eaters three hours, but the others are doubtful they can make it back in time. The krewe decides to go into the Underworld tonight, after Anita closes the shop.

Anita asks if anyone in the krewe speaks German, and David admits he may know someone who does. Anita pulls out the old books and mentions the maps, so Erika carefully pages open the book and examines the drawing while the others look over her shoulders. Erika agrees with Anita that the map doesn't line up with the Avernian Gate in Forest Park, and wonders if an older gate was closed. She realizes the German in here predates the unification of Germany, and wonders how German this old got into a book here in the United States. Isobel takes the map and borrows Anita's Internet connection to try and pinpoint where the original gate could have been while Erika theorizes aloud.

Isobel calls them over a few minutes later and shows her krewe the two locations that might have been the original gate: one is still in Forest Park, while the other is the land Central High School itself is on! Erika tells the krewe of the ghost she and David encountered yesterday and how it was intent on getting to the basement. Anita jokes about Buffy the Vampire Slayer but Peter wonders if they can go to the school this afternoon. The krewe debates that, but Erika has keys to a door closest to her assigned classroom, and to the classroom itself. The krewe decides to go for it, and Anita tacks up a sign on the door: Back at 5 PM. Isobel mentions being followed, so Peter says he'll follow the others in his Mini Cooper while Anita climbs into Isobel's car. David leaves his car at the Botanica and goes with Erika.

Peter waits at the Botanica for a few minutes before pulling out, and he spots a black Ford F-150 pickup truck pull out of a shopping plaza; it follows his friends for a few minutes before turning off again. He then spots the black Impala also following the other two cars, so he unlocks the Pyre-Flame Rage Manifestation and casually points his finger at the driver's side rear tire. The driver of the Impala sees the gesture and starts reaching for something, but the tire explodes and he fights to keep control. The Impala pulls over with remarkable skill, but as Peter passes it he pulls out one of his unlicensed pre-paid cell phones and calls 911 tor report an accident "and the guys inside the car are waving guns!" He then throws the cell phone out the window.

The Sin-Eaters reach the school at 2:15 without further problems, and find eight cars in the parking lot: maintenance people, some teachers, and a vice-principal. Erika grabs her miniature mag-light, which Peter mocks as he pulls out his standard, police-issued mag-light. They head inside and Erika leads them quietly through the building; the school is on power-saving mode and two out of three light strips are off. They head for the basement but encounter a maintenance guy coming up the stairs. Erika tries to bluff her way out and claim she thinks she lost her purse, but the maintenance man points out her classroom is on the other side of the building. Growing frustrated, Erika essentially claims the right to "check anyway," and the maintenance guy asks if this is some group-sex thing. The Sin-Eaters firmly indicate their disgust at that idea, so the maintenance person relaxes slightly and warns Erika that the floor of the north wing of the third floor isn't going to last much longer. They discuss school politics and commiserate about the stupidity of the administrative drones for a few more minutes before the maintenance person asks them to keep an eye out for a cat he spotted earlier. He wanders off, and the Sin-Eaters resume their trek to the basement.

The basement is packed with old crap and pipes and the boiler; it smells of mildew and old sex. The Sin-Eaters split up and explore, and eventually all drift over to the northwest corner where the north wall is discolored, indicating a different cement used. The corner is also free of bric-a-brac, not even dust settles there. Isobel catches a flicker of motion, and spots an orange tabby cat watching them from under a pipe. Anita starts gushing to the cat immediately, and manages to coax it out. The cat is an unneutered long-haired male, and it quickly takes to Anita, butting her hand and demanding pettings. The others mock Anita for being a sucker, but note that the cat will shake his head or nod when asked a question, in apparent understanding. The krewe gets a little leery, but then the cat hisses and the Sin-Eaters turn to spot one of the bloody-eyed ghosts! The ghost seems as startled to see them as they are her, but for the first time they get a good look.

The ghost has dark hair, fair skin, and a Smith College sweatshirt in death. The ghost recovers from her surprise and turns and flees; Erika counsels the others not to pursue. The others swiftly realize the wisdom in her words and leave the ghost be. Anita talks to the purring cat and says she'll take him back to her shop and feed him tuna fish. The cat muses, "Well, I do like tuna fish," and all five sin-Eaters start and stare at the cat. Erika asks, "You can talk?" incredulously, and the cat sardonically replies, "Mrow, mrow, mrow, mrow." The cat agrees to accompany Anita and states the ghosts have been "trying to open the gate." Anita asks the cat if can speak – or read – German as well, and the cat nods. Erika eyes the cat and gets a clarification: there is an Avernian Gate here in the basement that has been closed. Isobel scratches the cat in Anita's arms, and Peter snaps a few pictures covertly, intent on getting dirt on Anita to give to her grandmother.

The Sin-Eaters – plus cat – head out to their cars and Anita idly notes the cat has double-paws that look like thumbs. They spot a black Ford pickup pulling away and Isobel swears. Anita squints and thinks the license plate is light blue, which would indicate a government vehicle. Peter quickly checks their cars and finds transmitters in Isobel's car and Erika's car; his hasn't been touched. Annoyed, Erika decides to do something very dangerous once they get back to the Botanica – drown herself to astrally project. Erika and Isobel decide to leave the transmitters alone for the moment, and the five Sin-Eaters and cat drive back to the Botanica. On the way, Anita stops and grabs some wet food for the cat. She asks him his name, but the cat replies that he has had many names and doesn't really care.

The krewe reaches the Botanica at 4:10 and goes inside. Anita puts out a dish of wet food and the cat immediately starts eating. Isobel explains her death and the "men in black" that accompanied the female doctor who tried to stop her from treating the junkie. Erika asks for a description of the men in black and then heads out to her car. She sits in her car and focuses on the rearview mirror before casting the Distant Visions ceremony. Despite the vague descriptors, Erika manages to see a brief vision of a man in black placing a tracker in her car while she was inside Central High School, and then sees the man in a truck heading south, presumably towards Longmeadow. The vision ends, and she heads back inside.

Erika asks for help in unlocking the Tear-Stained Oracle manifestation; she needs to drown herself to astrally project, which she can sustain for a few hours – in theory. The others balk initially, but Erika assures them that it can be done and she won't take any permanent damage. David and Isobel reluctantly agree to help and Anita says there is an industrial sink in the store's basement. As the three Sin-Eaters head downstairs, Anita turns on her stereo and plays some loud salsa music to cover any strange noises. She coaxes the cat into looking at the German book, and he starts reading.

Erika fills the sink with cold water and plunges her head in; David grabs the back of her neck and holds her under while her body thrashes as natural instincts take over. Erika tries to keep calm, but notices that The Deep Dweller seems oddly nostalgic. Her thrashings stop and Isobel decrees she is pulling Erika out in thirty minutes, period. Erika's soul separates from her body and she sees Isobel and David looking at her body with concern. She flies through the ceiling and up into the shop; she sees Anita, Peter – and a ball of light reading the book. The cat looks over and tells Peter and Anita that Erika's spirit projected successfully, although the other Sin-Eaters can't see her.

Erika flies out of the Botanica and tries to orient herself towards Longmeadow. Unfortunately, she deliberately omitted the fact that she's never actually projected before to the rest of her krewe, so she overshoots and ends up in Enfield, Connecticut by accident – she traveled at over 300 miles per hour! It takes a few more minutes before she can orient herself with any degree of accuracy, but she spots a black Ford pickup truck traveling south on Longmeadow Street. It takes another few tries to land on the pickup truck, but she manages and enters the truck. She finds four men in black inside, sitting silently. One is driving, one is in the passenger seat, and the other two are in the back seats. One of the ones in the back seats suddenly looks directly at Erika's astral form and she sees his left eye is a glowing purple orb! He announces, "We have company, protocol 13B now in effect."

Erika panics and immediately returns to her body in the Botanica, just as Isobel was reaching for her to revive her! She lurches upwards, spraying water everywhere and hacking even more up from her lungs. It takes several seconds for Erika to recover, but she finds she is unharmed as she predicted. Upstairs, the cat looks up from the book and announces that Erika has returned. The three Sin-Eaters head upstairs at 4:45pm, and Erika reports that she experienced in the pickup. She and Peter confront the cat-that-isn't-a-cat and demand answers; the cat replies that he is just a cat. He adds that this tome he is studying is a depository of ghostly knowledge from an occult scholar, but there is a major discrepancy: the writing is in archaic, colonial-era German but there are references to the American Civil War in the text.

Erika recalls the rumors of werewolves in Northampton, and wonders if the legends of vampires may be more than just legends. The cat dissembles for a few minutes before stating, "Yes Virginia, there are vampires." The Sin-Eaters discuss the possibilities of vampires, and a vampire writing this book, but Peter gets paranoid and checks outside. He spots a gold Prius in a nearby lot, but the Prius starts up and drives off a few seconds later. Anita makes a disparaging remark about gringos, which the cat doesn't understand in the slightest. Erika asks the cat if it's been watching the door, and he nods; she presses a bit and he claims he's been there, "since before the school was built." She asks if he can – and has to – return to the gate and he nods – and then vanishes completely. Startled, the Sin-Eaters wonder how in the hell they've hooked up with a talking cat…

Recap originally published on Livejournal.