Game was 3/29/19; Anne Marie and Lizzie were present. Before getting into the prologue vignettes, we finished the downtime, this session was about the numbers and bookkeeping. Breaking points remained unchanged, while some aspirations were updated or replaced. Anita chose "Maintain the Montoya Botanica (LT), Keep my family intact (LT), and Discover the truth behind the fire that killed Jordan and I (ST?)" She received 5 Experiences and spent all of them to raise her Rage Manifestation to 2. Josh's Aspirations were unchanged, so he also got 5 Experiences. He had 3 Experiences already banked, so he raised his Empathy to 5, Persuasion to 5, and Expression to 3 for a net total of 6 Experiences, leaving him with 2. Leta replaced the Aspiration Make the Lucifuge proud (ST) with Get my GED (ST), and received 6 Experiences. She had 3 Experiences already banked, so she raised her Resolve to 3, her Weaponry to 2, and her Occult to 3, for 8 Experiences, leaving her with 1 Experience banked. Finally, William replaced his Aspiration Reconnect with past "normal" life (LT) with Accept the 'new' normal life (LT) and received 6 Experiences. He had 2 Experiences banked, so he spent all 8 Experiences to raise his Dexterity to 3, his Occult to 3, and his Firearms to 4, rationalizing he's spent time in the downtime practicing with Mick.

William is at Sam Sheppard's house, enjoying dinner with Sam and Gladys. Around 6:45, William looks up to see the pack totem angrily glide into the kitchen and plunge her hand into the refrigerator! She yanks out a clutch of eyeballs and shakes them at William before she turns and glides upstairs. William does his best to keep his face blank, but Gladys, who is seated across from him, picks up that something is wrong and asks, "William, are you alright?" William nods quickly, but notices that Sam caught something out of the corner of his eye, as the kitchen is to his right. Sam's face has drained of color, so William smoothly diverts Gladys's concern to her husband. Gladys cries out in alarm, so William stands up quickly and declares, "I'll get him a washcloth."

William bolts upstairs and finds the totem in the master bathroom. She glances his way, and then jams her hand into the wall facing the toilet. She 'pushes' up, ripping open the wall soundlessly like slicing through a flap of skin, revealing a wall-length cluster of eyeballs! William can hear them blinking, and he murmurs, "Helen?" He gets an affirmative blink, so he turns away and dampens a washcloth in the sink. He steps out of the bathroom and hears a squelching noise as the totem attacks the eyeballs; he says softly, "Thank you." He races downstairs and hands the damp washcloth to his friend. As Gladys bustles into the kitchen to keep her panic at bay, Sam hisses, "What is in my house?" William whispers back, "A friend. It's helping." Sam stares at him and growls, "With what?" William shakes his head and whispers, "I'll tell you later."

At 6:55, Anita is running the final two sales at the Montoya Botanica when the bell above the door chimes. She looks up in annoyance at whoever walked in five minutes before closing, but she goes stock-still when she sees a well-dressed gringo with a crew cut who practically screams "federal law enforcement." The two Latinas in her store quickly pay for their purchases and hustle out, and Anita asks firmly, "Can I help you?" The man flashes a Homeland Security badge, which confuses Anita. The man smiles briefly and says, "I'm here on behalf of a certain smart-mouthed reprobate and her talking rat." Anita relaxes a fraction and the man introduces himself, "Director Austin Templeton; Officer McManus works for me when he's not at the NPD."

Anita nods in recognition, and Templeton explains, "I'm here to pass on a warning. You ever heard of the Belladonna Syndicate?" Anita nods again, as the Belladonnas are the local Italian Mafioso and no one in Springfield with half a brain fucks with them. Templeton explains, "Leta's related to them via her 'family' in Milan. I believe you met the Lady." Anita shudders, which Templeton takes as assent, so he continues, "A week ago, the local boss Grazzianu Belladonna was murdered by his primary enforcer, one Silas Black. We believe Silas is something other than human, and he knows about Leta's familial connections. I'm hoping he's too busy consolidating his rule to bother her, but if he does, you're here on the front lines in Springfield."

Anita sighs as she processes the implications, and she thanks Templeton for the warning. She studies him carefully and realizes he's exhausted, so she turns and starts making tea. She passes him the cup a moment later and asks, "When did you sleep last?" Templeton snorts, "Shelburne Falls. When it first fell. I heard you went there with McManus some months back?" Anita shudders again and nods as she recalls her trip. She gathers a few items to help him sleep and passes them on, free of charge. Templeton nods in gratitude, and asks carefully, "If I may be so bold, I believe you are, as the kids are calling it these days, 'going down below' later?" Anita rolls her eyes but nods, so Templeton adds, "Keep an eye out. I don't pretend to know how things work down there, but the True Fae that died in Shelburne Falls? Supposedly, he's in the Underworld, still hunting, and he's expanding his territory. I don't want you to get impaled by a giant fucking spear."

Anita considers the ghostly brothel and mutters, "Thanks. That's not the type of impalement I want to deal with tonight." Templeton blinks in surprise, and then declares, "I'm not going to ask." He drinks his tea as Anita replies, "Better to not." Templeton nods and drains the last of his tea. He hands the cup back to Anita and turns to leave. He stops and adds, "Oh, don't worry about that IRS audit." Anita blinks in surprising but thanks him. Templeton nods and exits the Montoya Botanica.

At 7 o'clock, Leta and Veltis are sprawled on their couch and watching Desperate Housewives. With Friday night being Abby's 'Sin-Eater night', Leta and Veltis typically take Fridays to hang out, just the two of them. Leta's phone rings with Templeton's ringtone; she grabs it and answers rudely. Templeton's administrative assistant Chelsea sighs and says, "You might have an Italian problem." She informs Leta of Grazzianu's death and the rise of Silas Black; Leta grumbles but derides Chelsea's 'rude-ass bitch of a boss.' She switches gears and sweetly asks Chelsea what she did to deserve this punishment. Chelsea doesn't answer; she just hangs up.¹⁾

Leta looks over to Veltis, who is the size of a corgi. Before she can fill him in, Anita calls her. Leta answers, "So, that Mafia dude I'm related to is dead. Oh hi, Anita." Anita tells her of Templeton's visit. Leta derides Templeton and his secretary, but Anita defends Templeton, saying he was very nice, just exhausted. Leta sighs and replies, "I'm genuinely sorry you live so close to this." Anita asks carefully, "Are you ok?" Leta replies, "Yeah, status quo. At least these mafia boys are human." Anita groans sand says, "They're not actually human. There were… additional components to Templeton's warnings. We'll talk in person." Leta awkwardly answers, "Have a good spooky-time," and hands up, leaving Anita flabbergasted.

At 7:15, Josh is hanging out with friends from high school. They played some soccer at the Smith athletic fields and then migrated to Packard's for a drink. They're laughing and watching sports on the second floor when Josh's phone pings with an e-mail announcement. He eyes it quickly, but stops and stares when he sees the subject line 'Warning from UMASS!' and that it's from anakamura@hampshire.edu. Surprised that the Network 0 hunter is still alive after a year of no contact, Josh opens the e-mail to find only a video link.

Josh excuses himself and heads down to the cramped restroom in the Packard's basement. He slips into the tiny stall and plays the video after turning the sound off. The video shows a livestream of someone exploring the steam tunnels under UMass, likely using a GoPro. The timestamp indicates the livestream was only an hour ago, and Josh watches as a young man suddenly runs into a massive spider web – and then thousands of spiders descend! The spiders merge into an unholy amalgamation of spider-humanoid that Josh is certain is not the Widow Mactan, and then the spider-woman attacks the screaming young man! ²⁾ The video ends there, and Josh quickly forwards it to Polly. He sends her a text as well, so she knows the link is legitimate.