Mid-West Campaign
Session Forty-Four

Wednesday 24 January 2004

Praying got the agents nowhere and they return to HQ. A little research reveals that the Joker sent Brickman dominoes instead of cards. See S89 casefile for a full list. They have no success in finding a pattern, and Artemis sends the list to the cryptologist Ashamiko in New York.

Before continuing with the Joker case, talk returns to the threads left hanging from Apache Joe. Artemis believes that the thus far uninvestigated case JOP312 is definitely connected. He thinks that a number of dead soldiers have been reanimated and enhanced as Albert Johnson was in a plot straight out of Universal Soldier. Artemis phones the head of serial crimes (and his ex-boss) Kurt Tice. Tice is no match for the tidal-wave of smarm that engulfs him and reveals that Vitrano and Lavin have been reassigned overseas, although he doesn't know where off-hand.

The morning is spent in discussion about what to do next. The circular argument always returns to using Benedict as bait to draw the Joker to a place where Requiem for the Broken can be played to trap him. However, although the cathedral in Wichita has such an organ, no member of the team can play it which means exposing the civilians to danger. Jane won't be a part of that. However, if they are going to summon the Joker they know that the safest place to do it is under SCHULT's protection. The team head to Los Angeles.

Jane is relieved to discover that Todd and the entire west coast team is in Seattle investigating case SE324. However, the east coast team is present, bugging the west coast HQ. Artemis reprimands them and has SCHULT remove all the bugging devices. He takes the opportunity to get Ashamiko to look at the list of cards and dominoes sent by the Joker.

She says the Joker is playing a game. The cards appear as if in a hand of bridge, and the domino tiles are arranged in a game - it is difficult to tell how many are playing. The group agonises over the pattern. Jane suggests that the pattern is not important. The Joker is playing a game, and is giving dealing out a bridge hand with dead bodies to highlight this but the pattern doesn't matter. It is not like Apache Joe. Cracking this code isn't going to help them get to the Joker. The question should be who are the players?

The Joker and Lillian are not on the same side. Are they opposing players? Who else is involved? What about the armoured man who gave Harlow a playing card. Who is he? And if Drake is right and the Joker was summoned by the Khedive (a serious piece of lateral thinking) then is there a secret society like the Sons of Solomon or the Illuminati in this?

A plan is hatched to have Artemis meet with Lillian Winter. As the agents now know that the Joker is only going for Benedict, McLaughlin and Zimmerman, Artemis should be safe. Artemis heads off to hang around LA hoping Winter will turn up. She doesn't, and Artemis has a pleasant afternoon eating ice creams and dining at expensive restaurants. Meanwhile McLaughlin and Zimmerman are moved to the west coast HQ where they are safe.

Thursday, 25 January 2001

After a wasted day, it looks very much that Plan A (use Benedict as bait and when the Joker arrives, GET HIM!) is back on the cards. Jane thinks they need more information. She thinks if they can find out why Artemis's bloodline is important then they might get some answers. Nathan Harlow knew the answer. They can't raise Nathan, but they might be able to talk to him. Dominic Rocaan is a card-carrying Voodoo priest, after all.

Artemis phones Dominic. He Todd, Campbell-Robson and Ecks are looking for "aerial phenomena encroaching into civilian airspace" in the woodland surrounding Seattle. Dominic is extremely unwilling to help. He would need to speak to Ghede the guardian of the afterlife, and Ghede is capricious and extremely annoying. It would also be potentially very dangerous for himself and anyone taking part in the ritual. However, he consents. Dominic returns to LA with Campbell-Robson leaving Todd and Ecks to continue the investigation.

Five hours later Dominic and Bruce arrive. Dominic breaks open his emergency case of chickens and warns Artemis again of the price for this. Ghede has a wicked sense of humour and Dominic doesn't have a sense of humour so the pair do not get on. Dominic has also had a pretty poor track record with voodoo spirits and has only just got over a rather inconvenient curse he suffered at the hands of Baron Samedi. Before he can proceed he gets a garbled call from Todd and Ecks.

The pair are under attack from a horde of zombies. However, they manage to blow them all away. Remembering Chuck's tale from New York, Jane tells Todd to look inside the chest for flying polyps. The pair look and find the creatures. Dominic tells the pair to clean things up, and that he and Bruce will return shortly.

The spirit of Ghede is easily conjured. Ghede wants the everyone present to sacrifice a chicken by biting through the neck, and then to agree to smoke a fat Cuban cigar in his honour every day for a hundred days. Jane doesn't want to do that, but Dominic warns there is no backing out and the summoners agree.

Ghede parts the veil and the spirit of Nathan Harlow manifests in the west coast headquarters. For a moment he believes that he is being resurrected again, and is crestfallen when Jane says this is not the case. However, he is willing to help and tell them what he knows. Artemis Black is a child of Lillith. Nathan knows that the Knights of the Rose and Cross were once our allies, and that the Sons of Solomon are our enemies. But that is all he knows.

Then Ghede, who is amused by the whole affair, asks Nathan if he wants a body. Despite Jane's warnings, Nathan says yes. The spirit of Nathan is taken by Ghede. He is no longer in Hell, but trapped elsewhere.

Unknown to the rest of the team, Nathan's spirit awakens in his old handless corpse (now but a skeleton) buried in the Ventura County Public Cemetery. Although being buried alive (or undead in Harlow's case) may sound like a nightmare, it is a doddle compared to what has happened to him in Hell. He awaits rescue.

The agents retire to the smoking room to discuss matters. Jane is distracted by Harlow's sudden reappearance as she smokes her first Cuban cigar. Jane hates the taste but does her best to smoke them with the good grace that Ghede expects. Artemis is rather smug that he smokes cigars anyway, and he plans to confess his sin tomorrow morning. Inevitably the conversation turns again to the Joker.

The Joker and Lillian Winter are playing a game. The Joker's 'blind-partner' is the secret society that summoned him into this world - possibly the Khedive and possibly the Sons of Solomon. Lillian Winter's blind partner are the children of her line: Carl Ledley, Alfred Brickman, Jimmy Hoffa and now Artemis Black. All the victims are members of secret societies. The Knights of the Rose and Cross were into the perfection of the self through spiritual enlightenment which sounds a lot like the sevenfold path. However, this doesn't get them any closer to finding the Joker. They return to Plan A.

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