Mid-West Campaign
Session One Hundred and Two

Monday, 22 October 2001

With Dominic's team still in Los Angeles, the second mid-west team convene at their old headquarters in the railway yards. Ugly Joe McPike, Alex Drake and Jane Munroe are awaiting the arrival of a new agent, recently drafted into evidence response: James McCollins.

At 9:00am James McCollins arrives at headquarters. His orders and first class ticket to Wichita still sealed in impenetrable shrink-wrapping. He enters the base expecting to find the team led by the respected Josephine McPike. It's amazing how far one little typo can travel. Slightly disappointed, he meets the other agents on the team - except Elise Steiger who is currently on vacation.

Jane takes the opportunity to jab McCollins with a needle. She wishes him good luck, and heads downstairs to run a blood test as per the Doppelganger Protocols. McPike settles down to read McCollins's file, and suggests that Drake give the new agent a tour of the place.

Alex dutifully obliges and shows McCollins all the highlights of the Blackcave, including the coffee machine, fire poles, super computers and fully equipped medical bay. It is here that Jane, now in her white coat, is running McCollins's blood test. She is pleased to tell him that he is human, but decides to run a full CAT and MRI scan as well. There is always the possibility of brain bugs possession after all.

The blood test shows an elevated white blood count and, although there are no tell-tale lesions on the brain, Jane does discover elevated activity as if McCollins is using more of his brain than a normal person. Jane asks McCollins where he was born (thinking he might have a Winterset connection), but McCollins says he was born in New York. Jane decides to run a DNA test just be sure. McCollins is baffled as to why all this is "necessary".

McPike joins the others and asks to speak to McCollins in private. Once in the office upstairs, McPike confronts the new agent with some of the disturbing things he has just read. McPike uses all his skills in psychology during the interview, it is as if he is tip-toeing around a rather fragile psyche.

McPike issues McCollins with the necessary equipment for his new role. He throws away McCollins's pea-shooter and replaces it with a Desert Eagle (along with the requisite ammunition in armour-piercing, silver and jade-tipped varieties). He then goes through James's history.

James McCollins was transferred to Evidence Response after his last psyche evaluation highlighted some memory problems in the agent. McCollins explains that he seems to have another set of memories that can be triggered in adverse circumstances (particularly if he is called "Jim"). These memories are of dark and terrible, impossible things. The memory problems began about six months ago, when everything went black for Jim. Jim found it strange to be James, he was confused. He thought he was in Egypt. "It was the fucking teleporting gooks!" McCollins exclaims madly, and then continues his narrative with no memory of the outburst. He says that his memories are of Jim fighting gods underneath the sea. Jim jumped off a boat in the middle of the Mediterranean to combat the Egyptian gods Geb, Nut and Shu. It was Satan's idea to end the world, by bring two gods of opposing elements together. The other members of Jim's team were "fucking psychos". James has never checked up on any of the names, because dwelling on the memories brings on terrible headaches.

McPike says that he wants to make the other agents aware of James's psychological background. They should be aware of the difficulties James is facing, and should certainly know never to call him "Jim". Jane and Alex are now privy to a retelling of the new agent's background. Jane wonders whether the Earth will even be here in five years time when the brain bugs arrive. With so many powerful entities competing to destroy it, it seems unlikely. Rather more worryingly is that Satan (from his prison) was plotting to destroy the world only six months ago. What changed his mind? Has he changed his mind?

James has complete memories of Jim (who was a CIA agent). However, James certainly seems to be a person in his own right. He has his own memories, and his background credentials check out. It isn't any wonder that his psychologist passed him onto evidence response.

Jane asks what Jim looks like. James replies that Jim looks quite different to himself. Jim is taller and thinner, with no hair, no testicles and with both of his legs amputated below the knee. One of his legs had been blown off, the other was lost after he had been poisoned by his own team leader. James adds that both legs (and testicles) subsequently regrew after Jim died and was resurrected. Of course, that sort of thing happens all the time in evidence response.

So what was the last thing Jim remembers? The latest memory is of Jim jumping into that water. He was possessed of a charm that made him unimpeded by anything. Sadly this included water, so there was no resistance when he jumped off the boat and he plummeted several hundred feet to the sea-bed. There followed a maniacal laugh, a kaboom and then he woke up in a bed in New York.

Deciding that it is time to start a new case, McPike turns on the computer to discover that four new cases have arrived on the team's books (bring the total of outstanding cases to five). In addition to the existing case WYN083, the team can now take the pick of BGS103, DL1003, LR647 and YZO002.

The general consensus is to go for YZO002, Asset Forfeiture of the Crowebury Library. McPike believes appropriating a private library of Andrew Crowe will be a good first case for McCollins. No sense bombarding him with all the weird stuff right away. McPike places a call to Edward Ross at the Asset Forfeiture team in New York, who provides more information about the case.

About two years ago, the local PD received a complaint against a gentleman matching Andrew Crowe's description. This man was going around antique shops saying: "That's mine, give it to me!" Crowe was censured by the police, and said that he wouldn't do it again.

One year later, Crowe's accounts were looked into. Crowe is the executor of a trust fund for scholars at the local arts college, and it was discovered that he was taking money from that trust fund to buy expensive books for himself. He has siphoned total of $7.5m into his private bank account. He spent $4m on just six books: two were in Arabic (one of which was the Necronomicon), one is a series of Hebrew Scriptures and one was one of the missing Dead Sea Scrolls. The final two are Victorian books written in Latin - they are purported to have once belonged to Aleister Crowley.

Crowe is a generally hostile man. He is not in custody because there is no real evidence against him. However, one of the other trustees at the college is the wife of the Governor of Arkansas. She brought pressure to bear on her husband who in turn brought pressure on the police. Any further information can be gleaned from Lieutenant Stan Rogers in Yazoo City. However, Crowe is aware of the charges against him, and will be expecting a visit from the FBI.

As soon as McPike puts down the phone, Jane voices her concerns. This Crowe is evidently a magus of some kind. That makes him especially dangerous. Looking at the team's track record against foes such as Mao Sei Ben, Veronica Cunningham and Gerald de la Tour, it is obvious they have very little defence against magic. A cornered wizard protecting his magic books will wipe the floor with them.

Jane also sees too much in common between "Andrew Crowe" and "Aleister Crowley". Is it a coincidence, or could they even be the same man. The team flies into action with a surprising degree of purpose. The Internet proves unusually helpful in regurgitating facts on the Crowe family, their home and their history.

The Crowe family has lived in the same house for the last three hundred years. They originally ran a plantation and grew rich on cotton, molasses and slaves. There was once a slave revolt on the land. Many slaves were massacred on Crowe's land by rebel soldiers after the end of the civil war. The team downloads pictures of Andrew Crowe and his father which would seem to nix the idea that they were one in the same person. However, they are very similar and they remind Jane of someone else: Simon Magus.

The resemblance is so close, that Crowe could be Magus's long lost brother. Then Jane recalls that Magus himself reminded her of someone else when she met him, but who? As she racks her brain she lets her eyes wonder around the office, until they come to rest on the giant oil painting of Artemis Black. Then it hits her: Andrew Crowe, Simon Magus and Artemis Black all look very similar. Knowing a fair amount of Artemis's dodgy lineage, Jane concludes that they must all be descendents of Lilith.

The agents soon notice that there is actually something in Jane's theory. The father and son do not look alike, but the father and grandson are identical, as are the grandfather and son. This pattern is repeated back across fifteen generations of the Crowe family. There are only ever two (the master and the apprentice?). Around the elder Crowe's fortieth birthday, he dies. Very soon afterward a new son is born to the younger Crowe who grows up to be identical to his deceased grandfather. And checking what records they have access to, the agents note that something always happens to the wives before the switch.

This switch, with the death of the father and birth of the grandson, happens within a four years period. The elder Andrew Crowe is 38 years old; his wife died fifteen years ago. His son, Algernon Crowe is 21. Algernon is away from the family home, living a playboy's life. He has not yet taken a wife so although the switch could happen any time now, it cannot be imminent.

This is all enormously suspicious, and the team is instantly of the opinion that one or both of these men is Aleister Crowley reborn across the years. But why is this happening? Are they doing it deliberately? If so, why are they going through the antique shops of the city looking for their stuff? Is it possible they do not get all the memories of their past self when a switch takes place? Is this a curse placed on the family? There is no way to know without heading to Mississippi.

However, Jane is not willing to go until she finds an edge. While McPike telephones a very surprised Lt. Rogers (who has never heard of evidence response taking such a swift interest in a case), Jane cracks open the evidence locker looking for something they can use against "Crowley". There is very little that she thinks could be used. The jade pendant of talent created by Mao Sei Ben, the chthonian hide. Jane grabs large black rod taken by the original West Coast Team from an anthropological institute in CalTech long ago. McCollins takes one look at the rod, screams, and passes out.

When he awakes, James has some more of Jim's memories. He remembers dying. He also remembers the rod. He remembers a candle made of pure white wax with the symbol of the Eye of Horus at its base. So what does this rod do? James says that it is a candle. He found it once before at the bottom of a sphinx he encountered. One of his companions had found the candle in a room. James takes the rod, and it is instantly transformed into a black candle, again with the Eye of Horus at its base.

Jane telephones the West Coast Team and speaks to Assistant Special Agent in Charge Alan Cummings. Cummings listens intently - he was wondering where the contents of his evidence locker had got to. He can't shed any great light on the proceedings. He says that some CalTech professors and students over in Cairo were behaving suspiciously. His team was sent over there to investigate US nationals abroad, and chaos ensued. They recovered three rods: one was destroyed by the team, one was taken by the Egyptian government and the other (the black one) was kept.

McCollins hands back the rod (which now seems to be a candle permanently). He says that he cannot remember all the facts, but believes that it had something to do with a mummy. On balance, he doesn't advise lighting the candle. Jane puts it back in the locker.

Meanwhile, McPike has talked to the police lieutenant and told him that the team will be in Mississippi tomorrow. In McCollins folder were the keys to house in the area organised by Artemis Black's office. Drake drives him out to his new home, and Jane gets changed and runs home. McPike slinks off to the cells where he has been staying since Michael Levin bulldozed his house. He is not a happy man.

At home, Jane finds her sister Danni asleep under baby Janey. Jane cleans the house while they are both asleep and then takes over minding the infant while her sister rests. Meanwhile, Drake's monster truck arrives at 42 Pleasentville Heights - a new development on the edge of town.

These are amazingly expensive, state of the art homes. There are computers in all the walls, environmental controls and a holographic AI that materialises in the form of an attractive young woman. It has Dynamicorp written all over it. McCollins is instantly suspicious because nice things do not happen to him. Never have, never will. Drake checks the place for bugs but cannot find any. He leaves an incredibly paranoid McCollins sleeping with a gun under his pillow.

Tuesday, 23 October 2001

After a perfect breakfast at his cyber-house, McCollins heads into work and regales McPike and the others with news of his new home. McPike is livid. Why isn't he living in a place like that? He calls Artemis Black, but is quickly intercepted by Fit Nathan Harlow. Alex starts faxing requests to move accomodation to Artemis's office.

Fit Harlow speaks to Artemis. It seems as though McCollins's new house was a one of a kind effort. An experimental design from Dynamicorp, and McCollins is part of the experiment (don't tell him, it's all hush-hush). Artemis instructs Drake to stop faxing him. He opens his drawer, takes a key at random and puts it in the post for McPike.

The agents fly to Yazoo City, experiencing the horrors of post 9/11 internal air travel for the first time. Drake chooses to drive in his monster truck. Once in Mississippi the agents go to collect their warrant. They ask after the antiques shop where Andrew Crowe (aka Aleister Crowley) went ballistic. They are given an address, and told the shop is run by a man called Stephen Mason. SM. The same initials as Simon Magus, McPike points out.

Jane is suddenly very paranoid, and convinced that Stephen Mason and Simon Magus are one in the same person. In releasing Satan from his eternal prison, Jane ended the Great Game (which Magus was rather keen on). Believing that Magus may hold a grudge against her, Jane suggests that McPike and McCollins should visit the antique shop as neither of them have met Magus. McPike agrees.

Soon after, McPike and McCollins enter Stephen Mason's shop (a tall,wood-framed building packed with curios). The shopkeeper can initially only be heard and not seen. He has a very commanding voice, and instantly spots the pair as government agents. When he finally does appear it is obvious that this is indeed Simon Magus. Magus recounts the altercation with Crowe. He says that Crowe was shouting in a confused babble and randomly pointing. Magus says that he and Crowe were part of the same social circle, and that he has bumped into his occassionally since the incident (it is a small town, after all).

While McPike is chatting to Simon Magus, McCollins browses. He sees what he instinctively knows to be his own thigh bone, capped in brass and with misspelled runes written down the side. He knows they are misspelled, because he wrote them. The price tag is $400. McCollins confronts Magus and haggles him down to $325, and buys it. Once outside the sane and rational James McCollins can't understand why he has bought the thing.

As McPike turns to leave, Simon Magus says: "Send my regards to Jane. The clam chowder at the hotel where you are staying is very nice."

Just before midday agents McPike, Munroe, Drake and McCollins arrive at the abode of Andrew Crowe, aka Alesiter Crowley. The old house is the dictionary definition of foreboding. Drake and McCollins are sent around the back in case Crowe makes a run for it, while McPike leads Jane to the front door. The pair quickly become sensible that all is not as it seems.

McPike claims that the door knocker is watching him, and is too frightened to touch it, although to Jane it is just a door knocker. In the back garden Drake and McCollins meet a man they take to be Crowe. He seems pleasant enough, but tells Drake that he cannot be arrested without a warrant (McPike has the warrant and not Drake). Drake takes out his phone to contact McPike, and immediately throws it into the flower beds. McCollins does the same. They both have developed a terrible aversion to their phones.

Then things get weirder in the back garden. As far as McCollins is concerned, Drake has disappeared. Neither can Drake see McCollins any more - or the man he supposed to be Andrew Crowe. Drake draws his taser, but has nowhere to fire it, and he seems to be sinking into the ground. Meanwhile, the rosebushes are attacking McCollins - he tries to beat them off with is thigh bone.

Jane hears the commotion in the back garden and goes to investigate. She leaves McPike on the front step. She is met on the way to the back garden by Alex Drake - but this is not the real Alex Drake, it is an illusion - or more accurately two illusions: one Drake in body, the other in spirit asking for Jane's help. Jane is completely confused. When she enters the back garden she can't see the real Alex Drake (and the real Alex Drake cannot see her). She can see McCollins, who is now yelling something about zombies and brandishing his thigh bone like a wizard's wand. Not knowing what to do, she heads to the back door and tries to gain entrance to the house.

A zombie is coming for McCollins. He pulls his gun and fires. Fortunately he missed, because it wasn't a zombie, but actually the real Alex Drake coming to help him. Drake draws his taser and shoots McCollins (quite deliberately: he can see him). McCollins takes a nasty dose of electricity, he falls to the ground foaming at the mouth.

Jane meanwhile, doesn't hear or see any of this. She is trying to open the back door, but the lock scares her. She opts to kick the door down, but fractures her leg. Not seeing how her leg can possibly be fractured she takes the time to examine it. However, there is a world of difference between knowing there are illusions abroad, and being able to act on that knowledge. Her actions are still stymied.

McPike heads into the back garden after hearing the shots. He sees the prostrate McCollins, he sees the real Alex Drake. He doesn't see Jane, but he does see Andrew Crowe lurking by a nearby tree. Resisting all attemps to bamboozle his mind, McPike draws his own taser and shoots the man the agents think to be Crowe. He hits and the figure falls to the ground. McPike rushes over and tries to handcuff the man, but his cuffs seem too hot to handle and he drops them. However, he manages to fasten the unconscious Crowe's hands with a plastic tie.

Jane looks back on the garden (which is completely empty as far as she is concerned). Realising that she cannot do anything more here, she returns to the car. She was expecting to find McPike waiting for her, but there is no hint of him. She takes her phone and contacts Elise Steiger, appraising her of the situation. She instructs Elise to come to Yazoo City immediately, and to bring with her the celtic knotwork the agents gained as part of case DL1034. With the excitement surrounding the whole rod / candle thing, they forgot to finish checking the evidence locker. That knotwork completely fried the abilities of supernatural creatures. Perhaps it would be of use here. Jane tells Elise to bring the poster too.

Meanwhile, McPike runs over to help Drake, who is trying to carry the unconscious McCollins from the scene. Unfortunately, Drake mistakes McPike for a zombie and tasers him. The last thing Ugly Joe can remember before hitting the floor is the sensation of being very, very annoyed. Drake can't see McPike (only a zombie), can't see Jane and can't see Andrew Crowe. He therefore picks up McCollins (whom he can see) and retreats to the car.

Jane see Drake arriving with the unconscious form of McCollins and runs to help. She manages to stabilise McCollins and the pair carry him to the back seat of the car to recuperate. McCollins slowly comes around, muttering "Zombies, zombies!" Jane asks Drake what happened to McPike, but Drake hasn't seen him. Jane tries his phone: no reply. Obviously, McPike is hidden by some illusion - but where, and how can they affect a rescue?

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