Mid-West Campaign
Session One Hundred and Five

Wednesday, 24 October 2001

Elise returns to the surface and relays what happened to her fellow agents. She sees the four-by-four driving away in a cloud of dust. Jane reports that Ecks yelled something about a Star Trek episode on TV, jumped into the car and roared off before anyone could stop him. They have a long walk ahead of them.

The north-west psychologist, Jacques Jackson, says that Richard Steiger is detached. His conscience was his wife. In order to be any help he has to reattach to something in this life, or someone. Jane wonders if there really is any point in pursuing this matter. They haven't the power to force Richard to help them, and even if they did all he can give them is the truename (that they can probably find from another source). Jane isn't sure that she wants to work with a confessed baby-killer.

Suddenly, Jackson hears the unmistakable whine of a Blackhawk helicopter approaching their position. None of the other agents hear it at first (Jane has squashed a bug into her ear). As soon as they heed Jackson's warnings Jane orders everyone to take cover in the mine and draw their weapons. Military helicopters have an alarming track record of strafing evidence response agents. Elise telephones Artemis Black's office. Black confirms that the helicopter is one of his. He is not on board (thankfully) but it is carrying a new asset for the team.

The helicopter lands long enough to release one passenger. He is tall and immaculately turned out in a British military uniform. Walking over he introduces himself as Captain James Faulkner of British Military Intelligence. He works for NTOPFOR and is on an intelligence-gathering mission for them. Sadly this means that he isn't carrying a ray-gun. Jane greets him - fate has conspired to put her in charge of the team again - and introduces her fellow agents. She fills Faulkner in on case YZO002, as well as what they know about Elise's family.

At a slight impasse, the only immediate question that needs answering is whether Elise is going to tell her family that she is still alive. Jackson (anticipating a meal of colossal proportion) advises her to do it. The agents return to the house (Jackson steals the upside-down cake that is still on the front porch). Jane and Jacques Jackson enter the ranch and break the news of Elise's mother. The cooking starts almost instantly.

Over the next few hours Elise is reunited with her family. Her father Robert is particularly pleased to see his daughter ("My Ellie! My little Ellie!"). The cover story that Elise has been in deep cover for the last year seems to be holding water. Half way through the meal, Elise's brother Richard Jnr turns up from the nearby hospital. The nineteen year old has been home by the staff for being a nuisance. Richard Jnr has inherited none of his grandfathers intelligence or cunning.

It becomes obvious that the agents will stay the night. Faulkner feels a little out of place, particular when Judith mistakes him for Elise's boyfriend. Jane uses the general hubbub as cover to step outside and phone Artemis Black.

Jane explains what is going on, and asks for help. Artemis says that he knows of no-one who could trap Arioch even if they had the truename. Jane reminds him that he drew a binding circle around the Wichita HQ to trap the Joker inside it with Benedict. Artemis says that the circle would need to be altered. Whatever route they take some sacrifice will need to be made - possibly of a werewolf. Jane counters that they trying to save people, not sacrifice them. And wasn't Artemis supposed to be finding out the true name for the team? Artemis says that he is on the case, but he is a very busy man. He has to have tea with 'Dubya' at least once each week.

Thursday, 25 October 2001

By midnight all the members of the Steiger family except Richard Jnr have gone to bed, leaving the agents alone in the sitting room. What are they going to do? They have two problems: find the true name, and find someone who can trap Arioch. They don't have to use Richard Steiger for either solution. Andrew Crowe, George Wilkinson, Robert Steiger and Simon Magus should all know the true name. Jane phones the hospital in Yazoo City to enquire on Andrew Crowe's condition, but he has fallen into a coma. Drat.

Talk turns to finding a way to Richard Steiger to help them. He is to hand, and it would be much quicker to get the information from him if he would cooperate. However, no-one can think of a way to do this. Jacques reiterates his theories, but after three baskets of fried chicken his heart isn't really in it.

Richard Jnr wakes up in his chair. Elise questions him about his life, and Richard Jnr comes across as something of a scumbag. Although Daisy Ellington is in the hospital giving birth to his child, Rich is seeing another girl called Karen O'Keefe. Rich Jnr and Jacques get into a petty squabbling match that threatens to wake the house. No one likes this guy. As Rich is Elise's sister, Jane doesn't feel as though she can give him a good kicking. However, when Elise draws her gun on her brother he hurries up to bed. Faulkner makes more notes for NTOPFOR.

With Richard Jnr gone, the agents continue to brainstorm what they can do to trap Arioch and save the families. Looking back through their cases Jane can only think of two possibilities. The first is Isidoro Gonzalez Cruz, the Mexican demon hunter who aided Benedict back in 1994. He was recently revealed to be a member of NTOPFOR and Faulkner might be able to contact him. The second is the white necromancer Jedidiah Bartholomew who possessed Alex Drake back in February (case JOP312).

Faulkner (who is wide awake thanks to the time difference between here and England) volunteers to contact NTOPFOR and see what he can find out. He calls England and asks about Cruz. NTOPFOR can confirm that Cruz is a Mexican agent, but there is little direct link between the international branches of NTOPFOR. Faulkner is told that Cruz was reported missing two weeks ago when he went to the Yucatan Peninsular to investigate the scene of a class six temporal being in the company of class four time traveller Alan Hamblin III. The identity of the class six is unknown, but it is thought to have a predilection for young girls.

Faulkner also tells his NTOPFOR contacts about the rest of the case in the hope that they can be of some help, but they have no practical help to give. They do provide some more information on Simon Magus. Simon Magus was active in 1784, and there are reports of him going back as far as 1122 when he was an alchemist living in Italy. He has a history of foxing authority figures, and seems to have developed a fascination with ancient Egypt for a goodly portion of his long life. He was also present during the Boer War. Simon Magus's motivations are difficult to predict. He may help you for seemingly no reason, or just completely screw you over.

Eventually the agents head to bed. In the morning, Elise tries to track down her great grandfather. They discover the 'ancestral' Steiger home in Fort Worth Texas. According to the local FBI, the home is held in trust for Richard Steiger. Unfortunately there are hundreds of Steigers living in the area, so no way to easily track Robert Steiger down, even if he is still living there.

The agents and Faulkner leave after breakfast and head to the airport. Their destination is the public library in Joplin, Missouri. Jane wants to get hold of the book Civil War Joplin: Environs where the spirit of Jedidiah is bound. Although under no circumstances should Alex get hold of the book (after what happened last time), having the book and access to Jedidiah might prove a recourse of the last resort against Arioch.

However, at that moment Alex Drake climbs out of his hospital bed in Yazoo City. He cannot control his limbs and doesn't know what he is doing. The nursing staff try to stop him, but he managed to wrap a bed sheet around him like a toga, head down to the street and hail a cab. The hospital staff call Drake's doctor (Jane Munroe).

Jane is shocked, and more than a little worried by the coincidence. Is Drake possessed? Again? She calls Agent James McCollins (who claims be at death's door) and tells him to investigate. The CCTV camera from the hospital reveals that Drake got into a Westlinks Cab. Jane phones the company, and discovers that Drake was dropped off at Yazoo City airport. She orders McCollins out of bed and tells him to hurry there immediately.

McCollins grumbles incessantly, but does as he's told. When he arrives at the airport he discovers that the security guard waved Drake through and onto a plane bound for Joplin despite the fact he had no money, no ticket and was wearing nothing but a hospital bed sheet. McCollins reports this to Jane. This is serious: there is no way that Jane and the other agents can get to Joplin before Drake. The only person who has a chance of doing this is James McCollins.

Feeling suitably empowered, McCollins produces the evidence response gold card and hires a fast private jet. He will touch down in Joplin fifteen minutes before Drake - he orders a Ferrari to be standing by at the terminal gates. Meanwhile Alex Drake manages to grab the air-phone of his plane and contacts Jane. He tells her that he is not in control of his actions, and seems to be flying to Missouri. Jane tells him to wait for them at the airport, but Drake doesn't think he will be able to.

Jane contacts Artemis Black and tells him the severity of the situation. She has no idea how Drake could be possessed by Jedidiah, as all traces of that possession should have been expunged when Drake was resurrected. Neither can Jane explain the timing of why this is happening now when she and the other agents decided to go for the book: there was no way that Drake could have known. Artemis sees the severity of the situation: he doesn't want Drake to get his hands on that book. He takes steps to make sure the plane stays in the air and doesn't land immediately in Joplin. This should give McCollins a few more minutes.

Racing from the airport, McCollins bribes a passer-by (with Drake's wallet) to jump in the Ferrari with him and guide him to the public library. He hurtles to the public library in short order, denting the car door on a parking metre. He arrives out of breath, identifies himself as an FBI and asks for the book. The librarian tells him that the book has already been reserved by another FBI agent called Alex Drake. Apparently Drake was always planning on returning for the book, and just waiting for some time off.

Thinking fast, McCollins asks if he can look at the book in the library while waiting for his colleague to arrive. The librarian agrees and takes him to the reading room. This is the point where an otherwise good plan starts to go south for the winter. McCollins buts his gun to the back of the librarian's head, locks her in a stationary cupboard and steals the books. He runs from the library grievously injuring himself on the turnstile. He legs it back to the Ferrari and drives away.

Artemis informs the rest of the team that Drake's plane is coming into land anyway (did Drake threaten or bamboozle the pilots?) Drake is in Joplin and he is coming after the book - it is likely that he can sense where the book is. Meanwhile, McCollins has got completely lost and inadvertently driven back to the airport. He sees a man in a white toga chasing the car, and tries to race away. Unfortunately, he tries to escape over a hump-back bridge and grounds the sportscar. He gets out and starts to run.

It is not the fastest chase in the history of chases. Both McCollins and Drake are seriously injured from the car crash in Yazoo City and are hobbling like old men. However, Drake is closing - although there is a small stream between them. Jane tells McCollins that under no circumstances should Drake get his hands on that book. Drake is getting closer, how McCollins stop him? "There is no choice!" he declares, "I have to eat the book!" He tears a page from the middle and gulps it down.

Immediately Drake returns to his senses (standing in the middle of a river). He is no longer possessed. However, he still wants the book and he advances on McCollins. He grabs McCollins and pulls him to the ground. Drake wrestles the book out of McCollins hands and flips through it. The key page is missing! McCollins ate it.

McCollins draws a gun and fires a wild shot to keep Drake back. Not knowing what to do next, he uses the memories of Jim McCollins and casts a spell. A sigil forms in the air - it keeps Drake back! Unfortunately, it only lasts for half an hour and McCollins can't leave the scene without the spell ending prematurely. He is trapped. He telephones Jane and explains the situation.

Using McCollins description, maps and Faulkner's skill in cartography the agents manage to work out where McCollins is. However, they cannot get there before his spell expires. Jane tries to get Drake to stand down but he won't. Drake decides the best idea is try and make McCollins sick so he will get the page back that way. He uses his latent summoning powers and douses the area in rotten eggs and olive oil. Then he starts to summon vomit by the bucket full. It covers Drake (making him sick) and splatters the entire area. The sound even makes the agents on the plane quite ill.

McCollins has a stomach of iron, however, and he resists all attempts by the increasingly weak Drake to make him throw-up. As the plane of Elise and the other agents touches down, the magical sigil disappears and the vomit-covered Drake lunges at McCollins. McCollins tries to run, but casting the spell has horribly weakened him. He staggers away. Drake grabs him and pulls him to the ground. The two start rolling around in the vomit and olive oil. McCollins staggers to his feat, and Drake grabs his trouser leg. McCollins rips of his trousers and tries to escape. Drake lunges with the last of his might and grabs McCollins by the nadgers. McCollins vomits up the page, but the effort was too much for Alex who falls unconscious.

This horror is the scene that greets Elise, Jane and Faulkner as they arrive in a fast car. Jane pulls a HAZMAT suit out of Benedict's special bag and puts it on. She quickly restrains Drake with three cable-ties, before performing first aid on the fallen agents. She retrieves the book and the ripped out page and puts them into evidence bags. She congratulates McCollins for his good work.

Suddenly Alex Drake speaks with Jedidiah's voice and demands the book. He mentally dominates Faulkner, McCollins and Elise. Wondering how any of this is possible, Jane seeks to stop her companions. She knocks Elise unconscious and fends off the lunging Faulkner. However, then Jedidiah dominates her and she hands him the book.

Faulkner frees Drake, who quickly puts the book back together and reads the errant pages. All that effort for nothing! He just finishes reading it as Jacques Jackson and Jack Burchill arrive at the scene.

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