Played on 2006/04/16

As written by Elise DuBois

The 27th of December, 1881

Even as we were running away from the hellish scene with the man that hurled green fire, I made a mental note to myself to explore the world of Voodoo some more tonight. But for now my first priority was getting away; no way that I could withstand those blasts! No-one would be able to survive that!

Unfortunately I did not really pay attention as to where I was running so it took me a while to realize that I had been separated from the group; and this still was East-London so I didn't really feel comfortable getting back to the Lodge on my own. I therefore backtracked a bit until I saw the rest standing on a corner, apparently discussing something about the guard that we had "rescued" from the factory.

Something was fishy about him though, and it soon was pretty apparent that he had not fully survived the magic done inside the factory. He was slow to move, and it appeared as if he did not breathe. Could he have been made into something dead yet living? Was there magic that could do this? I was lost in thought until we got to some sort of police station. I had a vague memory of Ernst working there but I really can't tell those places from one another.

In any case once our subject was seated I proceeded to examine him more thoroughly. I must admit, I was a bit shocked to have my suspicions so abruptly confirmed but I think I've hid my emotions well, "as a proper woman should" to quote my father. Considering the reactions of the others I think I did pretty well; they did not cope well with seeing the swirling leaves inside the subject's chest in place of his heart.

The subject himself did not respond well either, even though he just got subjected to the most fascinating magics of our time. I would have thought he could think about that a bit more rather than his wife or other such earthly matters. Still the others managed to calm him quite quickly. I was never good at such things.

I did not find any further details though, so this would have to do for my research. I made my apologies and made my way to my research library, where I spent the rest of the night studying Voodoo lore.

The 28th of December, 1881

My research was exceptionally fruitful! I was able to determine that we had seen the effects of a few 'loa' or Voodoo spirits. Most important of those were Leyba, loa of teleportation, Baron Samedhi, of death, and Ghade, the laughter of the grave. Those last two were probably involved in the spell that made the guard we "rescued" into what he was now -- a thinking, living, dead man! Of course the guard himself was devastated when we told him there was nothing we could do for him, but he took it rather well considering the circumstances.

As for the rest of the research, most of the objects that we had seen used, either at the crimescene or hanging from the voodoo man's body, had some use in rituals involving these loas. More importantly, loa's granted the use of their powers only when they thought it was worth it. If the holder of the powers was negligent, or not careful in any way, their power could be taken away in a heartbeat.

The trouble was, that factory man was protected by a green shield or something very much like it. No-one could get near him at the least. We therefore had to think of a way to remove this shield. Crucial to this shield, which was made by the power of the loa Shengo, was an egg that served as the focus for the spell. If we could steal the egg away, chances were that the loa would be sufficiently angered as to not grant him any more powers.

In a fit of inspiration I saw that there was a way to remove the green shield from the evil man's body, in a way that he didn't expect -- we just needed to make a twin egg that was alike to his egg as much as could be. With this egg in hand we could face him, and then crush our egg at the most opportune time. This would surely weaken his shield, allowing us to grab his egg and therefore reducing the power of his loa!

The only problem was: we needed a similar egg. The book said that it was no ordinary chicken egg, but an egg from a vicious animal. Lyle and the others therefore went to seek out help in the zoo, while I prepared for the rituals that we would need to enchant the egg with.

When they were all gone, I took a good look at the book that practically all information had come from. I almost missed a heartbeat -- I was sure that I had not put that there myself. Quickly I checked my records, and there was something even stranger there -- I had put in the book myself, only I couldn't remember it. Even asking at Lady Maxwell's mansion did not produce better results. It really looked like I had loaned the book myself, only I could not remember. And I never ever forget something... I hope I'm not affected by all the voodoo stuff myself...

Late in the afternoon, Lyle and the others turned up with the egg, and a tale that this was not the first egg taken from the zoo. Another one just like it had disappeared only a few weeks earlier. That seemed to match with out suspect, increasing our chances of success. Encouraging! I quickly set to work and the egg was infused quickly. After that, we set off quickly. The unfortunate guard wanted to come along, and we let him, seeing as the poor man did not have anything better to do with his "life" now anyway.

We arrived at the factory in the dark. No signs of life or anything to be seen. Therefore we decided that Grace would do a bit of scouting to check out the insides of the place. Only, we then had to wait for about 10 minutes, and we still hadn't heard anything from Grace. Everybody grew impatient and I think it was at about that time that Ernst and Lyle decided to go in just in case something had happened inside.

After going through a big door we entered a factory hall, where we discovered that Grace was running towards us at the same time that something was moving at the other end of the hall. But wait, not only at the end of the hall, suddenly we the light turn on and more of those living dead people appeared and came toward us! And then at the other end of the hall the voodoo man stood, waiting patiently for his turn to kill us!

I decided that this would be the best moment to proceed with our plan. I threw the egg on the ground and smashed it while uttering the incantation. To my surprise, it worked even better than expected! Grace was able to snatch the egg from the surprised voodoo man, and then the rest made quick work of all the enemies present. A clear victory was ours!

Session Log Navigation					Index
Elise:			Top of page
Grace:	First