The Meeting

See what events transpired last time on the The Brother's Donovan and Black Donnelly page.

Thursday, February 14th, 1935

There is a large amount of dead Black Hand members here. And, the Boys get looting. Here is a list of The Butte Black Hand Loot. Toph finds the Black Donnelly Shillelagh in the wrecked car across the street. Specter finds the Faded Four Leaf Clover Ring on Sean Donovan's dead body. Clarise finds Missy Malone's Lipstick inside.

As Clarise continues to search out shiny things, she happens to notice the still figure of a wooden indian next to a bench. As she approaches it, the damn thing winks at her!! She is shocked, but sits down with this wizended man. He asks her what everything she has talked to is asking her. About her powers. About the reckoners. About Manitou. He does say that at the turn of the century, there was a great war. And, that after this, war was a plague. And, that after this plague, came a depression. He says to her, That the 4 horsemen are Death, War, Pestillence, and Famine. so, it seems to fit, that the world war was started by War, theat the great plague was Pestilence at work. That this depression is being caused by Famine. Its a famine of money, work, food, of hope. And, she is feasting very well. That a Grifter's power is a result in his indulgences, giving in to a hunger. And Famine loves this most of all. Hell, That's how the Wendigo were first created. After she blinks, she sees aThunderbird Medicine Bag, and no Indian. He has vanished.

Curiousity gets the better of her, and Clarise opens the bag, peers inside. The interior of the bag is pitch black, but she reaches her hand in anyway. She starts to pull out indian artifacts, some metal cards, a black hat, and a book labeled Hoyles Games. It is ancient.

The group does see some folk emerge from buildings in town, a young couple and older man. They tell them that the Black hand is done in Butte, and the townsfolk are joyous. The group asks them a bit about the area, and they tell the party that there were about 30 stills in operation, half of them owned by the Black Hand, half owned by the Red Sect. With so many dead or missing, 99% of these are no longer operating.

With the removal of the Black Hand in the area, The group heads to their still, and talks with Collin and Velma Midnight. They two start by expressing their concerns about the black Hand, but are cut short, as the twins tell them its no longer an issue. The group hands over most of the firearms that hey have collected, and introduces the three folk from town they met, saying that they would be willing to work. The group discusses with the siblings a new plan to grab up the unused stills in the area for the Midnight family, and to see if the Red Sect still exists in the area. The group is reluctant to take any stills belonging to the Reds. But, if they are truly gone, then the group intends to call dibs. Velma and Collin promise to send word to the family for reinforcements, workers, security, and supplies to get the stills running. And, the group decides that their work is done. They all gather up, minus Marcus, who has disappeared.

On the road back through town, there is a robed figure standing in the middle of the road. The group stops a distance from the figure, and points guns at the figure. So, the person flips back the hood of their robe, and it turns out to be Eddie! Eddie is glad to see the group, and is grinning ear to ear now that the black hand is dead. He tells the boyos that mama gumbo is still alive, and wants to meet with them. So, they take a trip to that old ruined plantation house, and go inside to see her. Before heading inside, Toph asks Eddie how he would get to hell as a living person. And Eddie carefully mentions that the Greeks were the true experts at such things. That there are many stories of living mortals entering hell and even surviving. Toph considers this carefully...

Mama Gumbo welcomes the group to her home, and tells them that she and another are the only Elders left of the Red Sect. Most of her followers have gone, and she is getting on in her years. She does own the properties that some 15 stills are located on. And, she has always had the greatest respect for the Midnight family. So, she offers the Midnights a blood pact, binding their two groups together as one. Though Toph and Clarise cannot speak for the whole midnight family, they pledge themselves to a pact with Mama Gumbo and the Red Sect.

The group joins Mama Gumbo in a binding blood pact.

After a hard day of killing, the group heads back to New Orleans. Mama Gumbo promises to speak to them soon.

Friday, February 15th, 1935

The next day, Mama Gumbo comes to New Orleans, and visits her young friends. She tells them that all of the remaining groups of the city's underworld are meeting at the race track, and that she will be there. The meeting is scheduled for the next day. And, no weapons will be allowed. The group agrees to accompany her and the only other Red Sect elder.

In the mean time,

Clarise and 'Less decide to head off to the Tulane University Library to start researching greek myths, heroes going to hell, and entrances into hell.

Specter has a vision of his past, and Toph heads with him to find out what it could be.

Van Pelt decides to look into collecting bounties, and heads off to the post office to look at wanted posters.

And still, there is no word from Marcus...

Clarise and 'Less rummage through information, eventually running into a small book about haunted locals in Louisiana. The book, Mysteries of Southern Louisiana, Talks about a recurring location linked to the supernatural called the Three Finger of the Swamp. These three rocks resemble three claws that jut out of swamp water, and are reputed to be gates to another realm. The stories emphasize that monsters, Ghosts and demons have pushed through to cause great havoc, but no stories about going the other direction through the portal...

Specter and Toph follow the visions to the northwest corner of New Orleans. In an old Graveyard, inside of a large crypt, there is a pyramid with an eye in the center. After some time, the two open a door and head down, finally meeting with a crazed man, named Dr. Cornelius, obsessed with eating rats. The doctor blames Specter for his current predicament, or a least a piece of Specter. It turns out that the scientists here and soldiers were responsible for the death of his family, and when they captured him, they attempted to experiment on him. Specter is baffled as the old man explains that when the scientists cut into his brain, the "original John Specter" had a psychic episode. Four Psychic copies were formed. These four blasted their way out of the lab to the surface to escape. Before they did this, one of these psychic projections bound the doctor who cut into him, Cornelius, to stay in the lab, in the dark, and to crave rats. The doctor mentions that the body was taken to Shreveport, and that the others might be following this same trail. Specter realizes that he wishes to survive, and that means taking out his duplicates, and absorbing them, as well as confronting the original body.

Van Pelt heads to the Post Office to look at bounties. And, while inside, he feels that he is being watched. he grabs the poster with the highest payout, for Floyd the Fink, a known peeping tom, one who enjoys peeping the rich folk of the garden district. the poster is for a $200 reward. The hunter stays next to a armed cop in the post office, untIl the feeling of danger passes. He heads back to the house.

Saturday, February 16th, 1935

The group, minus Marcus, wakes early and heads to a voodoo tourist trap in the French Quarter. A man in skull makeup and a top hat opens the door, introduces himself as Douglas Haggie, and welcomes everyone inside. Mama Gumbo and Douglas explain that the police are hosting this event, and the invitations were more like armed threats. Apparently, they have been using detectives to gather enough information for the Midnight Runners to be worthy of an invite. The guest list of this event includes Ne'Va and the tribesmen, The remenents of the Black Hand, Bigelow and company, Hellstromme Industries, the New Orleans Police, and a representative of the Church. Rumor has it that the Police Chief called the meeting to discuss the imminent arrival of one of the Five Families out of New York.

The group heads to the Fair Grounds Race Course, and is greeted by a mass of police officers. They search the group, and lead them inside the track. at the center of the raceway is a huge circus-like tent, and the group is escorted inside. They see the other groups arrive one at a time, and once everyone is seated, Police Chief Nelson lambert takes the podium. He begins to speak first about the destruction of the city, and the fear that this has caused for the residence of the city. He mentions that the New York crime families have gotten wind of the city's predicament, and intend to establish a foothold. this will cause more fear and more bloodshed. He motions for Father Joseph McNelis to speak. The Father talks about the consequnces of fear, the things that appear in the dark in a place where fear is ever-present. and the nessesary evil of all of the folk here working in concert to stop any more visible violence. That there must be a united front before the yankee crime families arrive.

The head of the Black hand, Sam Carella, Speaks about a permanent truce with all parties. He agrees to blood oaths to cement his intentions. Bigelow demands the machine that the group has, but is refused at every word by our "heroes".

To see What has happened to Marcus, look at the Red Road Home page.