T. Tembarom

My first published Librivox project.  My chapter is 35.

LibriVox: T. Tembarom Frances Hodgson Burnett (1849 - 1924) The story of a Boy living in New York as a street waif, who sells newspapers eventually finds himself to be the heir of an ancient manor. The kids at school never understood what the "T" was for in his name, and he didn't tell them. Does that have something to do in the story? And what about this ancient manor?

Haunting The Chapel

 (Game date: 05/07/2021)

Everyone needed to prepare, and we had only a few hours.  Some of us had specific missions.

Aru needed a new BANlink, because of me tearing the wireless out of his rig.  Katrya was off to score some high-power explosives (the "good stuff").  Vamir intended to brew a scent to mimic the incense used inside the vamp church.  I sent my anthro out to buy a handful of flying drones capable of delivering a payload, while I scooted over to the Learning Center to research vampire lore.  That left only one other errand - picking up the remaining two Silver Bullets.  I don't know who ended up doing that, but it got done, and Master Nepeta didn't give anyone trouble over it.

Most of what I found was exactly the kind of thing that you see in the holovids: Vamps shy away from an aggressively-presented holy symbol, they're allergic to garlic (whatever that is), they are burned by holy water and sunlight (as if you could find sunlight), and they can be killed by a stake through the heart (as can most things).  They're stronger, they're faster, they can summon animals, they can turn into animals, they can turn into mist, they can't be seen in mirrors (or cameras, which can verify).  One source even said that they sparkle.

One bit of information had been removed from the database, but as my father so recently pointed out, nothing is ever really gone from the Matrix.  It was a ritual to create a vampire, without a master vampire at hand.  This seemed like something both interesting, and highly dangerous.  I stored it to a datastick, then performed a bit-wise over-write.  Maybe I can't do anything about the file existing in someone else's private collection, but at least no one else can get hold of it the same way I just did.

In The Chapel In The Moonlight

(Game date: 4/29/2021)

 The more I thought about it, the more it bothered me.

The leader of the Masques was just too paranoid.  Too cautious.  He layered himself in security, with only hardwired access to the Matrix.  He sent out a drone pilot who called him to describe what was going on, and relay his voice second-hand, rather than directly handle things himself.  

So why would he appear, in person, to preach a mediocre sermon to his cult following?  Just to satisfy some inner demagogue?  I don't think so.

That suspicion, coupled with the fact that the entire room was chock-full of holograms, prompted me to suggest a second, live in-person, recon mission.

Electric Chapel

(Game date: 4/22/2021)

 It wasn't a residence.

Oh, it was in a residential neighborhood, all right.  But the geolocation that I traced the call back to led me to a fragging church.  A spired, stained-glass, holy-rolling church.

It was surreal.  People in their bougie homes, without a care in the world, completely unaware that this clean, upright house of worship in their midst was a sanctuary for the worst kind of scum.  

Vamir put his invisibility spell on the spy-eye, and we set up a stake-out.  As soon as the doors opened, which happened at the pre-programmed crack of dawn, I zipped it inside.  

The interior presented every bit the cathedral as the exterior.  High, ribbed vaults overhead led up to pointed arches in the ceiling. Holographic lights projected images onto walls and even into open air behind the altar. Other, closed, doorways hinted at different areas of the building.  A man stood at the altar, behind and above which holographic motif depicted a skull-like design, very similar to that worn over the faces of some of the "congregation."

May Baskets

 NPR called May baskets a "forgotten tradition."  No one at NPR ever met Robin.

In the very simplest of terms, a May basket is a basket of "goodies."  Think, Little Red Riding Hood's basket.  You fill a few of these up, and hang them on your neighbors' doors early in the morning of May 1st.  If you had a secret crush, this was a perfect time to be daring and take a chance on getting caught leaving a present.

This used to be done all over the country.  Not so much anymore.  But Robin, with generosity oozing out of her pores, loved any opportunity to give gifts.  And she loved the impish spirit of doing it anonymously.  She'd spend all of April gathering up inexpensive goodies and filling the May Day baskets, often to overflowing.  The night before, or early that morning, she'd send me and the kids out to drop them off all over whatever neighborhood we happened to be living in.

I always regarded this with patient tolerance.  Okay, sometimes I wasn't so patient, especially on days when work took up more than its share of my time.  Now, I look upon every one of her traditions with a fondness that crosses over into desperate longing.  Because now, I think I understand.

It was always enough for me to love her, and to love the kids.  But she had so much more love in her heart than that.  She had to send little gifts into the world, at least once in a while.  

They say that grief is just love with nowhere to go.  There are 24 houses in my neighborhood.  That's a few places, anyway.

Happy May Day.

We Don't Have Time For A Gang War

 (Game Date: 4/15/2021)

(Or, This Was Supposed To Be A Side Quest)

There we stood, betwixt the carnage of our skirmish with the Masques and the rubble of their demolished drug factory.  My ears were still ringing from the explosion (Katrya's suppliers have top-shelf military supplies) when the foxkin began herding everyone into various vehicles.   Mostly she sorted them by age and state of injury; those she deemed more at-risk were directed into the "junk" van, while the rest she wanted in Frank.  The new mission, as she saw it and I could not dispute, was to clear out Varfana's shop.  

I waved them ahead, because I wanted to stay behind long enough to harvest a BANlink from one of the fallen gangers.  Gordianus also stayed, because she wanted to try to gather intel from the neighborhood (she actually did overhear a number of conversations, which may prove useful later).  I wished her luck, but also bade her be careful.  Then I took my stolen tek and mounted the Owlet.

I was headed for the mech shop; Frank for the weapon shop to help clear it out.  During the flight, Lohrig got a text which read, "You messed up," and then Varfana's shop exploded.  No one was hurt, thankfully, and most of the important equipment was cleared out, but damn.  We can be grateful for Katrya's quick thinking.

Another message followed quickly:  "Your next delivery is you. One hour. Mess this one up and we order take-out instead."  

Memo to All - Post Battle Notes

 (game dates: 4/1/2021 and 4/8/2021)

I want everyone to know that I take full responsibility for how this mission turned out.

I did not state up-front that it would probably be best to avoid starting a gang war with the Masques.  When Katrya initially mentioned "punching people," I thought that the violence would be confined to intimidation -- to scare them into leaving Varfana's shop and her employees alone.  I failed to take into account just how protective Varfana is of her employees and their families.  This is perfectly understandable, and I should have predicted her reaction.  I will make mission goals more clear in the future.

I failed to make it clear that I was testing the Silver Bullet tag for the first time, and wanted to learn how it would affect a living being, how long it would take to incapacitate him, and whether the safety release would work.  I didn't state that this was to be part of the intimidation process, and that I wanted that particular Masque left alone for the entire experiment to run its course.  Again, it's perfectly natural to want to eliminate all enemies, even if they appear incapacitated.  When I have special instructions, I should make them known to everyone.  

(On this note, you will all be pleased to know that we did gather sufficient data from this experience to move forward with using the tag against the SunChildren, and perhaps other powerful enemies.  I think we should have one along when we attend the fashion gala, just in case things go very badly.)

It was my overconfidence that led to the ambush.  Had I done due diligence, and cased the meeting place thoroughly beforehand, then we would have known that the nearby building was a production facility for Burnout, and a lair for the Masque gang.  Because I made assumptions, we were suddenly faced with far more enemies than originally anticipated.  

While Katrya was able to detonate an explosive within the building, the watcher within still managed to get a call out for reinforcements.  We must now assume that the Masques will retaliate, which is why Varfana and her staff have been forced underground for the time being.

I'm working to locate their leader and home base.  When this is done, we will go in with a real plan.

Some notes:

• We should have gotten Lohrig out of the battle much sooner.
• I've geared my crawler as a medicbot when we are in combat.  If you are hurt, call for Maggy immediately.
• For anyone I've ever given a weapon:  This was not meant as a criticism of your existing weapon skills.  If you have a primary weapon that you are skilled with, by all means, use it. 
• For anyone I've ever given instructions:  If they are not clear, then ask
• Don't let me become lax like this again.  If any plan seems full of holes, it probably is.  On my best days, I am not infallible.  Critique my plans.

There are much worse battles ahead of us, and I want everyone to survive them.  Let's do better.

..::Kai::..