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.

Because I wanted to stay inside after the sermon, we elected to go in with layers of invisibility.  Protected by both magic and tek, the largest portion of the group filtered inside when doors opened for the next "service."  Only a small handful stayed outside, a bit of insurance in case we needed rescue.  I brought in my anthrodrone, but left my others on patrol.

One difference was immediately obvious from my drone surveillance: three people, not part of the congregation, acting more as guards.  Two were positioned at the main doors, and one a little further off, watching people enter.  None of these had been present the last time.  As soon as the main doors were closed, the two at that station dispersed to watch the crowd, while the third stationed himself at the little door just off the nave.  

I focused on those three faces and asked Parker if they matched any known persons.

And Parker couldn't see them.  None of my tek could see them.  I verified with everyone inside; all reported the same results.  Those individuals did not appear on cameras.  

Then they started sniffing the air...and moving, circling, like predators trying to catch a scent.  

Our scent, my brain kept telling me, and I believed it.  

"Live crew," I whispered into the comm, "don't let those people get close to you. Vamir, we may need to be invisible to ... smell."

Vamir asked us to gather close, so that it would be easier to catch us in the same magical effect.  I had to set up a quiet proximity alert for everyone's BANlink, and there ensued an odd little dance of avoidance, but we managed it.  He cloaked our scent, but couldn't quite make it self-sustaining - he had to concentrate to keep it going.  I was pretty sure we wouldn't like what happened if it were dropped.

With no scent to follow, the three gave up and returned to general guarding, while we watched them.

Today's sermon was generally more of the same, although five people stepped up to "deepen their embrace with the fold," whatever that means.  From an observer's veiwpoint, it meant that they entered that small room with one of the three tek-invisible people, and come out a few minutes later looking shaken and a bit pale.  

I didn't see that, as I was keeping my eyes on the sermonizer.  Vamir and Katrya reported it, with Katrya adding that the escorts were preternaturally immobile when not actively moving -- they didn't fidget, shift their weight, nor even seem to breathe, for that matter.  Additionally, they hardly seemed to have their own scent - but when they exited that tiny room, they wore the odor of the other occupant like butter on a bib at the Crystal Palace on antkeg night. 

"Zeke," she said, "If I were still a kit, still a mewling trainee.. I think I may have just run out that door. Possibly leaking.  But as we know such bedtime stories of the Dark are 'only' stories, then I do not have to worry of frightening everyone when I tell you:  I would volunteer to throw a match if the three at the door are actually alive."

I really didn't want to think about the implications of that statement, because if I did, I just might start running for the door myself.  "That will prove complicated when it comes time to kill them, no?"

She barked a short laugh.  "We will simply use more explosives."

"So what are we dealing with here?" Vamir asked.

"I think they are called 'vampires,'" the foxkin replied.  Somewhat pensively, if I am not mistaken.

When the last of the volunteer food left the building, the three went about the business of locking up...and yes, the "priest" flickered out with the rest of the holograms.  We stayed behind.  I made a note of which door they vanished behind, and set about the task of gaining access to the projector.

It was protected by a fairly solid casing but Katrya popped it off handily with one of those metal claws she wears.  I got into the system easily enough.  The only problem was, it was a closed system.  I could do anything I wanted with the holographics, and I could feed anything I wanted back through the audio monitor, but I couldn't gain access to anything else through it.  Still, not having a clear plan yet, I expressed some regret that I never developed that remote router idea that I'd dreamed up a while back, because you never can tell what will be useful.  Aru immediately offered his BANlink for parts, and within moments I had wireless remote control of the pulpit.  I did not know how or even if we would ever use it.

That left the lair itself (because honestly, what else could be behind that door?).  I quickly consulted with the group.  We did not have near enough explosives on hand to level the building, and no one felt comfortable doing anything less.  So we agreed to gather supplies and meet back here.

That left the task of exiting a locked room.  These "vampires" seemed to favor extreme old-school tek.  The door was locked, but with a physical tumbler lock.  It was alarmed, but with contact plates.  Within minutes, we were off into the lowered light levels of curfew.

..::Kai::..