Video games lead to mass destruction

At the chantry, one of the door wardens tells Ambrose he has a visitor. It's a Japanese man, yet another person asking after the map. Ambrose tells him up-front he doesn't have it anymore; he gave it away. To whom? Uh...well...that was, I mean it was really confusing, and there were explosions and running and shooting and a lot of people...uhm... Yes, Ambrose is smooth as usual.

The man attempts to purchase the information of who Ambrose gave it to, making offers of increasingly unusual nature. Ambrose turns down money again: "The Technocracy keeps scrubbing my accounts." The man offers tomes containing every invention ever conceived of. Ambrose's reply: "I'm not really into copying other peoples' work."

His initial offers rejected, the man tries explaining (or possibly courteously threatening) that he represents 'powerful interests'--"By powerful you mean...mythic?" asks Ambrose. "Historic," the man corrects him after a moment's thought-- which oppose certain 'upstarts.' Ambrose takes that to mean this Mikaboshi guy, which the man verifies. This Mikaboshi used to be a human wizard, he remarks with contempt, then unveils his final offer. "Dr. Quintrell, how would you like to never have to worry about Paradox again?"

Ambrose recognizes that for what it is, and thinks it takes balls to make an offer like that standing in the doorway to a major chantry. But what he says is, "That sounds...shady," then when the guy displays his increasing frustration, suggests, "You could check your email." "My employer doesn't have email," the man grates out, beginning to get truly annoyed.

Asked again whom he gave the map to, Ambrose quite honestly tells the man that he gave it to a shapeshifter, which makes it terribly difficult to hand out any decent descriptions, as it wore several different faces in the short time he knew it. "A shapeshifter, interesting.," the Japanese man muses. "What did those faces look like?"

A horrible pause descends, during which Ambrose tries to find any plausible lie other than the one he just thought of. When the man's eyes narrow ominously, Ambrose blurts out, "...Asian people?"

"You're an idiot," the man tells him, then turns, seeming to feel he's gotten everything useful out of this conversation, and leaves.

While Ambrose has interesting conversations with ominous Asians, the video game junkies among the pack have discovered a hot new game that's due out soon, called "Wicked City." It's part of a lineup of new releases marketed through Tellus for the Shinjuku Corporation, which also include "Wolf Killer" and "Mage Hunter," a game in which you play a heroic Man in Black who hunts down alien 'magicians' that eat the brains of children. Those aliens, Aila notes, look kind of like Etherites.

The Virtual Adepts have heard about it, too, and are in a morbidly thrilled uproar. Ambrose's friend grabs him to show him the news. Ambrose can't get any more out of him about that email map (except that they loaded it up on the big screens at the Spy's Demise), but if Ambrose wants spoilers, the Adept suggests he check the messageboards. When he does just that, Ambrose finds all the code crackers saying the map's just a hoax...but he notices that they all say it in almost exactly the same words. Which is really odd, because you can't get two Virtual Adepts to point to the same horizon when you ask, "Where does the sun rise?"

Well, Ambrose knows how to play this game. He simply posts a message pointing out how they're all wording it the same way, which has the whole VA Tradition descending on the mystery within an hour. It takes a little while longer before one of them announces he's hacked it: there's Mind magic embedded in the code that takes control of the crackers when they access the code. "You just have to be elite enough to not be where you are," he announces smugly, going on to say (perhaps with more gravity, but knowing the Adepts, possibly not) that it's not just any Mind magic: you take a good look and it's an Akashic nephandus. Now that gets the Adepts' attention. Ambrose prints out a copy of the thread along with his own notations translating l33t-speak for the Akashics, and sends it over to the Brotherhood's representative.

Back at the caern, the Garou review their information on these new video games like they're sizing up the enemy--which they are. If the Shinjuku Corporation is with Pentex, then the Garou are against them. With prejudice. These Shinjuku people evidently know about the whole Technocracy and Sons of Ether mage-rigamarole. Following along her video game contacts, Aila gets a screen shot of "Mage Hunter's" final villain: it's Ambrose!

Right about the same time, the MiB calls Ambrose, sounding confused and annoyed (two things that are never healthy, coming from the Union). "What are you poking?! Find out and call back!" After a bit of thought, Ambrose does call back, to pass on the information about that haunted map and the Akashic barrabus. "Why, thank you, Dr. Quintrell. You've been very helpful," the MiB replies with gracious silkiness. Ambrose shrugs it off, reminding him that when it comes to Nephandi, everybody's on the same side. He deliberately does not mention that the entirety of the VA tradition has poked the thing, but he does suggest they might keep an eye on their more adventurous Void Engineers. "Oh, don't worry," the MiB reassures him. "We have that under control."

I'm sure you do.

Following their disparate leads, everybody ends up hitting Dreamvision at once. Faris tells them all to come over and he'll give a briefing.

His word is that Shinjuku is holding a preview party for their games in three nights in Los Angeles. They've been testing these games at a facility in a school on a Navajo reservation in Arizona (which gets Aila's and RF's hackles up, particularly). While someone is obviously out to get Ambrose specifically (Ambrose considers filing a lawsuit over the use of his identity, figuring that if they need a delay, it'd at least slow down the release), there's another game in the lineup that Faris thinks is Pentex's angle on all this. It's called "Spirit Quest. " You play a native American kid on a vision quest where you fight wolves who try to prevent you from reaching your spiritual inheritance in the mystical world. The Nockers have discovered that Pentex worked something into this game that feeds on the energy of Kinfolk who play the game in order to home in on real spirits.

They need to stop that demo party, or any other action they take will get caught up in media attention, but they need to sink that facility in Arizona even more. Most of the work's being done there, so if it goes down, production goes down completely. This means splitting up.

Sonya, Faris, Rey, Jared, and Ambrose head to LA while the rest--Jonas, Olesya, Mark, RF, and Aila--go undercover at the facility to find their targets and wreak havoc. Rey cracks that he's "no good at blending in," which to Rey's disappointment, Faris just vaguely nods to. When Ambrose warns them that the Technocracy is already poking their noses in, Faris looks sly. "Go ahead and send them all the information on Pentex that we've given you." (This gets a very gratified response from Ambrose's attendant MiB, to the effect of, "I knew we were right about you!" which Ambrose stoically ignores.)

"You do realize that was a chameleon joke," Rey says to Faris on the way out. "Because you didn't seem to get it..."

The demo party is like a Who's Who lineup of supernatural slimeballs. They spot the leading lights of Tellus and the Shinjuku Corporation; along with luminaries such as Kiro Yamizaki, Tellus's new CEO, oddly clean record, and avid martial arts hobbyistt; and Enzo Giovanni, who Sonya knows as not only an overflowing business-world scuzzbucket, but an ancient and obscenely powerful 'methuselah' vampire who sits on the Pentex Board of Directors. Aila notices that he's surrounded by an entourage of unsavory ghost types. There are something like six other Leeches in attendance, mostly the beautiful kind.

On the res, the new arrivals are given a tour. RF, playing doctor, gets shown around the hospital while Jonas and Aila yet again play student. Mark, with his generically ethnic looks, fills in as their uncle and legal guardian. One of the first things they're given is passes to the game testing facility. Apparently these are handed out as free 'perks' to all the kids. On RF's part, he hears from some concerned nurses that the kids who play a lot of those video games have been complaining of an unusual number of migraines.

A few of the doctors wear interesting badges that mark them as working for Project Odyssey, which a bit of digging turns up as Pentex's psychic research team. The head of Project Odyssey, Kiro Yamizaki, was recently appointed as Tellus' CEO.

At the party, recognizes Yamizaki as an Akashic Nephandus, and Yamizaki pretty clearly recognizes Ambrose right back. Ambrose also spots one of the vampires trying to hit on a well-built brick shithouse of a man, who glances at Ambrose and lets him see the lasers hidden in its eyes. A HITMark. In fact...there are a lot of really big Aryan ubermensch types wandering around in here, and after a waitress clues him in with similar discretion, he realizes Iteration X is here in force. This, ladies and gents, is a full-blown Technocratic purge. He warns the rest of the group.

People schmooze. Some of the group notice that the vampires are being served by a specific waitress, who's handing out hoodooed glasses that disguise their true contents. One guess what's in there instead of wine. Sonya is introduced to the head of the Egyptian office: one Tahab Al'Ara. They've heard that name before, actually, when they were in Egypt. This thing is a Bane Mummy. However, it's not staying long, heading for a meeting in New York.

The speaker steps up to the platform to open the presentation. He talks about a simultaneous worldwide release (figures Tellus would be the only one to figure out that's a good idea), and also unveils the new full-immersion controller system Tellus has been working on. The new interface allows for true virtual immersion into the game, he gloats, so it will feel more real than ever before.

Ambrose, keeping an eye on the Technocratic presence, notices that it's still growing. More of the wait staff have that subtle IX look about them, and six more Conan-types have joined the ranks of the hulking. When Sonya spots a couple of remarkably ugly, hirsute security who're actually BSDs in Glabro, she tips off one of the wait staff and starts plotting exit strategies.

Ambrose spots some disguised waiters who are not cyborgs. Rey feels uneasy around them, like he's being affected by Echoes. One has slipped into the vampire-server's position, and right about then, the vampires start smoking. Not like 'light up a cigarette' smoking, but more like 'on fire from the inside.' "Oh dear," says the waitress, "Someone seems to have replaced your blood with communion wine." Then the paladin guy ignites his flaming sword, holding it up to the sprinklers, which turn out to have been filled with holy water.

All hell immediately breaks loose. Their carefully laid plans blown, the HITMarks deploy. Ambrose alerts the Technocracy when he sees Enzo Giovanni slipping out the back way. Jared intercepts him with his dusk blade, then gets two spectres sicced on him for his troubles. One of the Inquisitors swings by to impale one with a blessed sword. Rey grabs the prototype interface and hides behind the bar with it, from which vantage he takes out one of the Black Spiral Dancers.

The HITMarks form ranks and open up fire, blazing everything in sight with chain guns. The picture windows behind them frame the helicopters as they rise up to surround the building. Another Inquisitor stakes Enzo from behind while Faris mugs him.

Realizing they're missing a bad guy, Ambrose looks around for Yamizaki--who's right behind him! Ambrose swings the Bigfoot-hunting gun over his shoulder to shoot the man...

...and a plasma explosion erupts from it in a concussive wave of screaming, tortured reality that doesn't harm living matter but shreds everything else. The Nephandus is hurled back by the sheer force of the detonation. The glass from the glorious skyline-framing windows explodes outwards in a sparkling, razor-tipped mist as half the room is thrown out through them. The blast rips into the HITMarks, who go flying, sets the vampires on fire, disrupts cyborgs, and sends the helicopters careening like pinballs. Several of them are brought down under the cascade of debris, HITMarks, and shivering reality-fabric.

"Everyone to the bathroom!" Faris shouts over the cacophany. He teleports them out to the street, where mayhem reigns supreme. Shards of plate glass and helicopter shrapnel litter the pavement and continue to rain down. The Inquisition are clearing the hell out, with expressions that communicate they did not sign on for this. A vibration tears through the ground and everyone looks upward as the top floor of the building shudders and collapses.

"Dr. Quintrell, you never cease to amaze me!" Rey crows. "I shot the Nephandus in the face with it," Ambrose replies vaguely, stunned. As if mention of him conjures him, the Nephandus in question climbs out of a pile of ruined helicopter, pulling out a skid which had impaled him through his chest. Then the sound of engines that don't belong in this reality pierce the night, and Ambrose looks up to see an Iteration X ARC plane coming in.

"Get the hell out!" he yells to the others, who pile into Rey's car and book it.

The MiB calls. "What did you do?! I have a reality fissure three fourths of a mile wile and the energy ripple is still going out over the Pacific! You had better hope it dissipates before it hits Japan!" Horrified, Ambrose stammers out an apology and swears he's disposing of that gun in the most careful manner possible as soon as he gets the chance.

The MiB isn't appeased. "This is going on your permanent record!"

"You have fun filling that out!" Ambrose snipes, feeling rather aggrieved himself.

Back at the reservation, Aila and Jonas get their new textbooks, which are completely whacked. They get to read about what vicious killers wolves are, and their history books glorify the achievements of Pentex in the name of Western civilization. Smelling a rat, they do a quick investigation and learn that Pentex has a new subsidiary: Research Write Corp., an educational press. Oh joy, as if the textbook publishing industry weren't screwed up enough as it is. When they get home, they find Mark staring dubiously into a few bags of groceries that he says were delivered gratis. They smell equally evil, and yep, it's all Pentex-produced junk. This whole place is Wyrm-riddled!

RF discovers that the head doctor is similarly Wyrmy. He's been administering vaccines to the children that're intended to increase their psychic ability.

Rey drives south toward Arizona, where they'll join up with the others. As they approach the reservation, Rey notices that the Dreaming has gone warped and twisted here. It's thin in spots, and there are a lot of clown monsters. In a faerie car, following the silver trod, the trip doesn't take as long as it normally would. "What happened?" Jonas asks when they arrive, dust-covered and still reeling on adrenaline.

"You wouldn't believe us if we told you," Sonya answers him wearily, earning an incredulous look.

"Dr. Quintrell is a genius!" Rey exults. Ambrose disagrees. "That was reckless, even for me."

They head into the house to regain their composure and plan how to handle the mess on the reservation, but pause when an odd feeling washes over them. Something...disturbing is approaching. Something with...calliope music. Rey opens the window to look out, and gets a flyer in the face. Anastagio's Olde Time Lunar Carnival and Midnight Circus! Here on special request to play at the reservation for a full five nights.