Witch Trials

When last we saw our heroes...

The Phillipi bell tower is tolling, and Deaver, Raveena, and Chase stand on a hill looking towards the town of McKennitt in a time much earlier than their own. A small cloud of dust at the base of the tower marks some sort of commotion. There is a moment's panic when the trio realizes that Nikki did not make the trip back with them. Out of the corner of her eye, Chase notices something looming in the woods - and starts to get very, very angry. After a caustic comment about NOT planning on spending her birthday this way, she goes stalking towards town as fast as her Nikes will take her. Deaver and Raveena quickly follow, getting grumpier and grumpier themselves.

* * *

The young woman Gabe has freed at the base of the tower while the fight between the vampires and the Knights is raging introduces herself as Virginia. Together they get several other witches out of the magick-supressing manacles. Gabe and Virginia swiftly head for McKennitt proper. Virginia questions Gabe about his past, and he tells her [totally unconvincingly] that he came to McKennitt to be a student. After studying Gabe with a little mojo, she agrees to take him to a safe location, although she looks a bit confused by what she's learned. She leads Gabe down several small alleys, leaving him completely disoriented. They eventually come to a back stoop, where Virginia give the "Super-Secret-Scooby-Knock" [thanks, Chuck], and the door is opened by a woman who looks relieved to see Virginia and VERY surprised to see Gabe. Virginia coaxes the woman to let him in, and they enter a room with a cot and a large fireplace. Virginia tells Gabe to rest - she will seek out Dorothea to tell her the situation. She warns Gabe not to leave this room as she quietly closes the door behind her.

* * *

Deaver, Raveena, and Chase finally get close to the college. As they travel further from the underbrush, their tempers gradually calm down [funny how that works, isn't it?]. As they approach the main building, they see the results of that cloud of dust and the tolling bell: the yard is littered with the bodies of dead knights, all wearing tabards emblazoned with a red cross. They were obviously done in by vampires. Deaver looks perplexed, and tells the others that the symbol is that of the Knights Templar ... but that their order was disbanded and hunted down in the late 1300s. The three take blankets from the gear of the dead Knights and use them as cloaks to try to blend in and be less "sore-thumby" [another Chuck-ism] [never mind the bare legs and sneakers poking out].

The trio explores the area, and Deaver discovers the freshly carved help stone. Raveena stops when she notices someone walking up behind them. A voice asks, "Surveying the action?" It's Bannon! Deaver answers in Greek, calling him by name, and they converse while Bannon examines his nails in increasing detail. Bannon tells them that at 7:00 am tomorrow something interesting will happen west of town, and at their questioning, he tells them that a man and a woman escaped imprisonment here and headed towards town. Bored with them, Bannon leaves, although not without eyeing Raveena as though contemplating a midday snack.

Taking Bannon's advice, our heroes aim for the town itself. [Incidentally, Deaver is inwardly tormented about his poor lost girlfriend as he maintains a stoic facade. He barely restrains himself from rending his clothes and beating his chest in anguish. Good boyfriend, Deaver.] There is no one around - the town is unnaturally quiet. As they walk down one of the main streets, they notice raised voices in a tavern. Closer inspection reveals that the people in tavern are discussing a group of kidnapped townspeople, and how they will be used to negotiate demands in the morning. Raveena hears some scuffling around the side of the building, like someone is trying (and failing) to stay quiet. It's an 8-year-old girl under the tavern window trying desperately to hear the conversation. Raveena asks her what she's doing in her best Gaelic accent [again, our adventurers are just sooooo inconspicuous].

After confirming Raveena's not from inside, the girl says they shouldn't talk right there, and pulls her away from the building. Eyeing Raveena's legs suspiciously, she decides Raveena much be French; so the girl introduces herself as Frances, and tells Raveena that her mother used to be DoH, but she fought with her best friend, Lucy, and has now splintered off from that organization. The people in the tavern are discussing a kidnapping that happened that morning.

Meanwhile, Chase agrees to try to listen some more at the tavern to find out more information before they take the girl home. She determines that the voices belong to members of the Daughters of Hecate, and they are tired of being trampled on. They intend to hold a hanging tomorrow of some of the Protestant townspeople as a sort of political protest. Chase returns to the group and spreads the news.

Frances leads the group back to her house (thoroughly disorienting them in the process). She admits that there is a special knock she's supposed to use, but she can't remember what it is. Deaver lifts her up to get her back inside the second-story window so she can open the door for them. Once inside, Frances hurries down the stairs ... only to find herself in the room with Gabe.

Frances scuttles towards the door (avoiding Gabe as much as possible) and opens it. Everyone says howdy to Gabe - happy reunion time. Virginia walks back into the room and freaks at the sight of three more uninvited visitors. Gabe quickly reassures her that they're his friends, and Chase tells her that they were told to find Dorothea. Virginia sends Frances up to her room and the "adults" sit down to chat. The three adventurers give Gabe the short version of their side of the story. Chase announces that they are from the future, and Gabe explains that he's researching a splinter group from the DoH. Virginia excuses herself to go and get a friend - Dorothea.

Time passes, and the gang hears a whispered argument outside as Virginia tells Dorothea she thinks the DoH has mucked with the minds of our heroes. Dorothea sends Virginia away, and then enters the room. The gang explains the situation (again), and introductions are made. Dorothea explains that the safe haven of McKennit is becoming more and more irate as the situation in Salem and all over the Massachusetts Bay Colony escalates. As a result, the DoH, including many witches who are refugees, is being led by Miss Lucy Barnaby and Miss Ann Boyd to seek vengeance. The witches have treated the Protestants as they have been treated, and seem to be planning to hang them in the morning. She asks the gangs' help in return for assisting them to return to The Future. Deaver, Raveena, and Chase still desperately need camouflage if they are going to do anything at all, so Dorothea goes to find clothing for the women; she seems somewhat relieved when they don't have a clue what to do with all the pieces. She is less certain that she can find something for Deaver, so Gabe volunteers to take care of him. What they did is their business, but Deaver returned looking like a picture of a cobbler in the local news.

While Deaver and Gabe do their thing, Dorothea tells the girls her concern about Gabe's wanton [that's right, I said 'wanton'] use of magick - it's a little like Russian Roulette. The girls try to pass the warning on to Gabe when he and Deaver return, but he can quit at any time...

A long [and we do mean LONG] planning session ensues, the result of which is that they can do nothing to help the prisoners until morning - the jail will be too heavily guarded by wielders of powerful mojo. As they continue to study their options, Gabe hears something outside. Most of the gang continues business as usual, but Raveena goes out to locate the disturbance. She finds someone lurking, and cheerfully goes along with the lurking woman [after miserably failing a will roll].

When Raveena doesn't return, the gang decides to go after her. As they walk through the streets searching for some sign of Raveena, they suddenly see three people standing at the end of an alley - Raveena, a woman who looks like Nikki, and a woman with long red hair. Manacles clamp Dorothea's hands as she grimly calls out "Lucy!" Another pair of manacles is moving rapidly toward Gabe, but Chase manages to intercede.

A big game of attempted Whack-a-Witch ensues, with Gabe and Raveena frequently deciding that things would be so much easier if they would just do what the women at the end of the alley want them to do. So Raveena doesn't Whack-a-Witch, and Gabe puts his manacles on like a good boy. Deaver runs towards the witches with every intention to give them a good smacking. Two ladies show up at the other side of the alley. Gabe assesses the situation and tells everyone to stop - this is a fight our heroes can't win. Lucy tells the group to come with her, and walks away. The Nikki look-alike looks at everyone and says Welcome to McKennit!" Everyone follows reluctantly. They end up spending the night in the prison, with Gabe and Dorothea still in manacles.

The next morning the witches take almost all of the prisoners from the jail to the gallows; six are lead to the nooses and prepped for the hanging, while the rest are herded at the base of a platform. Lucy and seven other witches watch from the platform - Anne, the Nikki-clone, is not among them. The entire town seems to have come out for the show, and that is where Anne is standing. While all the prisoners are watched, our heroes are especially guarded.

The stools are kicked out from under the six victims, and they begin to choke. At that moment, the Knights Templar burst on the scene on horseback and begin to cut the nooses loose. Lucy starts screaming, contorting with rage. She suddenly begins changing as her face and fingers elongate. Her white skin becomes scaly, and she begins to babble in a language no one can understand. The gang bursts into action: Raveena peels off her outer dress to access her tool belt, Gabe frees himself from the manacles with Deaver's help, and Chase begins moving prisoners out of the area once the commotion has distracted the guards. A few Daughters on the stage have started convulsing, and the others look horrified.

Gabe attempts to free Dorothea from her manacles as pandemonium reigns. The ground starts to shimmer in front of the gallows, and suddenly a gigantic red demon (complete with scales, long hair and a very bad temper) is standing in the midst of the chaos. [Uh-oh.]

The convulsing witches on the stage also begin to transform into demons. Dorothea quickly tells Gabe that there are times for magic, and this is one of them - they can bind the demon if someone can drive it to a clear spot on the fringes of the crowd. As Gabe runs to ask the Knights for assistance, Raveena quickly dispatches the completely transformed Lucy. She and Deaver start removing the now-transformed witches on the platform as well.

One knight agrees to help Gabe, and rides towards the towering demon. He is smashed by the red giant with hardly a glance. Gabe adds his magick to help Raveena and Deaver, while Chase hears a voice in her head telling her to help the witches on the edge of the fracas to form a sand circle.

Gabe tells Raveena to get the demon to the open area, and then runs on to the circle. She tries to get its full attention, but is generally unsuccessful. Deaver takes stock of the situation, and suddenly runs off in search of a bakery. When he returns, he carries a sack of flour. [Wait for it ...]

Deaver gets between the big demon and the circle, throws the flour bag at the demon's feet, and flings his lantern into the resulting cloud, causing a giant explosion. The Red Menace starts towards Deaver, who takes off as fast as he can run (faster, even) towards the circle. He runs through the circle luring the demon inside as Dorothea and Gabe close the circle. Every witch in the circle has black eyes, and Dorothea's are lit with red flames. Light shoots out from the circle through the crowd and the sound of women wailing is heard. Then absolute silence falls, and the demon is gone. Raveena kills another of the demon-lings with her axe, and easily polishes off the others.

One lone Knight is left standing, and he rides towards the group. The witches from the circle face the Knight in two lines, and Raveena gets behind him. Dorothea and the witches tell him to leave, but he wants to understand where "Zolor" has been sent. He soon sees the light (a lot of it is emanating from Dorothea's eyes). He quickly rides away from the carnage. The witches cast another spell to cause the corpses, the weapons, and the gallows, everything from the battle, to sink into the earth.

The next day the still-unnamed coven casts another spell to wipe the memory of that day completely from the townspeople's memory. Dorothea explains that the events will live on in the minds of the four time travelers, keeping it from being lost to history. She sends a note back with Gabe to give to CG.

And btw, Nikki sneezed. Oops. But she's there and healthy, if upset, when the crew gets back.