The World of Darkness- Session Three

Scarpering from the scene of the crime, the three unlikely heroes make their way back to various places. Eventually the rendevous at Parasol, and discuss what they know. A strange drug is in production that makes people go insane and wild, and then quickly die of a heart attack. The most recent test subjects were people abducted from an insane asylum. A report comes on, which talks about the events of the warehouse, and mentions that there were people trapped in the building, who were swiftly rescued by the police. Cursing at the lack of insight from the cops, Fisher calls his contact, who tells him that the people bribed their way out of the situation. Clearly the Met is corrupt from top to bottom. He mentions that the escapees from the asylum were probably abducted with the help of an insider. Clearly this bore investigating.

Organising a tour of Bedlem Asylum is easy, they simply show up at the gates and request one, which starts about half an hour later. It is initially led by Dr. Crick, a rather high-strung woman who wastes no time in starting arguments with our heroes about how much more seriously they should take mental illness, and asking them not to pry into questions of security. Eventually she gets annoyed, yells that she has work to do, and leaves them in the care of the much kindlier Dr. Johns, who takes them to the third floor. While in the course of the tour, he is clearly shifty at some of the questions they are asking about security, repeatedly asking them not to pry into things that weren't their business.

Eventually, he leads them into an empty ward, and then immediately turns, locking the door behind him with them still in the room. Calling back over his shoulder, he points out that he told them not to pry. The door across from them starts to be pummeled from the other side, and there are yells and calls from the other side. Thrace tries to unlock the door, eventually unpicking it, but not before the other door bursts open, disgorging several rage-infected inmates into the room. Fisher engages in a little fisticuffs with one of them, but neither are able to do much to the other. Thrace calls for them to leave, backing out into the corridor. Burns climbs onto one of the bed, while one of the inmates claws at his legs. Stunningly acrobatically, he leaps over him, kicks off his back and lands running for the corridor. Meanwhile, Fisher backs away and makes for the corridor as well. The inmates chase them in, but the first three to do so is met by a flurry of pepper spray from Thrace. They fall to the ground, apparently trying to shred their own faces to stop the pain. The next one suffers chemical burns when Burns empties a CO2 fire extinguisher at him. Finally, Fisher manages to jam the door closed and they make a run for it, carrying one of the flailing people with them.

Having to stop to unlock another door, they are soon accosted by an orderly, who they cajole into helping to carry the body. He helps them down a fire escape and to their car, before they throw him out of the car and speed off. In the rear view mirror, he can be seen taking a note of something. They speed to Parasol, stopping only to change the plates. The body is taken to one of the more clandestine labs for dissection, and an autopsy report is hastily put together, which doesn't say much that they didn't already know.

However, they have a lead, and the techie is put to work finding everything he can about Dr. William Johns. In the meantime, a safe-house is organised, as the heroes are now wanted for abducting an inmate of a local asylum. Some of them go for changes of appearance, while Burns is confident that an extravagent false moustache will throw off the persuit.

That night, they stake out the house of Dr. Johns, whose address had been uncovered by the techie. He is still clearly awake, and can be seen moving around upstairs. They stealthily move in, and start looting the downstairs. A comedy of errors ensues, however, when one of them knocks a lamp over and another trips over a wire. Clamour can be heard from upstairs, and seconds later a very dirty, clearly homeless man charges through a door at them and begins to run down the stairs towards them. Thrace fires three bullets at him, but in the dark they go wide, and only one clips the guy's arm. He falls down the stairs, clattering to the ground, where Burns throws a sheet over him, innefectually. Fisher kicks for the head but misses, and Thrace cooly shoots him again, missing completely and hitting the floor. The guy rips the sheet apart and leaps up, as Thrace finally plugs him through the head, killing him instantly.

Upstairs, it becomes clear that the doctor has escaped through the window, and Thrace runs after him while the other two loot the house for research notes and chemicals. The guy is caught, but as he is cuffed a dart hits him and he falls unconcious. There are no signs of where it comes from. He is dragged back into the kitchen, and a private medical team summoned. Before they can arrive, he wakes back up and starts going wild, showing all the same symptoms as the previous rage-infected. The medical team arrive and, knowing that he has valuable information about what is going on, do their best to stabilise him.

TO BE CONTINUED.