To start things off, Akina throws the magic ring that she has not been able to get rid of into a hole to see what happens. It doesn't come back. Yay? Also Molly gets a new rookie named Peter to follow her around. The poor NPC kid is not in the know.
Next the group decides to meet together at The Underground. There, the helpful bag lady Gretchen, whose voice sound a lot like Howard's mother from Big Bang Theory, informs them that they can take an underground train to Crafter's shop. This should give them the insight they need to decide if the want to help the Triad or not.
Crafter is busy working on weaponizing spells that normal people can use for 'The Lady'. At first the group thinks this lady is Chin Xi, leader of the Triads. When Crafter describes 'The Lady' as a soul devouring monster, other theories form as to her identity. Perhaps she is the mysterious lawyer Vivian Damé, or perhaps she is the police chief Rebecca Black.
Crafter's brother Jerry, a savant, arrives with things he has found scavenging. He knew Jenny Denny, the murder victim from Episode 1. He also let's slip that his brother, Crafter, made the ring that was supposed to protect Jenny. As it turns out, Jenny's soul was in the ring and trying to communicate with the party. Yes, this is the same ring that was thrown into a hole and didn't come back. Oops.
Fortunately, Jerry had found the ring. The group uses it to communicate with Jenny's soul in mirror reflections. She clues the party in on a few things. Before she died, she stalked people (including the party) with magic connections and gave reports to her boss, Vivian, on them. She also left her grandfather before he went senile, and she admitted to dabbling in some dark arts to try and protect herself. Now she just wants her body back. She had no clue it had been cremated.
The party gets Crafter to make a fake ring, since a couple of supernatural baddies have been trying to get it. Then Molly and Jacob go to visit Arthur Denny while the other 4 go to plant the fake ring at George Telkai's house.
Cyphus uses a veil and swaps the fake ring for a magic coin in his trophy room. The visible people have to deal with George, who tries to threaten them at first. A bad soul gaze with Chong, whom he had been ignoring until then, lets the party walk with the deep criminal shaken. He is so distraught at the massive social loss that has no witty reply while the party walks out cool and confident. He sends a demon to give Steven a blank piece of paper but otherwise it is the picture of the heroes walking away while the enemy explodes in the background (only in this case, it was a Social explosion).
At the Denny mansion, Jacob disguises himself as a security guard of the neighborhood to escort officer Molly to the mansion. There, thanks to some investigation and bumbling rookie falling down the stairs, they find a sleeping pet drake, an unresponsive Arthur, as house where Jenny's presence has been erased, and a secret wizard's lab in the basement. Jacob is able to soul gaze Arthur and sees that he is being poisoned by one of his failed love potion recipes. The culprit? Police chief Black. Molly finds a live journal, a book that write its self based on Arthur's thoughts.
Chief Black shows up suddenly to give Arthur his
'coffee' so the duo have to vamoose. They meet the others and swap stories. That's when white court vampire and Neutral Grounds arbiter Sven phones in about a YouTube video of Steven and others at George's house, only the blank paper looks like a blood contract where they swear to serve George. Oops.
The party goes to Sven's Blue Jazz club to clear things up. As it turns out, Sven also arranged for a lot of other people to be there including: both sides of the Chinatown conflict, Vivian Damé, the Summer Lady and her local sidhe, a ghoul, Jacob's evil father Isaac (and wearing a new grey cloak), and the Red Court Infected leader. Sven says he wants peace, but he acts like he is trying obviously to start a war, which results in a ceasefire and more shadow games. That could not have been his plan all along.
Jacob announces he is on his own side and walks out. Molly follows because she doesn't really care about the supernatural drama. Cyphus stands with the summer court. Steven stands with Amellia, the red infected leader. Akina and Chong take to the open bar (which is what got someone killed in episode 1). Rebecca Black shows up, cuz the 2 in the parking lot called her so they could hide Arthur and the drake at Akina's book shop (surprise!). She announces that certain criminals will be brought to justice once they leave the neutral grounds and storms off.
Once things die down, Chin Xi makes deals with Steven and Cyphus. She wants to get a magic sword or 5 coins bad so she can get to the fey line spring in the Peach Blossom valley. The others don't trust the Triad leader, especially since she is so quick to turn on her other allies to recruit the party. When they exit the club, the parking lot shows signs of a major fight (and the smell of deaths), but they missed the action. The group rejoins and throw around a few theories about what to do next and who to trust.
(PC Characters: Akina the Packless Werewolf, Jacob the Hobo Wizard, Steven the Soulless Semi-animate Man, Chong the Mystic Martial Artist, Molly the Detective in the Know, Cyphus the Summer Changleling)
