Abarim, Shedite of Theft: Escaped with the Scale of Baal.
Dmitri, Mercurian of Creation in Service to Wind: PC.
Ethan, Seraph of Trade: Seneschal of Jack's House.
Gerar, Malakite of the Sword: PC.
Jamin, Seraph of the Wind: Newly Redeemed Balseraph of Death.
Jeremiah, Balseraph of Theft: Killed by a plate.
Leshem, Seraph of Stone: Seneschal of Overlook Castle.
Lyta Aram, Soldier of Trade: the PCs' assignment.
Maven, Seneschal of Theft: the other Seneschal of Overlook Castle.
Pimpernel, Malakite of Trade: Defender of Jack's House.
Triam, Malakite of Trade: Defender of Jack's House.
Tryphosa, Cherub of the Sword: Seneschal of Adelaide.
Ummah, demon of the War: someone collecting Scales.
Unnamed Others.
?, Djinn of Theft: Sneaky bastard.
Dmitri: a dashing, stylish Mercurian with Eli's Malakite Attunement and an invulnerable umbrella.
Gerar: a fairly straightforward Malakite sworn to give challenge before making an attack and never to lie for his own sake only.
Jamie: the goofy sidekick, a rollerblading Seraph whose preferred weapon is the quarterstaff. It's a good thing he Redeemed, because he would never have made it in Hell.
The PCs take Lyta Aram to Jack's House. Ethan graciously offers to loan the PCs a suite on the second floor of his building -- still within the protective "aura" of the Tether restaurant on the first floor -- and to provide such security measures as they desire, because Lyta's security is their responsibility. The PCs meet Pimpernel, a fresh young greedy capitalist morally-relativistic Malakite of Trade, who shows them various suites; they settle on the Emperor suite, and obtain (via Ethan Howe) bars for the windows and a strongbox for the Scale. They take it upon themselves to secure material comforts for Lyta (CD player, etc.) and research materials such as a blackboard, the last piece of a broken VCR, a 1988 calendar, and a hand of glory. Dmitri goes off to find these things, while Gerar speaks to Ethan about his dissonance problem. Jamie watches over Lyta as she makes herself at home in the suite. (Other suites on this floor that were available include the Munificent Suite, the Stygia Suite, and the Emerald Suite.)
Ethan accepts Gerar's part-time service, and gives him security duties in the Jack's House restaurant. He discusses things with Pimpernel and Triam, and they agree that a 12/6/6 split of the hours in the day is fair. (After all, they have life to enjoy and demons to hunt.) Gerar takes the 8am-8pm shift, to "stop trouble" and to inform Ethan if a particularly detestable businessman happens to come in. He resonates every fifteen minutes for the next few days, except when resonance-deaf.
Dmitri goes out to find ritual and real investigation materials for Lyta, and does so. The only difficult items were the hand of glory and the 1988 calendar; eventually, he gave up on the hand. A used bookstore produced a calendar with 1998 scratched off and 1988 written on it instead; fortunately, he was able to find a more useful "you're 10 years old now" 1998 + 1988 year-at-a-glance birthday calendar at a Hallmark, and a new tacky tie. He also buys lots and lots and lots of CDs from Tower Records, but none of that Satanic stuff, from a clerk named Oscar.
Gerar spots a truly despicable greedy, manipulative, and selfish bastard of a businessman sitting down with another important person to talk over lunch. He finds Triam, who is chatting with a waitress, and asks him what to do -- since obviously this person must die, but obviously he can't be killed here. Triam sends Gerar outside, and promises that he will get the businessman to leave. Gerar goes outside and hears shouting from inside, followed by a shriek, and then the businessman stalks out with a burned arm. (It's the Burning Touch Malakite Discord! Guess this must be a diabolical.) Gerar accosts the businessman and pulls him into an alley to kill him. When Gerar delivers formal challenge, the businessman backpedals and blocks his sword with a garbage can, spewing garbage all over; then he dives into a dumpster and slams the lid. Essence is spent to no purpose. Gerar opens the dumpster with one hand and sticks his sword in with the other; the businessman manages to shove his lid-holding hand out of the way while dodging the sword, bringing the lid slamming down onto Gerar's sword wrist. The businessman then yanks the sword out of Gerar's hand, but doesn't manage to get it all the way inside. Gerar, irritated, opens the lid as the businessman spends Essence again -- and gets a Divine Intervention while trying to assume celestial form and flee. The businessman is trapped, momentarily paralyzed, between the two forms, and Gerar slits his throat, soul-killing the vile creature.
The next day, a woman comes in bearing a message from "Myron Igneus" for Lyta Aram. She says that Lyta will want to hear this message. Pimpernel and Gerar fail to resonate on her, so Gerar takes the message up, and Lyta confirms that she will need to take it. She reluctantly explains that Myron is an angel of Laurence's and an old teacher -- which does not explain her reluctance -- and Jamie fails to hear any kind of truth. The PCs lock up the Scale and move Lyta into the Munificent Suite, setting up two desks. The woman is brought up, and Dmitri attempts to resonate on her, failing with a CD of 6. The woman explains that she needs privacy; after searching her and removing a blade (which Jamie makes a Perception check on and determines to be an artifact) the PCs allow the woman and Lyta to enter a private room and talk. Dmitri, after a little bit, assumes his "ghost form" and eddies under the door, hearing Lyta giving the PCs' Choirs and Services and warning the woman to be careful. Then their conversation ends, and they head for the door, and Dmitri billows out and resumes his normal form. The woman then leaves. Gerar decides to escort her, and she decides to have lunch before leaving. Gerar resumes guard.
Dmitri interrogates Lyta as to why she warned the woman to be careful. Lyta refuses to answer, or explain why she can't answer, but Jamie has his resonance on. He swears and says, "Get to the box fast," and explains as they burst out of the room that the woman was a Djinn of Theft. Can you say Enthrallment? Two men -- who were listening in via a wire that Gerar didn't find -- are entering the locked Emperor Suite, without any trouble at all. Dmitri barrels after them, as does Jamie, and Dmitri snatches up his umbrella.
Jeremiah and Abarim, for such are these men, make it into the room with the strongbox. Jeremiah touches the strongbox, bolted to the table, and it vanishes in a surge of Essence. Dmitri is pretty sure, given the strongbox's weight, that this is not Swipe. Dmitri charges Jeremiah, and Abarim moves to intercept. Dmitri doesn't care yet who he attacks, so he spears Abarim head-on with the umbrella. Since Abarim is a Shedite, the Symphony jangles and Dmitri gets dissonant. Abarim is too hurt to be smug, although (thanks to the woman's wire) he did do this on purpose. Jamie squeezes into the room and is directed to deal with Abarim -- Jeremiah rolls out of the room. Dmitri leaps and twists to come down umbrella-first on Jeremiah's back; the blow lands, although Jeremiah's momentum keeps Dmitri from pinning him to the ground. A moment later, before the umbrella is yanked out, it is Swiped. Jeremiah scatters a handful of hockey-puck-like things onto the far edge of the room as Dmitri lunges on top of him again; they tussle on the floor for a minute. Then Jeremiah gets out of the way and the black things explode. The far end of the room more or less dissolves, leaving a hole down into the restaurant and much falling masonry. Gerar turns to look at this, and the woman sneaks up and stabs him with her artifact knife. He turns and challenges her. Jeremiah does a leaping kick, intending to bounce off of Dmitri and into the hole; Dmitri dodges athletically and Jeremiah is forced to bounce off of a desk instead. He nevertheless manages the acrobatics part. Abarim comes out of the back room; we don't know what happened to Jamie. The woman jumps onto a table and flees on the top edge of the booths from Gerar, who takes another two hits from the knife wound that she gave him the turn before. Dmitri leaps down the hole after Jeremiah, and (like Jeremiah the turn before) fails to hit his target but is successful with the acrobatics. Jeremiah rips down a curtain separating the private booths from the public booths, while Dmitri snatches up a Power 3 dinner plate and hurls it. Jeremiah knocks it out of the air with the curtain, and it splatters harmlessly off of Dmitri's shoulder -- Jeremiah doesn't have Eli's Malakite Attunement. Then Jeremiah wraps the curtain around Dmitri's head and runs. Abarim has also made it to the first floor. Gerar throws one of his two knives after the woman, and takes another two points of damage from the knife wound. He also gets knocked to the floor by a tackle from Jeremiah, if the GM recalls, Abarim, who rolls to his feet beyond him. Abarim heads out. Gerar stands up, gives challenge, and quickly staunches the wound with his Seraphim Razor. Pimpernel barrels out of the kitchen after Meander, who has just made it out the door. Dmitri rips off the curtain and hurls another dinner plate, this time doing some damage even though Jeremiah has leapt behind a table. Jeremiah, before getting up, sweeps up a chair and hurls it at Gerar, achieving an Infernal Intervention and killing him with four legs through the chest. At this point, Dmitri does nine hits with a dinner plate. Recall that in this game, hits are Forces + Vessel Level; Jeremiah is half-dead, and surrenders. (Ruling: for non-Shedite demons, getting killed in a Tether involves soul-death unless the Seneschal allows your spirit to fall into Hell. Note that a Seneschal of Trade is the most likely to let a demon bargain for their life.)
Gerar, in Heaven, cannot get in to see Laurence just then, who is busy with something, so is forced to choose a Vessel from the "spares" that are lying around. He becomes -- an Elvis Impersonator! (No puns about Kings, here!) He then returns to Earth. Ethan has emerged, and the three angels discuss things with the surrendered Jeremiah. Jeremiah is willing to spill everything; apparently, Thieves only promise to protect their employer when the job isn't something insanely dangerous like a run into a Tether of Heaven. He gives the name of the demon who hired him, and the location where the Scale is being taken, and where there may be one or two more (a warehouse by the docks). He admits that they may not stay there for very long, however. As more interesting information, he offers --
Everyone, including Ethan and (we later learn) Jeremiah, loses their connection to their Heart. Jeremiah denies any involvement. As Ethan sinks to his knees, Dmitri presses Jeremiah for the "more interesting information," and learns that Malphas' Heart is apparently being stored at the base of the local Tether of Theft -- Overlook Castle, known to the PCs as a Tether of Stone. He adds that, while the Malefactors at the Tether might put up a struggle, the Thieves would probably stand by if a group of angels were to attempt to do something to the Heart. Dmitri isn't sure if this is relevant, but it's a tempting target anyway. He stuffs parsley in Jeremiah's mouth. Jeremiah spits it out and switches Vessels into a rat; Dmitri's foot slams down on the rat. Jeremiah changes back and lets himself be killed. Meanwhile, two big Symphonic disturbances are happening across town -- one of which, the much smaller and shorter one, the PCs identify as a Demon Prince appearing. The other, louder one, goes on for hours.
The PCs call up Tryphosa, who is (according to the secretary) not in much better shape. (The truth is, he's sobbing hysterically in the back room.) They invite him on a "holy quest," and he accepts via the secretary. Ethan returns, having failed to reach Marc. Ethan notes, in response to a PC's comment, that there does seem to be something "above" the Tether, but it's not Heaven. Or, thank God, Hell. He declines participation in their quest to go break Malphas' Heart, pointing out that if any Traders come in search of reassurance and answers, he should be there with, at least, the reassurance. The PCs visit Tryphosa and his Church, arming themselves with relic swords and grabbing Tryphosa and an Ofanite of the Sword before heading off to storm Hell. The PCs notice that there is heavy cloud cover and the Earth is steaming, very slightly. There are perfect circular holes in the road every twenty or thirty miles, and a few accidents -- which isn't surprising, if an angel was driving when they became Outcast without cause.
The PCs meet Leshem at Overlook Castle, who reluctantly explains that the Theft Tether was apparently in the Castle before the event that caused a nascent Tether to Stone to appear. Since the Thieves have mortal power over the castle, and the Davidians can't attack first, they eventually worked out a truce. The Thieves sacrifice a tiende of Stygian demons to the Stone Servitors and let them live in the Castle and Catacombs, and the Davidians eventually stop killing Thieves when the truce breaks down and a Thief does something that starts a fight.
An angel of Stone escorts the PCs down to speak with Maven, Lilim Seneschal of Theft. She is reasonably personable, and lets them use her television and phone, even lending them a cell phone in exchange for a date with the Malakite after all this is over. (Sure, he'll Vessel-kill her afterwards, but she'll have someone cover her duties for the short time she'll be in Trauma.) However, she refuses to allow them to descend to Hell via her Tether, mostly because it doesn't seem to connect to Hell any more. As far as she knows, the entire Infernal populace in the city has gone involuntarily Renegade.
The PCs decide that their most important lead is the disturbance, which is finally dying down. So they head in that direction, well-armed, and find -- one of the other two Paris castles, not known for any demonic or angelic involvement. Dmitri hails the castle and is let in; Gerar sneaks in. Many Perception rolls and the odd resonance roll fail, leaving the PCs with no real clues about the silent dead-eyed soldiers who let Dmitri in. Dmitri is led to a party, overseen by a dead guy on a granite throne; that's enough for him, and he runs. When the drawbridge closes, and party demons rush after him, he converts to mostly-invisible air-form and squeezes out through the non-airtight drawbridge/castle connection. Eight demons assume celestial form, which produces a jangle that the exploring Gerar hears. Seeing them swarm Dmitri, Gerar assumes his own Malakite form and charges at them. Tryphosa assumes Celestial form; the Ofanite and Jamie don't assume celestial form, so nobody knows what they're up to. Celestial Entropy goes off, and several demons drag Dmitri inside. The others swarm around Tryphosa. Gerar rages into the hallway and gets snatched out of the air by the apparently-physical dead guy. He cuts off the spirit-part of the dead guy's arm without a challenge, and proceeds to hack at the demons for a few rounds before a hand from behind around his neck and throat causes him to lose consciousness, even though he's in celestial form. As one PC is completely out of it and the other is unconscious, we end on that cliffhanger.