SESSION 7: THE CRESECENDO
-------------------------

We join our friends at noon on Thursday, 29 January. Present were
Katya, Elizabeth, Adrian, and Alistair. (Jim and Jonathan were off in
pursuit of more yams to replace those trodden upon by the people who
ransacked Jim's house. Jim also found it necessary to <gasp> teach a
class or two.)

The party decided to wait in NYC for the day, accomplishing various
things, and to leave town for the night, to avoid bad
dreams. Elizabeth went, not surprisingly, to the Medical Affairs
Office, to look at Dr. Huston's files one last time. She found out a
little more information:

- All clients were *rich*- sessions were $100/hour, and he took no
pro-bono cases at all (which was unusual for a doctor of the time)

- There were a great many thin files; these people saw Dr. Huston simply
because he was 'fashionable'.

- Thicker files were for those people who actually suffered from
problems. Liz got the feeling that at times, Dr. Huston was playing
around with the minds of his patients for his own amusement.

- There were three files with possible cult associations: Carlyle (no,
really!) a woman named Catherine Meadows, who suffered from repeated
childhood incest, and lived in a structured occult fantasy life, and a
10 year old boy consumed by ritualistic actions (of the OCD type),
such as killing small animals very precisely and posting their heads
on sticks for protection. (His name was Paul Cyberson.)

While Elizabeth was at the Medical Affairs Office, Alistair researched
the Black Pharoah and 3rd Dynasty Egypt. (Adrian could still not walk
on his feet.) He discovered that the black pharoah ruled Egypt during
the 3rd Dynasty, that he was a powerful wizard who caused many deaths,
and that Sneferu rose and overthrew the black pharoah (starting the
4th Dynasty), and ordered all traces of the black pharoah
removed. (Which might be why our friends can't find much information
about him.) Sneferu institutionalized the old religion (that of Ra and
pals), and was the first to codify the laws of that religion and the
current time. He also built some pyramids, though not the greatest.

Upon returning to Elizabeth's apartment, Adrian let Alistair know that
the place to really do research on Egypt is in the Egypt National
Museum in Cairo or the British National Museum in London.

That evening, Katya and Alistair (dressed down surprisingly well) went
to Fat Isabel's. They walked into Harlem and split up before the
restaurant; Katya's new friends Theodore and Malcom were there waiting
for her (they even reserved her a seat!). Katya told them that a close
friend of hers had been discovered missing, and T&M offered
condolences and help. They let out that they are dock workers, and
generally charmed Katya with their goofy, cute ways. Alistair came in
the restaurant and sat with some maids, who gossiped about their
employers.

Pleasant dinners ensued for both Alistair and Katya. Katya left with
T&M again, with Alistair following (badly) a few paces
behind. Fortunately, both Theodore and Malcom were too besotted with
Katya to notice Alistair creeping behind. Katya took leave of T&M at
the bridge, and walked 'back to her house' alone. T&M mustered up the
courage to follow Katya (also badly). This mad procession made its way
to the Russian section of town, where Katya sought solace in a
bakery. While Theodore and Malcom were outside arguing about which one
she liked more and waiting for Katya to emerge, Alistair impersonated
a street preacher (very, very well) at talked to them at great length
about their sins, thus allowing Katya to slip out. By the time
Alistair stopped talking, Theodore and Malcom were so worn out that
they just returned to Harlem. Katya and Alistair went back to
Elizabeth's place.

While Katya and Alistair were off conversing with Theodore, Malcom,
and God, Lt. Poole showed up at Elizabeth's in an awful
state. Elizabeth wisely gave him alcohol. He explained that his wife
was missing, and that while staying with her parents on Tuesday night,
he had another dream, and was no longer welcome there. He seemed
upset, so Elizabeth gave him more bourbon. He let out that all of the
money Alistair had thoughtfully given Rachel (his wife) was still at
his apartment, and that she had not contacted her parents (or their
children). He showed great interest in finding his wife and stopping
the dreams.

At about that time, Katya and Alistair came back. Everyone decided to
stay at Elizabeth's place one more night, in the hopes of catching the
people spying on the place (and perhaps taking some part in the dream
distribution). Katya decided to go with Poole to the roof to look for
unsavories. She saw Our Hero, Officer Smythe, doing a horrible job of
watching the aparment, and two shadowy men in an alley doing a much
better job of it. Katya and Poole came back to the apartment, and the
following plan emerged:

- Katya and Poole would find a back entrance to the alley, alerting
Our Hero, Officer Smythe of the possibility of trouble first. Katya
and Poole would attack and detain the men watching the apartment.

- Elizabeth would wait outside her apartment (where she could easily
hear shouts of help from below), to treat wounded.

- Alistair would wait in the lobby, out of sight, to provide backup if
necessary.

- Adrian would stay in the apartment and give the men something to
watch, so that they wouldn't get suspicious.

It all worked pretty much as planned: Katya and Poole (well, mostly
Poole) got Our Hero, Officer Smythe to agree to cooperate, and Katya /
Poole sneaked down the alley towards the watchers. Unfortunately,
Poole made a bit of noise, and the watchers began to run away. Poole
and Katya caught up with them and two of their buddies in a clearing
at the end of the alley. Poole realized this when he discovered a
familiar looking long machetti in his shoulder. (Nice trick, that.)

A fight ensued, but not before Katya noticed that while the snow in
other alleys was pure and untouched (except for her own footprints),
this alley was very well trampled. She was left with the impression
that Elizabeth's apartment was being very thoroughly watched.

But back to the fight: The bad guys were four: three black, one
white. The good guys (and girl) were two: Poole and Katya. As the
blade descended into Poole's shoulder, Poole shot its weilder point
blank in the chest. (Ouch.) A very fast negro opponent rushed Poole
with his machetti and hacked some more on Poole's shoulder. Poole
staggered back, and Katya shot him point blank range in the
chest. (Ouch.) The remaining two leapt on Katya and Poole. Katya
ducked the attack of her opponent, and shot him. He fell down. (Ouch.)

Poole's opponent, the only white gentleman, was not the brightest in
his class.  He missed Poole twice before Katya had the chance to come
over and shoot him in the kneecap, doing some rather painful
damage. At this point, Alistair and Our Hero, Office Smythe, show
up. Katya persuaded Our Hero, Officer Smythe to take Poole up to
Elizabeth, who could provide medical attention. Our Hero, Officer
Smythe bravely took Lt. Poole back to the apartment complex. Elizabeth
attended to Lt. Poole and requested that Our Hero, Officer Smythe take
Poole up to her apartment, where he wisely dropped Poole on
Elizabeth's couch. Our Hero, Officer Smythe bravely went back down to
the scene of the combat.

While this was happening, Katya decided to run and get Elizabeth so
that she could perform first aid on the opponents who could live. This
left Alistair alone, in an alley where there were very recently many
gunshots, with two corpses, one soon-to-be corpse, and one
incapacitated (and very slow) white guy. Alistair attempted to perform
first aid on the two remaining alive bad guys, to no
avail. Fortunately, Elizabeth showed up with Katya and Our Hero,
Officer Smythe at that point.

Elizabeth performed first aid on the white guy (who was the only one
with a chance of surviving), and let the others know that he would die
very soon if he was not transported to a hospital. Our Hero, Officer
Smythe, wisely inferred that an ambulance would be necessary, and
banged down the door of a neighbor to get to a phone.

While Our Hero, Officer Smythe was involved with the complexities of
alerting the proper authorities, our friends Alistair, Elizabeth, and
Katya had a chat with the detainee. Elizabeth shot him full of
morphine so that he could talk, and he answered some questions.

- He let on that his god has abandoned him.

- He said that Magonga lived on 129th Street between 5th and 6th, but
that he knew of no copper bowl.

- He spoke in another language and spit on Katya, who was performing
the interrogation. He said "Nyarshatan, Nyargashana".

- He threatened that Magonga would 'bring us over' the way that he had
been brought over, mentioning that the dreams become pleasant after
awhile.

- He claimed to be present at 'the birthing of the son of the Bloody
Tongue', and said that things would soon be right for the Mountain of the
Black Winds.

- He said that Magonga is the Chosen One, and summons gods once per
month. He said that the gods used to be summoned at the Joojoo house,
but this month would be summoned somewhere around the docks.

- He said that Magonga was 'tall and powerful', and that he works on
the docks.

- He claimed that we would know Magonga when we saw him.

After this, the police came to take him away to the hospital, along
with Poole.  Our Hero, Officer Smythe, was duly recognized and lauded
for his very important role in the combat.

Detective Simms showed up, and asked the party (minus Katya, who hid
in the spare bedroom with the door closed) about the evening. The
party gave their statements. Simms told Elizabeth that there would now
be no more reason to post a guard for her apartment, since the cult
was now eradicated. On that cheerful note, the officers left.

After talking about the night a bit, and thinking that Theodore and
Malcom could perhaps prove useful, Katya, Adrian, and Elizabeth
decided to remain awake as long as they could, while Alistair
slept. When they got tired, they woke Alistair and took some morphine
(for those interested, this is the second time). The night passed
uneventfully.

Friday, 30 January dawned cloudy and cold. There was a small article
about the party's struggle (again emphasizing the major role Our Hero,
Officer Smythe played) on the second page of the second section. A
plan was decided upon: Alistair (dressed down) and Elizabeth (dressed
as a nurse) would go through that section of Harlem on the pretense of
offering free checkups to children and poor families. Katya would
follow inconspicuously on the street for backup. Adrian, whose feet
would still not permit him to walk, stayed at Columbia's library doing
research.

129th Street is close to the river, and Elizabeth and Alistair saw
that it was poor even for Harlem; the snow hadn't been shoveled yet,
windows were broken. There were rats in many of the apartment
buildings they visited. Elizabeth introduced herself as Nurse
Woodward, and offered services. About 2/3 of the people were very
grateful, and the other third reacted with sullen resentment and
angry confusion, rejecting her services. At around 2 in the afternoon,
Elizabeth and Adrian noticed an actual business in one building: 129th
Street Meats. There was a large vat of TONGUE in the window, under a
sign that read "Today's Special". Not taking the hint, Alistair and
Elizabeth went upstairs over the shop, with the plan of finding which
apartment was Magonga's. The first thing they noticed was that the
place was in worse shape than any other building they had been in; the
rats didn't even bother to get out of their way, and it stank. It was
also dead silent. Elizabeth timidly knocked on the first door, and was
told in no uncertain terms to leave the building. So she did.

{When danger reared its ugly head, she bravely turned her tail
and fled....)