• HairApparent

Episode 1 Episode 2

(Steve McIntyre)

Unity is recovering from the rabid wolf attacks of HowlsInTheNight. All is getting back to normal. For most people, that is...

Guest starring Tim Curry as MrFlanagan

A personal account of these events may be found in HayesJournal

Episode 1

Prologue

Jack recovered quickly from being bitten in HowlsInTheNight. Almost too quickly. Martha fussed over him a lot for most of the next month, then he found an excuse and sent her to stay with her parents for a while. Towards the end of the month, he started having nightmares. Really strange and creepy nightmares. As the days went by, he was sleeping less and less well...

Monday, 16th June 1924

Jack received a letter in the early morning mail. It shocked him; he left it at home and went immediately to 122.

TheCharacters met him in the TeaRoom at lunchtime. Jack had been drinking heavily. He looked very much the worse for wear, as though he had not slept all night.

Hayes and Benny were stocked up on silver ammunition and weaponry, just in case the wolf attacks might return. They thought business might be brisk.

AlexanderGreystone arrived, and introduced himself. RobertJohnson could not make their lunchtime meeting, so had suggested that Alexander should turn up and meet the other PCs anyway. He'd heard about the society in the couple of months since he'd turned up in Unity, and had come hear to learn more about the wolf attacks. At the mention of this, Jack visibly quailed and ordered another large drink.

Eric spotted the morning newspaper on the table, and picked it up. The headline was short, but said enough: WOLF. All the PCs looked distraught, especially Jack. Alexander noticed something was wrong, and inquired. David explained about werewolves to an incredulous Alexander, while Benny immediately offered to take Eric and Rebecca up in his newly-equipped aeroplane that evening.

Eric had not stopped watching Jack. He pointedly asked Jack how he had been since his bite last month. Jack explained that he had made arrangements, and showed Eric a revolver containing a silver bullet.

Jack went home to collect some things, then went up to the Asylum with David. They spoke with DrJackson and organised a secure cell for Jack for the night. Jack voluntarily locked himself in. David settled down to wait outside, with a flask of strong coffee to keep him awake.

Eric, Rebecca and Benny headed to the airfield and loaded up the plane. Eric and Rebecca clipped themselves into the rear and Vulture 1 took off at sunset, heading over northern Unity on a scouting run.

Alexander and Hayes stayed at 122 with Henry and a radio to help coordinate. At Hayes' suggestion, Alexander loaded his rifle with silver bullets.

Howls started in Mallory Way, much to the dismay of the intrepid PCs. Hayes called Benny over for an airstrike, then cowered in fear at the back of the library. The plane came through, and Eric and Rebecca both killed some wolves. Rebecca didn't take too well to the way the dead wolves turned back into people, and fainted at the sight. Then the plane was called away back to the VillersHill area - the police patrol up there had been attacked.

In the meantime, back at the Asylum David was not having a good evening. He could hear screams of pain coming out of the cell, then all went quiet. Jack clearly wasn't have a good night either. David opened the inspection flap in the door to see what was going on, and was startled to see a wolf where Jack had been. There was no doubt about what had happened...

David jumped backwards. The wolf leapt at the door and scrabbled and scratched and threw itself at the inside of the door, all to no avail. The door was strong enough to hold for the night; after a while the beast was intelligent enough to realise this, and settled down to wait.

Vulture 1 dropped another fuel bomb on a collection of wolves at the Hill, cleaning up the last outbreak of wolves for the night. Benny dropped Rebecca at the airfield as he refuelled, and he and Eric patrolled for the rest of the night without finding anything.

Rebecca headed back to 122 several hours later, after a strong cup of tea and some time alone at the airfield to come to.

As dawn broke, people headed back to the Society to sleep. Later, they planned to discuss the events of the night.

Tuesday, 17th June 1924

People reconvened in the tea room for breakfast. David explained what had happened to Jack. Jack handed over two letters he had received: the one from yesterday and a new one he had found that morning. the first read:

Jack Proctor
Unity                                                

My dear boy,

It's been a while since we met. I've heard that you are keeping
well. This is good. Things may seem a little strange right now, but
don't worry your head too much. It will all become clear quite soon.

I must apologise for not telling you more earlier, but the situation
was too dangerous at the time. I hope to see you again shortly, and I
will explain then.

     V

and the second read:

Jack Proctor
Unity                                                

Jack,

Things have grown worse than I feared. The situation is too complex to
tell you what's going on right now. I will come and find you as soon
as I can; we have much to talk about. Please, do not stray outside.

     V

These notes must have come from DrVoinea.

To help show the police what was actually going on, Benny called FrankShort and invited him to come along on that night's patrol.

Eric wanted to see what effect silver had on Jack in human form. Jack obliged: he cut his own hand with one of the silver stakes the group had made. He screamed loudly and sprayed blood onto the floor of the tea room. David quickly dived forward to assist in bandaging Jack's hand, but even as the bandage was applied the wound healed.

Alexander went off to the bank and came back with a small ingot of silver, "part of his savings". He volunteered it to help fortifying the cell at the Asylum for that night - it might help to restrain the wolf. He also asked if he could accompany Eric and Benny in the airborne patrol that night. This annoyed Rebecca - she stormed off to take Henry for a walk.

Jack, David and Alexander headed up to the Asylum to measure up, then Alexander went off with his silver to get a studded silver mesh covering made up by a silversmith at the bank. Most of the PCs headed home to get some sleep; they all expected to be awake all night.

Later that afternoon, Rebecca was out walking Henry again and spotted Jack on the other side of the road. She waved and was going to cross and talk with him, but did not get the chance. As she watched, a large black car pulled up directly behind Jack. A huge man leapt out, draped a sack over Jack's head and threw him into the back of the car. It sped away...

Episode 2

Tuesday, 17th June 1924 (continued)

Rebecca ran back to 122 to report Jack's abduction. People checked over the two letters from DrVoinea. Clearly Voinea must be back in town, and he had to be the kidnapper.

Eric rang FrankShort and reported the abduction. Frank promised to get some men onto the case immediately.

Alsoud appeared at 122. He hadn't previously heard of Jack's condition, but took the news calmly. Maybe things in Unity had been getting too weird lately; nothing seemed to be able to shock some people lately. He went off to the hospital to check if there had been any people admitted for wolf bites the previous night, but thankfully there had been none.

Eric headed for the station to see if Voinea had been seen there recently. Benny and Alexander went to check on the local hotels, hoping to find Voinea staying somewhere nearby.

Alexander and Benny were in luck, and quickly found that Voinea was staying at the NorthernPrideHotel in the middle of DowntownUnity. They found a large crate waiting for Voinea in the lobby of the hotel and persuaded the desk clerk to tell them which room was Voinea's. Alexander called back to 122, and David and Hayes joined them at the hotel to help with the crate.

Hayes checked with the desk clerk and found that Voinea had called someone from the hotel lobby that morning to arrange a meeting. Hayes immediately rang Frank and asked him to find out where that call went - Jack may well be there.

Voinea's door was locked, but that was no impediment to a man of Hayes' skills. He unlocked the door, and the four went into the suite. There they found from impressions on the pad of paper on the writing desk that Voinea had sent the letters to Jack. Benny jemmied the crate open and found some large glass bottles full of what appeared to be medical supplies, and some large notebooks written in what looked to be Cyrillic.

Jack awoke to see Voinea standing over him, gloating. He described his plan: to tame the werewolves and create more to help him take power. He was raving like a madman. Jack was strapped naked to what seemed to be an operating table, in a small operating room. Jack struggled and almost managed to free himself to escape, but Voinea's assistant Yuri stepped forward and knocked him out again.

Meanwhile, Eric had struck gold at the station too. He found that the stationmaster on duty remembered the last time that Voinea had been in town, and had noticed him step off the train three days ago. He had headed to the taxicab company next door, followed by two stout gentlemen carrying a lot of luggage.

Eric followed up and went next door to KaufmanCabs. Kaufman also remembered the strange European visitor from Saturday, and he recalled that Voinea had taken a cab to an address in the middle of the warehouse district. Eric went back to 122 for reinforcements, but found none and left a note. He rang the police and asked for some backup at the warehouse, then headed up there immediately.

Eric found the address - what looked to be an abandoned warehouse building. He scouted around for a while to see if there was a way in, and spotted a window at the back next to a drainpipe. He quickly shinned up the drainpipe, but lost his footing and broke through the window, landing on the floor inside. The last thing he saw for a while was a large man with a club.

<<< The exact order of things from this point escapes my memory. Please correct me if you think I've got it wrong... -- Steve McIntyre >>>

Alsoud found Eric's note a few minutes later and headed over to meet him at the warehouse. He found no sign of Eric, and again no sign of life inside. He searched about and found a large box to stand on, and peered in through the broken window. He saw the broken glass and signs of the struggle just beneath the window, and footprints in the dust heading over to what appeared to be a huge box in the middle of the building, almost like a room within the room. The door to the inner room opened and light flooded out, illuminating Voinea and a large goon. Alsoud quickly used his invisibility spell and slipped into the warehouse.

Frank arrived at the NorthernPrideHotel to find Hayes and the others trying to work out where Voinea had gone. He checked back with the station and passed on the address of the warehouse. He headed out to the airstrip with Benny and Alexander for the night air patrol, while David and Hayes headed over to the warehouse straight away. Short promised some police backup ASAP.

Eric woke with a start. He was strapped to another table inside the inner room, also naked. He looked around and saw Jack on another table next to him. Then Voinea came in, carrying a large syringe and a notebook. He explained that Eric shouldn't worry, the experiment would be over soon. Voinea went to Jack and made as if to take a blood sample. He jumped and dropped the syringe as Yuri was shot. Immediately a voice called out:

"YOU HAVE ANGERED THE PROTECTORS OF UNITY!"

Voinea pulled his own gun and fired into thin air at where he thought the voice was coming from, but nobody was there!

"LEAVE THIS PLACE, OR MY CURSE WILL FALL UPON YOU, AND YOUR SONS, AND YOUR SONS' SONS, UNTO THE SEVENTH GENERATION!"

Voinea cried out "Vlad, Vlad, I need you!" and jumped for cover. Jack came to and started trying to free himself.

The sun set.

David and Hayes arrived at the warehouse and came in through the front door, Hayes' shotgun proving to be an excellent key for the padlock. They came running into the building and headed around the corner of the inner room. Gunfire caused them to retreat back into cover. David kept drawing fire, while Hayes crept around the other direction to take out the gunman.

Benny took to the skies with his two passengers. Thankfully, that night was almost completely clear of wolves. The only wolf they found was dispatched very quickly. Alexander took it out quickly from his vantage point, but both he and Frank were shocked to their cores by the sight of the dying wolf turning back into a man as it fell. Frank was violently ill in the cockpit, and Alexander dropped into catatonia in the back of the aeroplane. Benny had to go and drop them back at the airfield.

Inside the operating room, Voinea was advancing on Alsoud's position, stalking him round Eric's table. Eric freed himself just at the point when Jack started to change. Jack ripped the straps free from his table and leapt straight at Voinea, turning more and more lupine as he moved. There was a sickening crunch and a scream as the wolf hit Voinea in the chest and started savaging him. Jack and Alsoud fled outside.

Vlad, the remaining gunman, made a break for freedom and ran for the exit at the front of the warehouse. David quickly wrestled him to the floor and held him there until Hayes reappeared and Vlad stopped struggling - the shotgun at his back was a good hint.

Hayes ran back round to the entrance to the inner room and while other people held the door shut he tried to lock it. No luck - his tools broke. The others helped barricade the door to keep Jack (or rather the beast that Jack had become) inside the room. There was a loud scream, then all went silent in there. Eric grabbed one of the shotguns and was ready to deal with the wolf permanently, but Hayes made him promise that if the wolf could be contained for the night then things could be dealt with in the morning.

The barricade held against the door for long enough, despite the best efforts of the wolf to break it down. Police turned up and were convinced to wait things out till the morning. Thankfully they were called away just before dawn.

Shortly after the sun came up, Jack's voice was heard from inside the inner room. He was back to normal and wanted out! Eric covered the door with his gun while Hayes dismantled the barricade and opened up. The interior of the room was horrific, with blood splattered over every surface. Jack came out and fell to his knees, sobbing.

Frank turned up and took stock. He was beginning to understand some of what had been going on, and was happy to help the PCs clear the scene of incriminating evidence. The notes found at the scene and Voinea's crate from the hotel were sent to 122. By the time they got there most of the PCs were asleep, exhausted and relieved that the nightmare was over, at least for now.

Wednesday, 18th June 1924

Later in the day, the dead werewolf from the previous night was identified as JoseGarcia, the Spanish seaman assumed to have started the lycanthropy outbreak in the area.

Jack was take back to the Asylum for another night's restraint that night. Research into Voinea's notes was beginning, in the search of a cure.