Wednesday, February 01, 2023...for the 3rd time

It's Groundhog's Day again

Theories and plans

• Like clockwork, right around 6:15, the day resets and we find ourselves back in the freehold with Brigid knocking at the door
  • My theory is that the cause may be happening before the morning, so maybe we need to pull an all-nighter
  • Moira is wondering if the not-zombies getting killed is the big thing that needs to be fixed
    • This doesn't seem likely, but maybe rather it's because they're not supposed to escape the werewolves' raid on Karsis Applied Logistics?
• Agnes did memorize Dream-Catcher's number, so Aoife calls her and gives her the intel she passed along about how things went at KAL.
  • It takes about 10 minutes of convincing her about the time loop, but she does and passes on the info
• The plan is for Agnes to come with to Will's place to see the ghost, but we're not sure when we should try and go
  • Aoife is going to try and get him out of his place tonight
• We talk theories about why the time loop is happening
  • Is it starting when it is because it's before Bridgette has rekindled the first balefire (the one at our freehold)
  • Is it because the Lurk that Bridgette saw outside of Willow's Heart needed to follow her to learn the location of various freeholds?
  • Is it because it's Imbolc, and that represents the shift of winter's power giving way to spring?
  • What is the significance of 6:15?
• Aoife calls Will and gets him to agree to meet her so we can get Agnes into his apartment
  • Blaze will go with Agnes because she can cause electrical gremlins to short out his security system so Agnes can get inside to see if she can find the ghost
• Before she leaves, Aoife calls Clarissa Whitmore, one of her clients because she think she's a time mage (Cultist of Ecstasy)
  • She confirms yeah, there is something weird happening with time (but she's definitely on something...or maybe just like this), but besides that isn't super helpful aside from saying she doesn't know anyone (of if anyone even exists) that could do this
• If it's not a mage, not a changeling, and not a werewolf, is it possibly a vampire thing?
  • Agnes texts Silas asking if vampires have time powers and he says he shouldn't talk about this over text
  • I ask Aoife if she has Nadira's number, and she gives her a call, but it goes to voicemail

Will's ghost

• Aoife meets Will at a bar around the corner to get him out of his place
• Blaze and Agnes go to Will's place
  • Blaze uses Skycraft to short out his security system
  • Agnes doesn't find any indication of the place being haunted, and thinks this is another case of a fake ghost like what Aoife and others have encountered that we think is the work of Thallain
  • Blaze tore a bunch of copper wiring out of his place (enough to wrap up her ferret body in)
• This of course does mean that he'll likely still encounter the not-ghost...so Aoife decides to try and seduce him
  • She wildly succeeds in getting him to photograph her like one of his French girls

Interview with a vampire

• Agnes goes on to meet Silas at a bar nearby
• She explains the time loop situation, including when it starts, and that we think we've ruled out mages and werewolves, and it only seems to be impacting the city
  • Silas tells her he does know of one person that is in town currently that has some sort of time power, but doesn't know if he could do this
• Silas offers to take her to see him
  • Agnes calls me and asks if I want to meet a vampire
  • Blaze is going to come pick me and (a now drunk) Moira up and take us to meet them
• The guy's name is evidently Donovan, and Silas calls around to find out where he is
  • Donovan is writing a history of the city, and from what Silas heard he evidently did something pretty bombastic tonight to try and get some of the other vampires to talk to him about stuff...almost as if he knew the night was going to reset and he wouldn't have to face the consequences

Going to see a man about a time loop

• Eventually we all (minus Aoife) gather up with Silas and head to a wine bar that is open suspiciously late
  • It's not under Elysium, but it's a known and watched vampire hangout called El Viñedo Local
• The host recognizes Silas and shows us in
• There are a number of pale individuals along with some apparent mortals who are in their cups
• Adrian Caspar Donovan is a Toreador vampire
  • He's dusky skinned (it's Roki's True Brujah!)
  • When we come in he's writing in a book and then stops and stares at the page as if committing it to memory
• Agnes leads off with telling him about the time loop
  • He's being very tightlipped and so I threaten to call the prince, Ms. Ash, every night to tell her that he's withholding information
  • I get a read that he's not scared of her or what threat she might be to him, but rather at the inconvenience that would pose to him and whether it would be worth it to wipe us all out
• I ask if perhaps we can start over and we come to an agreement to exchange knowledge with each other
  • He agrees after Agnes offers to share some notes she has from Changelings journals from the Civil War
  • He tells us that he was approached a few days ago, as he and us reckon but that actually happens tomorrow, by an impossibly thin, very pale, white haired man who offered him the ability to be able to have the day to do over again
  • He confirms he wakes up at 6:15
• He agrees to let Agnes use Backward Glance on him, and she gets a view on when he first encountered the Herald
  • The Herald approached him and essentially took a wad of Chronos energy and shoved it into Donovan
  • Agnes believes there must be something about Donovan that would allow that to be possible, which he of course denies
• We end up going on a walk to be away from prying eyes and ears
  • Donovan confirms he has some sort of time powers that no one living (or undead) is supposed to have, and the Herald used that to basically supercharge one of his abilities
  • He didn't make a bargain for this, but simply accepted the gift offered, and expects that it will burn itself out eventually
• Agnes is pretty sure it will wear off naturally in a couple more days
• He takes Agnes' phone number and we get a PO box address we can use to contact him
• Moira thinks she can probably burn it out of him, if he would let her
  • He agrees and she does a great bunk where she gives him a cigarette, lights it, and then lights her own cigarette off of his, and then puts it out on her wrist (and gets 8 successes!)
  • She pulls the magic of the Herald out of Donovan and casts it out and disperses it away
• He takes his leave (and realizes that whatever Temporis crap he was going to use doesn't impact us), and we think this will be the end of the time loop
• I message Bridgette and Sir Samuel Fiona that I think we've sorted the time loop out, but we'll find out
  • I tell Bridgette that she probably should go about lighting the balefires (though it wouldn't be the worse if she skipped the Fox)

Thursday, February 02, 2023...for the last time

Back to normal

• We go through the next morning and things go well!
  • My case goes as good as it can, and I get off with barely a slap on the wrist
    • And Will seems in a really great mood for some reason
  • I hightail it over to Moira's studio and use Primal to make it rain on the protesters so they bail
  • Jimmy doesn't break his arm!
  • Dream-catcher confirms the raid went well and they either killed or captured all the security folks
  • Agnes calls out of work and misses the awful meeting and Christopher doesn't get in a fight