Facing Hogan

Dexterity + Athletics: Success:

Zeneviev begins following after Ezekiel, readying her rifle again while pointing it towards the ground in case of misfire.

You follow after Ezekiel as he cuts a quick access back towards the road. You job past the camp ground and the sprawled body, past the then trees where Dominik had been setting Zeneviev up for the shot. The woods seem alive with movement around you, yet every glance about reveals no sign of the ghouls.

Are they that adapt at concealment? Is your mind imagining things?

After a few moments, you break out of the treeline. A gentle grassy slope leads up to the road, as deserted as ever.

Ezekiel turns and looks at the dark treeline apprehensively. The sounds of rustling reveal the other two black clad men emerging like bats out of hell.

"Think they gave up!" One reported.

"For now anyway, they lost one and another is wounded. Enough to send them back to their hole to lick their wounds." Dominik says, still trying to brush all the little pieces of leave and assorted dirt that had clung to his suit.
"What if they're just regrouping?"Never fails for Zeneviev to rain on the parade.


The black clad men are silent, watching the tree line like sentinels. After several moments, the brush rustles. The black clad men tense, bringing up thier pistols to aim at the treeline. "They've never come out in the daylight before." One hisses to you, tense.
The rustling becomes an arm that proves to be Hogan's as he steps through, carrying an odd looking gun. Two other men, each holding the same odd weapon, emerge behind him. Their faces are smudged with soot and a faint odor of smoke rises off of them. They trudge towards you wordlessly. Hogan gives a grin when he reaches you, his eyes shining with victory. "Well done! I think we managed to drive them back to the nest. A nice clean up for the boys."


"Really glad to hear that." Zeneviev relaxes as she sees Hogan, thankful there didn't seem to be any casualties in among his men.

"So what was it that you saw?" Hogan questions, glancing about the road before his eyes return to Zeneviev. "The ghouls attacked you?"

["They attacked Dominik. We took one out before I joined him to ward them away, we were getting outnumbered."Zeneviev says.

"I pursued the one that Zeneviev clipped and finished it off. Then the rest surrounded me." Dominik elaborates



[15:01:53] Seryna : "I fear thats how it was for the poor devils that go missing through here. When all you find are bones, it summons terrible ideas of what they suffered from these terrible demons."

"They had set a trap, which shows more intellect than they seem to have." Zeneviev says.

"Probably, but we showed them they cannot do it with impunity, if nothing else." Dominik nods.

"Yes, we just learned of the trap through your efforts. Perhaps it was in an earlier stage. We suspect that these beings once had more advanced reasoning skills that decay as the demon consumes thier soul... This stretch of road is safe again." Hogan seemed pleased. "We have you to thank for that. We hadn't the talent for the slow stalking. Perhaps we should try and learn, it seems to do well for you." He gestures to one of the men to go and get the vans. "I trust you don't have much time to stay and reminisce. Perhaps you have a mission at home where learning this blessing could help you. "

Dominik shrugs and steps back, his part was done. Maybe he'd take a price from Zeneviev later, or maybe she had already paid in her own way.

"I would not mind catching up and exchanging stories, but perhaps it would be suited for later. My partner is an impatient sort." Zeneviev smiles as she speaks.

"Ha, yes. Well, perhaps he can entertain himself while you and I speak. He does not seem to have a temperament for hearing of our faith" Hogan grins.

"Not in the slightest." Zeneviev laughs, walking closer to join Hogan and leave Dominik to a moment for himself.

Seryna : The vans arrive and Hogan moves towards one of them. He gives short orders fo the men to scour the woods for the ghouls and to destroy them, once and for all. He enters the back seat of the van and holds the door open, awaiting you to join him. "We have come to the bargain that we have made, Zeneviev. You have certainly proven that God hears your prayers. It bouys my heart to know that beseeching the Lord is on your mind when the devils close in."

Dominik shrugs, "Don't mind me. I'll go amuse myself over there or somewhere."


"I took up the burden without fully understanding why, but the more I learn the more I come to depend on God and his gifts." Zeneviev smiles at Hogan, no longer afraid of the man.

"I feel that is how many of us first enter the fold." Hogan confided. "We are young and our souls are full of devotion, but until we meet the Devil's minions, we have no reason to exist. Then we learn why we were called in the first place." Hogan spoke slowly. "What I am about to tell you is known only to my fellow Athanasians. This blessing manifested itself when we were beseech-ed by a vampire's mortal allies who were more numerous and better armed than we.I now wonder at tha paralells between our experience and the one that you and your friend just faced."



Zeneviev grows quiet as she listens to Hogan, wanting to take in the full extent of any lesson or wisdom he has to offer.

"Yet the Lord saw fit to spare us when I was taken with the idea to anoint the “Shield of the Trinity' onto the foreheads of my men After prayer and reflection, I came to realize that Scutum Sancte Trinitatis was borne of the need to protect God's soldiers."



"You can bless others with the shield of your faith?" Zeneviev asks.



"Oh, yes. It is what fostered the practice, I believe." Hogan continued. "The desire to protect our fellow soldiers."

"Yet it is something that I suspect you already know." Hogan reached to the seat in front of him and dragged his finger along the head rest. "See." He indicated as he slowly formed form four nodes. He linked the nodes with six lines, forming the shield of the trinity.
"Most noble. I'm only able to allow them to see the monsters we face for what they are." Zeneviev's awe for Hogan doesn't fade, staring at him like a mentor she never had. "I would truly be honored for your instruction with this."
"Is their a corresponding invocation?"She asks.

[15:42:04] Asisaiah : [ there!* ]

"Only whatever comes into your heart when you invoke it." Hogan replied. "Some offer prayers of supplication, yet I confess I take a quiet moment to steel oneself against the temptations of the devil's minions."

"Thank you for this Hogan. I will attempt it when we next face battle, I do not know if I could 'practice' this and mean it in the same way as a true prayer." Zeneviev says.
"I would advise against it." Hogan said heavily. "The true testament of one's heart is the best teacher, especially when we take up the call."

"Where are you and your friend working, presently?"

Currently? we were assisting some of other allies in their pursuit of a monster. You were nearby so I took a side trip." Zeneviev says.

"It pleases me to know that you have allies. The road is a harsh environment, especially if one has no harbors."

Zeneviev has spoken with Hogan and as far as you know, is concluding the whole reason you came out here for the Ghoul - a - palooza in the first place. The dozen militants - or Hunters?- are now among the trees, supposedly cleaning up the monsters. Your ear still burns lie fire, but you know that its just a superficial wound..

Dominik digs into his pocket and pulls the pack of cigarettes he had bought early in the day. It was crumpled and battered, opening it he pulls the very last cigar, with a frown, and lights it. "What a ride..." he mutters, puffing a coarse cloud of smoke.

He rubs the ear, feeling the stinging pain. He was one to never leave a wound be. He wanders back to the first ghoul he finshed off, wanting to give another look at the beast.

As he wanders back, he is surprised to see three of the black clad militants are already with the beast. They have stretched the beast out and appear to be measuring its arms. One pries open its mouth and peers within with an impassive expression. They ignore you as you walk up, roughly pulling up the beast's hand. the wrist flops limply and the man holds it out straight. You can easily see the long, black nails that had done the deed on your ears. One of the men reaches out and frowns, indicating the nails. "Wet?" he wonders aloud to his fellows, who lean in to inspect the beasts' dead hand.

"Clipped me, the bastard." Dominik comments, taking another long drag and blowing it out from his nose. "I can't believe it took a shot from Zen and still had juice to keep on thrashing."

One man runs his gloved hand along the nails and withdraws, studying the liquid. "Blood." He decides. he glances to you now, or more specifically to your ear. One of the men suddenly starts, seizing his fellow by the arm. "These things are so devious." One man says to you." When we first saw it, it looked like a vampire does- a wolf in sheeps clothing. They're tough, too." He agrees. "We lit three of them on fire and they just ran off into these woods. No ash or bodies found, they just kept on. It's odd how none of these are the ones' we attacked before. It must be two different breeds." "Look, here!" Turning the creature onto its stomach revealed that a dark pattern was on its' left shoulder. It was a tattoo - of the Cross.
"That is just bizarre." Dominik says, arching his brow as he tilts his head to the side, looking at the mark. "Didn't spot that while fighting it. Must be some sort of brand."

"What could it mean?" The talkative one wonders. "No matter." The one who impassively checked the mouth declared. "We have our orders. It is to be put to the flame." "Does dead flesh take on ink?" The talkative one ignored his friend, looking over to you. "A brand? Are you thinking someone claims these things like cattle?"

"Well clearly." Dominik says, nodding. "Just check the rest and see if I'm right. Someone must be making them somehow. They're not natural monsters, we'd have seen them before and extinct them."

"We should check the others." The man agrees, standing. Two of the men now move a bit back from the corpse, gesturing for you to do the same. The impassive man reaches into his coat and withdraws a flask. He pours the liquid onto the dead creature. The scent that rises off suggests alcohol; yet mixed with something that smells revolting. He reaches into his pocket and withdraws a book of matches. He lights one and holds it solemnly over the beast for a moment, his mouth moving as though in prayer.

Dominik steps back and narrows his eyes to avoid being blinded by the sudden flash. "Good call, torching them. Who knows if they'd just stand back up after a while. You downed many others yet?"

After the body ignites the men move away, pausing until you fall in step. "The others have moved to the nest." They inform you. "We plan on torching the whole thing. Its going to be too much trouble to try and combat them individually. The others should be... wrapping up, by now."

"Shame I missed out on that. What did you use, flame throwers? Always wanted to use one of those." Dominik says, grinning and following up.
"For the most part, yeah. You found where we store most of the gear." The man says to you. "We hadn't tried flame throwers until after we tried shooting it. It *acted* like a ghoul. Odd little beasts."

"Well, I don't know about flame throwers, but if you need any other kind of ordnance and your usual supply lines go sour, let me know. You seem a good account to have, I'll make it a sweet deal." Dominik says, always the businessman.

"Either way, we gotta hit the road. Following the trace of another monster and the rest of our team is ahead of us. This wass a bit of a detour."

"Fair enough." The talkative black clad man relied. He extended his hand out to you. "I'm Isaac. You ever need extra hands, your friend knows how to get ahold of us. Thanks for the assistance."