Captain's Log

Age 41 Captain of the Skull and Bone Bloggers Vampires, Werewolves, and Wraiths, Oh my

[captainrackjackem]

Laying Low

Sorry I haven't been as active, night inquirers, but I've been gearing up for a raid and it didn't go well. I'm bored out of my mind resting now, and the staples are barely holding my wounds together. Remember always have a saw-bones who doesn't ask too many questions on hand. A vet or a nurse friend is a thousand times better than a hospital.

So here's the scoop, me and three buddies lets say, a couple of bikers I roped in, we traced a suspected ghoul to a safehouse. Surely concealing a blank-body for their daily sleep. We thought we were in the clear since it was mid afternoon. We were dead wrong. An ambush was laid, and somehow the leeches (plural!) were awake. Alice went down first, and she was carrying our molotovs and expedient, so the house was ablaze before the fight even really started. We didn't have time to think. My drum-fed shotgun swept the room nicely and made quick work of the ghoul and shredded up one leech so bad he wasn't going to be walking for a week or two. Frank, surprisingly, shat himself and cut out, if I ever see him again I'm decking him in the face. Unfortunately Elm died almost immediately after they handcuffed themself to a leech so it couldn't dodge their machete, told them it was a dumb idea. Fortunately carrying around a corpse seriously slowed down the blank-body. Squaring off with the last leech in an inferno wasn;t on my todo list, but the dumbass wasn't expecting a flash-bang. Those heightened senses gatta be hell when it comes to that sort of thing. I was able to bar the door with Elm's Motorcycle so that the lot of those fuckers burned down with the rest of the strange cottage I found them in.

Everything goes to shit every time. I might need to lay low for a while. If you read about a drug bust gone wrong in Castle Rock, remember the cops always lie.

[captainrackjackem]

Pandora's Tablet

Original Post by 3figs

Hiya everybody! As we know my expertise is that shticky shubject of the Created. Mad sicence shit. Constructs. And I ain't talking SPG, I mean honest to goddess sentient objects. I've catorgaized at least like 3 types. Anima, Automata, and Alexandria.

Anima are inorganic materials given soul magic I call Pyros. Automata are inorganic materials that configure themselves concious. And Alexandria are organic materials re-awakened by external Pyros.

In essence what you might call magic'd mud, robots, and, for lack of a better lay-person word, mummies.

Hokay, yesh. But here's one of the side effects of the lingering malaise that can be used to track these particular monshters, undeniable by even lay-folks. The Pandorans! These wretched pseduo-construced are often the result of the constructed's obsessive compulsion to create life like themselves. But they fail and tear themselves apart. Crawling hand shit. A flying skull. Writihing organs that drain the life out of anyone who comes near. "Morgue Accidents"

WELL., in my recent studies I found a new kind of Pandoran! A beastie I'm calling a GREMLIN. These strange fuckers are mechanical in nature. A stray nokia phone, a lost calculator, a discarded pace maker? Well! I have deduced that they can be identified by the wretched metallic screeching sound they make and the rather blatant shower and spray of sparks and raw Pyros energy. Keep away from any form of internet connection, somehow they can chew into fiber optics and get into the world wide web. I don't know why or how, but they can't do wifi, I don't think. They will also positively destroy any sort of circutry that they can "see."

Anyway fingers crossed I can solve this Phantom of the Cloud mystery out here in Paradigm City

---

If anyone has heard from 3figs, please let me know, it's been over 3 months and I don't think they made the jump.

[captainrackjackem]

Friendly Fire

Make friends with your local arms dealer. Blank bodies may have been impervious to all weapons known to man in the 1300s, but nobody likes the spray of a 12 ga drum-fed shotgun to the face, and a fully loaded smg is great ghoul repellent. Hell, someone I know carries a freaking rpg in the back of his cab just in case a spirit wolf comes around unexpected. Start with you friendly local pawn shop, or try a military suppress outlet. You'll find a way fast enough in this buck wild nation of ours. Non-yanks, I dunno where you can get weapons, but dollars to donuts someone in your city has the hookup.

[only-asher]

What's a thin-blood

I met an aussie surfer out here in San Angeles (Go FireHawks!), goes by the name E. Just "E." Anyway, like we started talking, and I figured I could trust him, and when I told him about my fight with Mothman, he told me about his secret. Apparently he's a thin-blood, which means he can walk in the daylight. I'm guessing that's something like a weird kind of blank-body? He was sparring with the details, but he seemed really cool and knowledgeable about the night inquirer stuff

[captainrackjackem]

Asher, buddy. whatever you do you have to avoid this E character as much as possible. He is not your friend, he's a leech. He'll kill you without a second thought, or worse he'll manipulate you into doing something you don't want to be a part of.

[only-asher]

I'm being careful, but also he knows a lot about blank bodies, can't I like, pretend to be his friend and pump him for information?

[captainrackjackem]

Dude, no. Blank Bodies can like hypnotize you, you're so afraid of being controlled by moth///man again, but you're hanging out with a fucking blank body? C'mon I don't wanna victim blame, but you're smarter than that

[captainrackjackem]

Where Wolves

Friendly reminder that if you ever find yourself fighting, hunting, or generally hanging around spirit wolves; don't. Not only will these monsters tear you into small tiny shreds they can also run faster than you. They can run faster than some cars. And you think that's bad, they have psycholocation. Why does the living tank have psychic abilities? I don't know, but it's bad news for you or me. They can literally teleport great distances with nothing more than their mind.

Again I repeat, do not do anything near the spirit wolves.

[captainrackjackem]

PSA

Please stop sharing your real name and real location on TUMBLR, I know the Skull and Bones dot net was a safe place to talk about that kind of thing but we *are* on TUMBLR right now, so be careful damnit

[mrs-sthesia]

Nightmares

So I take a sativa blend to sleep, mixed with some lucky chops sundry, if you know what I mean, and you might recognize that as my special cocktail. It opens up my eyes so I can see my Husband's guests. Normally I don't want to take my gift to sleep, but see when I dont...

Every night I have the same nightmare, a baby girl named Little Mary haunts me. She cries all night and tells me it's my fault she wasn't born. See just a bit after my husband launched for his tour, I had a pregnancy scare. Things were late. I was in such a panic, that it completely dead-angled me when I got word he had died in action. The emotional whiplash nearly broke me when a few days later my period started, several weeks late. Suddenly I wasn't carying my dead husbands' baby. Little Mary I was going to call her. Because she was going to be my little lamb.

Nate tells me she's not real, but every night I see her. Unless I take my cocktail. All night I dream I meet spirits able to pass through the labyrinth into the narrow walls of my dream. It is very haunting.

But at least when I wake up I know the ghosts that haunted me all night were real.

[captainrackjackem]

Maybe It's what they call a spirit. Not the ghost of a person so much as a messenger daemon who's arose out of your psyche? Drawn to you because of your second sight?

[kevin-the-ghost]

ever see a creature called the angel of light springs? strangest beasty in a little island about a half hour off of bayview have to take a fairy out there well its an island with a radio museum which is pretty nifty i was a bit of a radio enthusiast when i was a pup anywhat i was on the island to clear my head a little and maybe talk to an artistic pyschiatrist about a book i found when the hotel i was at was accosted by a brilliant golden woman standing nine feet tall from tip to toes glowing skin with shimmering sequin like scales that were radiant and what words she spoke or shouted at the guests after bursting down the door were unfamiliar to me maybe if i knew latin i could ream more of this damn book well anyway she singled out a guest and shouted more words at him and lifted him by the scruff of his neck i figured the old colt revolver in my pocket or the spell book at my hand would be of aid but to be honest when it comes to cryptids like this ive learned discretion is the better half of valour and so she flew off with this scrungly little man pinched between her fingers the hotel staff a cute little blonde i might have asked on a date if it was still 1963 well she tells me thats the angel of light springs and they call her lightbringer and every year around about the 19th of july she comes up out of the ocean and drags another soul to hell

[captainrackjackem]

The radios and triangles of light springs has been well documented. A lot of folks talk about getting lost within the mists of that island after the ferry ride from just outside of Bayview. They say the churn between the labrynth and our reality is thin out there. I dunno, I never get out to the west cost. I prefer the devils I know, you know?

[only-asher]

What's a thin-blood

I met an aussie surfer out here in San Angeles (Go FireHawks!), goes by the name E. Just "E." Anyway, like we started talking, and I figured I could trust him, and when I told him about my fight with Mothman, he told me about his secret. Apparently he's a thin-blood, which means he can walk in the daylight. I'm guessing that's something like a weird kind of blank-body? He was sparring with the details, but he seemed really cool and knowledgeable about the night inquirer stuff

[captainrackjackem]

Asher, buddy. whatever you do you have to avoid this E character as much as possible. He is not your friend, he's a leech. He'll kill you without a second thought, or worse he'll manipulate you into doing something you don't want to be a part of.

[captainrackjackem]

Stakes

I've heard rumor that if you're going up against a blank body bring a stake, but I don't trust it. Here's the thing. Even if the stake through the heart kills a vampire, there's no way I'm driving a piece of wood through someone's ribs while they're fighting me. Especially if the defending creature is specifically only gaurding that part of the body. You gatta miss the ribs to get in there, you got a better chance or shooting their fangs off or some bullshit.

It's not like blank bodies are made of tissue paper, having fought a few in ideal situations, their bodies are more like cold concrete than flesh and blood.

Think about it this way, would you wanna bring a wooden sword to a knife fight? And look, yes, we all know about Miyamoto's famous duel, but that's a matter of leverage, and not precision. If you're a kendo master, go for it I guess.

[captainrackjackem]

Enemy of my Enemy

Are outcast monsters your friends? Absa-fucking-lutely not.

There are spirit wolves who are called bone gnashers, there are a loathed group of vampires called nos, and there are changeling mortals that escape the fey realm, and they are not your friends. Light-bringer eidolons and human looking created. Trust none of them.

Leeches who don't get to sit at the cool kids table are upset because they want to subjugate you with more ease, not because they think the down trodden deserve a riot. The weakest wolf in a starving pack is not going to stop seeing humans as their mortal enemy. And someone from 100 years ago with magic in their veins, isn't going to suddenly see you as an ally when you're literally at the bottom of the food chain.

Trust no one, night inquirers.

[captainrackjackem]

Why I hate Hunters

CW:

So we all know that I support any night inquirers who are fighting back against the forces of the darkness. But the so called imbued are not to be trusted. They're monsters just as much as any blank body and spirit wolf. Not human, often see themselves as above us. And here's why I know.

Back when I was starting up the Skull and Bone, it was a pirate radio station, I was in college and had a copy of AV club keys and borrowed some equipment with my dear friend who went by tag name Lucky. She was a wiz at conspiracy theories and I mostly just had a crush on a girl with brown eyes, so I'd do anything she suggested. At first Skull and Bone was a blast. Late night radio talking on a secret line, occasionally getting calls from the insomniacs of my hometown. I don't know if I took it all very seriously, but it was my first real experience at getting my voice out there.

Remember, we were young. 19 years old. Well one night we had a visitor, and he didn't check in at the front desk if you know what I mean. A fully grown man with a trench coat and a shotgun. We probably should have been afraid, but he looked like a real life vampire hunter. I kind of thought we were going to be initiated into some sort of secret society. Lucky was sharp though, she didn't trust him and demanded to know who he was. He told us he'd heard our radio broadcasts, and we knew too much about blank bodies, like we had a source. Man had blown into town hunting a wild Ravanos, whatever the fuck that is. Well it wasn't long before words came to blows, and I remind you, we were *young* and dumb. Lucky was scrappy, but no match for a man who clearly fought for a living. I still remember the crack sound when the butt of his gun smashed against the back of her head. She went all limp in a way that made me want to vomit. Everything in my body was screaming to run, and I obeyed. Not sure if he actually fired the gun in the building or not, but he didn't give chase. Or if he did I escaped. Its a blur.

The next day I found Lucky in the hospital, and the day after that she was in the morgue. Official report is that there was a burglary that we got mixed up in. No one wanted to listen to my story about a man covered in scars who demanded to know if we were ghouls. "Another conspiracy theory? Isn't that what killed her?" said my former best friend. I got really weird and really antisocial after that. Ironic. The hunter who went by the name Haight is who drove me towards my vitae addiction. Glad I'm clean now, but if I ever find that man I'm putting two in his chest for Lucky, and one in the head for me.

Don't trust the imbued, night inquirers, they value hunting monsters more than they value protecting mortals.

[captainrackjackem]

Original Post by J.H. Lamb

---

You'd be rather remiss not to consider that sewers are a miserable place to hide. One they are foul. Two they are not designed for ease of use. Three they are already occupied by what you folks call blank bodies. And they're a real horror to encounter. You can tell just by looking at them. Smell of dead flesh, rictus grins, sharp ears and a maw just full of rats teeth. Disappear into and out of the shadows and commanding legions of nasty beasties fiercely loyal to their undead masters, and drain you dry rather than look at you. Stay out of the sewers. They know everything down there. And you don't want to become a person of interest.

[kevin-the-ghost]

you ever here of a doppeltgänger because out on the long winding road i heard tale of a fellow who met himself a real honest to goodness genuine copy of himself beat for beat every hair on his head was a match he thought maybe he found a long lost twin but the way he tells it the person was a sort of living illusion a memeber of eidolons called fey or someat like that so he tells me that this fey copy was suppose to take him to the fey airy court and they was gunna make him into some sort of jester and he said he didnt want that so hed run and why did the fey tell him that and thats when the fey doppeltgänger told him no one ever asks and fey can never lie well my fellow here picked up his hammer made of iron and brought it down on the feys face and ran and he hasn't stopped running yet strange story but it was a delightful dinner with the best cherry pie i ever did taste

[mrs-sthesia]

I've heard that doppelgangers are psychopomps, an omen of death, one of the reapers come to guide your soul across the circle styx

[captainrackjackem]

If myths are to be believed Thomas the Rhymer was whisked away to the world of the faerie for a century or three, I have to imagine that's a lot like being ushered to the land of the dead to everyone who knows a person.

[captainrackjackem]

Delirium Dictim, this is a minor kind of sorcery that leeches often have command over, and based on what I know of linear paths it only works because blank bodies have a natural magnetism that they can use for mesmery. Basically the blood sucker's eyes can be used to focus their unearthly charm to convince you that reality has altered. Maybe they convince themselves first, hard to say. But because of their potent powers of suggestion the illusions become reality. Or maybe just reality for those who believe hard enough. Having witnessed similar spells in person, I'd wager a strong enough will could allow a night enquirer to simply disbelieve the illusion hard enough to dispel the magic. Don't try this at home.

Always lead with fire with these fuckers and leave nothing to chance.

[captainrackjackem]

Blank-Body Reflections

Original post by HelveticaGaramond

---

Hey ho lads of the night, guess who bagged her first blank body? Eh? It was me. Guess who *also* learned that blank bodies definitively do cast reflections the hard way? Yes! Also me. But now I know why there's so much back and forth on the issue. See vampires, especially crazy vampires, have a distorted sense of self and this sense of self is so pure and true that it actually casts a reflection as *they see themselves* even to people like a night inquirer like myself.

The wild thing that came at me truly thought she looked like a completely different person so when I saw her reflection my guard wasn't as up as it should be. A bit of a scrap where my neck-gaurd came in handy. Oh also note that garlic is useless against these beasts. One extra point for burning sword. Not regretting those fire spinning classes now!

Well good luck friends!

---

Rest in Peace Helvetica, glad you got a few wins in before your untimely end.

[captainrackjackem]

What's a Kinfolk

Captain Rack here, with an educational original, this one is a bit of trivia. As we all know spirit wolves walk among us but what you might not know is that these spirit wolves have allies hidden even deeper within us. You see when a garou wishes to deputize an ally they might awaken their spirit, making a sort of semi-spirit-wolf. You can tell these freaks by their natural proclivity for animals, going so far as to be able to communicate with wolves or birds. A kinfolk cannot fully transform as near as I can tell garou cannot pass on lycanthropy through a bit but a spiritual awakening of their friends will make them better equipped to aid these spirit beast from the umbra. If you're friends with garou it may already be too late and you may be its kinfolk pawn