Through the help of Rose, the group garnered the resolve to confront Rusalka again, this time with the intent to capture it in the shell of an egg, an egg Kaiden was all too familiar with.

The plan, though well prepared and laid out, fell through as Rusalka’s unnamed associate confronted the group while Trent was left alone with Rusalka, vainly trying to lead him into the trap. While the demonic woman was handled by the others, Trent misjudged his own situation and brought the wrath of Rusalka upon himself after being caught using magic.

Thanks to a prior deal Kaiden had struck with his spirit mentor, Raiju was summoned and dispatched Rusalka in an epic battle in the sky, during which Rusalka was severely wounded. The party chased Rusalka into the ocean using a menagerie of spells and were ultimately able to bind Rusalka into the egg; ultimately delivering the Demon into Rose’s keeping.

Samual, after having been missing for some time, is seen again but with a complete change of habit and demeanor. He is sharply dressed, clean-cut, and dealing with very questionable ruffian crowds. Trent takes notice and out of concern, approaches him. But what he encounters makes it clear to him that Samual isn’t here anymore.

Rusalka, a demon, had gained control of Samual’s body while he was a thread away from death after a drug overdose, and it was now utilizing the new body for its own intents and purposes.

His own past with a demon rushed to the forefront of his panicked mind, and Trent rushed to the group to get them involved. After a bumbling rush to his location, the group confronted Samual, where he offered to leave them be, if they did so to him in turn. After a brash display of his power over Trent through his True Name, they relented.

They quickly consulted Hagatha for advice, and she was of little help aside from the advice to avoid the demon at all cost.

Elliot Goldman, the town blacksmith, was found to be the primary suspect in the murders of Prudence due to his alleged history with darker paths in his practice as well as the motive of grief over his late wife. He was confronted by the group, and Crassilla lead the charge – perhaps too enthusiastically.

This brought her now to the central focus of suspicion, and she revealed herself as one of the group committing the atrocities. She fled and was not recaptured, though her fate is sealed should she ever return to Prudence.

Meanwhile, due to his dark past of practices and studies with Matthew, Lance was brought before the council and officially banished from the township. The group left Prudence having solved the mystery of the ritual murders, but only somewhat, and without guarantee that it wouldn’t continue.

The endebted Mages were summoned by Rose, who advised that late there were two Verbena witches murdered in a ritual sacrifice.
They were instructed to travel to Prudence where they would assist Gwennifer Hagal in determining who the guilty party was and assist in their capture.

Gwennifer provided all of the information she could to the party, but was unable to determine a guilty party.
She along with other members of the Silver Shield were able to determine the nature of the ritual.
A sacrifice to Cthonic gods attempting to gather power in exchange for the the souls of those slain.

This ritual was to be performed under the Blood Moon on September 28th, as a spiritual influx would be occurring at the same time, thinning the veil and opening a juncture.

A great deal of magick had been used to prevent any evidence from upturning, leading most of the evidence to be circumstantial at best; however, the party eventually determined that the blacksmith Elliot Goldman was guilty due to his association with the dark arts.

Crassilla Salazar was ultimately the one who led the interrogation attempting Elliot’s arrest, but the party found him to be innocent.

Crassilla’s zeal for the investigation led the party to suspect Crassilla who fled into the night along with 5 other Verbena from Prudence, essentially admitting their guilt.

While Crassilla was not captured, her ritual was left incomplete and the Blood Moon passed without incident.

The party was thanked for their services and dismissed, the Verbena of Prudence had some measure of closure and a sentence was passed that the warlocks responsible would have their powers stripped should they ever be captured.

Now Crassilla is at large, and most likely with a great deal of vengeance to exact…

Desperate for a way to pay Kaiden back for his kindness and help in bringing him back, Trent agrees to help figure out the mystery around the deaths of Kaiden’s parents.

The search was gruelling. As they pored through the stacks and stacks of journals and recordings of Kaiden’s parents’ research, their fruits were limited. Occasional mentionings of footprints and cigarette butts found at the site of their research were followed only by a thumbnail sketch and description of an encounter with a man called Anthony Morriane, who claimed ownership of their dig site. Further internet research on the name gave them no more information.

Next, Trent and Kaiden decided to visit the downtown street where Kaiden’s parents died in their alleged and gruesome “car accident.” Using the strongest of his Time and Mind abilities, Trent was unable to see anything through his scrying, and the few people still working in the area from the time of the Greys’ deaths don’t even remember the car accident any more.

The last leg of their search for answers took them to the former home of the Grey family, where Kaiden and Trent were able to get inside smoothly and locate a secret room the Greys had used to keep their more sensitive research. Had it still been regularly used, it likely would not have fallen into such strong decay, but as it was, the mechanism for the secret door could barely open enough for Kaiden to use his Correspondence to squeeze the two of them through, most of the lights in the room blew out when the switch was turned on, and all of the papers and jars throughout the room were decomposing and covered with mildew.

It was by chance that Kaiden remembered the wallsafe in the room, and using his ring, he removed the door, exposing a wooden music box containing his mother’s most prized jewelry, as well as a collection of important documents. Kaiden now has copies of his parents’ identification papers, his own original birth certificate, and the deed to the house from when his parents owned it.

This victory did not last long, as they had forgotten to check for a security system, and had to close themselves into the room when police officers arrived on the scene of their break-in. Through a stroke of luck, they found a hidden escape crawlspace behind the rotting desk.

Once through the hour-long tunnel, they found themselves in a bare concrete room, where they were confronted by the guardian rat spirit, Waappayu. At first threatening to them, he conceded his allegiance once Kaiden proved he was of the same blood as his parents, to whom the spirit had originally been pledged.

Later that evening, Trent and Kaiden returned to Kaiden’s apartment, where Trent donned the necklace and used it to scry through Time and see Kaiden’s mother’s fate through her own eyes. With their minds linked, both of the young men bore witness to a horror beyond anything they could have imagined.

Breaking free of the vision, Trent went into a blind panic and eventually passed out. Kaiden frantically colocated to Lance’s home, urging him to come over and help.

Bringing Morgan with him was a poor choice, and the werewolf was now greeted with severe distrust by Kaiden, who expelled everyone from his home as he pursued a fit of drinking, which was arguably a reasonable reaction to what he had just endured.

Our mages woke this morning to find that the world was filled with song, either through the news or out on the street. Sleepers and non-sleepers alike were singing and dancing their feelings, particularly when they felt a strong emotion, and all of this seemed to be perfectly normal when it occurred.

While it was not outright malevolent, our heroes gathered together in an effort to determine the source of the effect.

After several musical numbers, including a brainstorming session (and a number where everyone blamed one another for things that had gone wrong), it was Cassandra Yvette Nystar who had the first epiphany.

She determined that the source of the energy was paradoxical in nature.

Around that same time Lance Cooper danced his way through a love song of revolving male partners and finally arrived at the hollard log and was able to make the next connection to the deceased Lee Crow and his Paradox spirit.

On returning to the fallen Hive a third time, our party entered the dilapidated building through the broken elevator shaft. Once within, the party found that everything was completely operational again (including technocratic agents singing and dancing as they worked), regardless of the damage to the surface.

Trent Lane and Alanna found a box with teddy bears within and spent a great deal of time examining it prior to joining the rest of the party; however, it was again Cassandra that led the team to the correct conclusion, and realized that it was all an illusion being projected by the Paradox Spirit.

Upon this realization, the illusion began to dissolve, and they found The Hive to be just as broken and destroyed as they had left it.

Mr. Crow was sitting alone with his head in his hands as he cried. He lamented that he could not have done more good in the world, but now realized that for every person he had helped as a human, he must now curse another to death to create balance in the world. While Trent and Alanna tried to reason with him, he advised that he had no choice in the matter.

It was Kaiden Alexander Grey who attempted to restore Mr. Crow’s humanity, utilizing the remainder of the phial given to Mr. Crow by Rose; however, Lance had previously attempted to examine the object to understand it, and tainted it with Paradox unintentionally.

Kaiden and Lance’s pure intentions ultimately pushed Mr. Crow over the edge, transforming him into a truly dark creature. An enormous twisted monster made of music and Paradox, brandishing a sword fashioned to look like a bow string.

The teddy bears that Trent and Alanna had found became sentient and attacked Alanna, she was knocked completely unconscious at one point in the battle; however, Mr. Richards was able to save her utilizing his enchanted ring of healing.

Eventually, it was a new comer to the party, Mr. Vic Sage who dealt the final blow to the creature, after everyone had rent it near to pieces with weapons forged of pure Prime and Quintessence.

With one last song of hurrah, the paradox unraveled and the spell over Hawthorne Heights was lifted. While only a few people in town who had particularly traumatic experiences remember what happened, the general populous of Hawthorne returned to their daily routines without question.

Prior to departing from The Hive, Cassandra’s ability to read probability was drawn to a protected Nephandic book of dark power. Her power and the book’s magic compelled her to read it, and she fell into a dark mind scape that even Rose could not pull her from.

Kaiden and Lance took her to Lance’s home where she was left to rest safely, and try to return to reality through her own power.

Anthony Richards’ pattern began to fall apart as the enchantment surrounding Trent Lane began to deteriorate. In exchange for his very existence in this world he signed a contract with Rose binding himself to her in servitude for 1 year and a day.

After beginning his work organizing her past and current contracts and sorting her storehouse of enchanted objects, Anthony witnessed an exchange wherein Rose gave a girl named Miranda a small scroll tube simply stating that it belonged to the girl and she was destined to have it.

Miranda was specifically advised against opening the tube, or reading the scroll that it contained within.

Anthony and Rose made a bet, for one additional week of servitude that Miranda would open the container before nightfall.

Anthony felt confident that with additional warning the girl would follow instruction not to open it, at least for a few days. However, against all instruction the object was opened before day’s end, to reveal a scroll and three enchanted stones.

The stones reacted to the girl’s will, but in exchange fed on her very life force to fuel their dark power.
The girl began exacting her vengeance on those who had ignored her and put her down, even turning on Anthony who had been trying to help and protect her.

Trent, Alanna, Samual, and Helena arrived on scene at Anthony’s insistence; however, it was ultimately Alanna in a grand display of power who severed the connection between the demonic energy of the stones and Elizabeth, ultimately saving her life, and the lives of her victims.

It has been confirmed that the tube and the stones were returned to Rose upon the link being broken, and have been placed back into storage with binding spells laced upon them.

The team headed back out to the farm house, to find that construction had now been completed.

After check marking a lengthy debate about style of entry, the team successfully managed to invade The Hive again, regardless of the new security measures in place.

To their astonishment, the facility was in the process of being abandoned, making the invasion all the easier.

After successfully overcoming several androids, G Men, and Iteration X units, the team shut down the Void Engineer portal.

At this point Lee Crow performed the ultimate sacrifice, utilizing his power over Forces to sacrifice himself and destroy the Hive in an explosion/cave in.

The team, having escaped through the emergency exit leading to the barn, was captured by the technocratic agents they’d been sent in to undermine. With the barn completely surrounded, the team burst into action attempting to defend themselves.

It became at this point apparent that Hershel had been a sleeper agent for The Hive all along, attempting to acquire information about local Mage movement and the Nephandus activity in the city. With his fellow Technocrats in danger, his training kicked in, and he betrayed our heroes to save his Technocratic comrades.

In this fight Kaiden killed Hershel with a stab to the chest and killed him with help from Roan, but not before losing his left hand in the struggle.

The battle seemed lost until Trent Lane and Cassandra Yvette Nystar arrived on scene with assistance from Rose.

In the mayhem and confusion Lance Cooper was able to perform a ritual to summon a tornado, decimating the majority of Hive agents and forcing the survivors to retreat. Though he lost control of the force he had summoned, Cassie, Alanna, Roan, and Helena managed to assist in dissipating the spell.

The team escaped with all due haste, being gathered together and patched up by Rose, including Kaiden’s lost hand.

Our heroes having been taken hostage by the Technocrats of The Hive and given an ultimatum, decided to grant themselves a third option and made a visit to Rose.

On providing her the terms the Technocracy had decreed in exchange for our heroes lives, Rose simply whisked away into the house stating that she would assist them in dealing with both the Nephandus at large and The Hive.

Several members of the party became lost within Rose’s home and learned that it is truly labyrinthine in nature, regardless of how it may appear without.

In the mean time, Rose created a powerful effect, leading many government agencies to discover The Hive which had only recently been re-established. Red tape came up like a wall, leaving our heroes with a 48 hour window to breathe and think; however, Rose did not stop at simply providing the team with time to think.

Leading everyone (now reassembled after their misadventures) to another room, Rose created an effect that caused a Technocratic Satellite to fall through Earth’s atmosphere, mostly dissipating from the descent. One fragment of this Satellite fell on the corner apartment of the Nephandus’ hide out, causing a large portion of the building to collapse injuring many people, and killing just as many, including the Nephandus himself.

At this juncture, Rose declared that she would fill open the ground beneath The Hive and swallow it in Molten Rock. Kaiden, fearing the spiritual repercussions of such a grand scale event occurring in a Void Engineer facility, proposed a contract with Rose to stay her hand for 1 day in an effort to avoid a catastrophe in the Umbral Realms.

Rose agreed on the terms that our heroes would also deal with The Hive to her satisfaction within that 24 hour period, or she would move forward with her plan.