Session 17 - Scene 2 (of 15)

Before long, the car reaches the familiar sight of Harrigan's and Gem is taken into the back room to see O'Conner. The man greets him and tells Gem it was good of him to come. Gem notes his boys were very accommodating.

Gem asks about the father. O'Conner tells him that the father is dead and that the nun (referring to Sister Mary) found him the night Gem and the alderman were picked up by the cops. According to the doctor's report, he is believed to have died of a heart attack.

Dion says it was too bad, as he kind of liked the father. Gem can't tell if the gang leader is telling the truth or not about any of it.

O'Conner then introduces Gem to his new fellow gang members, Justin Doyle and Spike Johnson, formerly of the Flynn Syndicate. O'Conner refers to them all as "one big happy family now". He then tells Gem that Guigsy has referred to Gem as a good earner and offers to let him join in.

Gem, however, is still very cautious. He tells O'Conner that he knows he has a debt to repay, but isn't so sure he will stick around much longer than that. O'Conner relates that it is OK for Gem to remain in the area and kick up his percentage, or leave the area, but is clear that he should kick up as long as he is in the area. Gem grudgingly agrees.

O'Conner tries to sympathize with Gem for missing the father, but explains they have bigger things to worry about. When Gem asks what he means, O'Conner says that the Genna Brothers  haven't taken too kindly to his expanding out near the docks. Gem agrees they are crazy.

In addition, O'Conner tells Gem they still have the issue with the bank robber. Gem thinks he is referring to Biggins, and asks what happened to him. O'Conner clarifies he wasn't referring to the alderman, who last he heard was in a coma.

Gem explains Biggins was hit pretty hard by the cops, noting Biggins pulled a gun on them. O'Conner remarks on the alderman as being crazy.

O'Conner then says he isn't sure what to believe about the alderman, as there are stories both about the Biggins incident – one that he was involved with organized crime elements (which O'Conner remarks he knows is true), and another that Biggins was the victim of corrupt enemies on the force (which O'Conner also relates as being true).

Gem says that Biggins could be out of commission for a while, and O'Conner notes that even if he wakes up he could be a turnip. Throwing in an oblique reference to Krasnik, Gem says it is too bad the father isn't still around as he was being good at dealing with men like that, including a kindly old doctor.

O'Conner wants to know what Gem has in mind for next steps, asking if he and Guigsy want to carve out territory in the old neighborhood. Gem is surprised, telling O'Conner he expected he'd already have a job for him lined up. Dion explains he thought Gem would want to take some time to get up on his earning, but does say that he could always help out with the problem in Bronzeville if he thought he could handle that.

Having been out of things for a while, Gem doesn't catch the reference. O'Conner gets a little more direct, reminding him about Leroy Brown running protection for Cody Powers. Gem offers to take care of Powers in exchange for paying off all his debts with O'Conner.

O'Conner agrees, despite not thinking of Gem as a soldier. Gem volunteers Guigsy to help him, and the enthusiastic youth heartily agrees.

Gem wonders if O'Conner has any more info, but he doesn't think Leroy Brown on the south side will be that hard to find. He does mention Brown is a notorious gambler and likes his women. Gem notes they have that in common.

To help out, Deanie agrees to give Gem a small .32 pistol but not a car like Gem wanted. Gem says they will need to take a day or two before doing the job, but will catch up with O'Conner later. Deanie tells them not to get into too much trouble.

Session 17 - Scene 3 (of 15)

Once they leave Harrigan's, Guigsy asks Gem where they are headed. Gem explains the first thing he wants to do is go back to St. Vincent's and talk to Sister Mary about Father Mulroney's death. Guigsy responds that will be tough to do, as the church has been shut down and Sister Mary has gone missing.

When asked about the church, Guigsy explains that the way he heard it, the church was shut down after the explosion at the orphanage. He goes on to tell Gem about rumors he heard that the bombing was involved in a war between Alderman Biggins and the Russian anarchists led by Ulnovsky. Gem tells him not to believe everything he hears on the street.

Gem then says they need to find someone with answers. The only person he can think of to seek out is Dr. Thomas Kingsley. When Guigsy asks who Kingsley is, Gem explains he doesn't really know.

Despite not really understanding what Gem is up to, Guigsy continues to follow along. They take a bus over to the slums where Kingsley's office was said to be by Sister Eunice.

It doesn't take too long to find the small storefront. An old sign over the shop reads, "Dr. Thomas Kingsley, M.D." but the place doesn't look like it has seen any patients for a while. It appears to be quite run down.

Gem knocks at the glass door, but no one answers. When he finds it locked, he decides to head into the alley and look for the back door.

Guigsy tries to pick the lock, but his lock pick breaks off in the lock. With little choice, Gem begins trying to force open the door. He manages to break it open on the second try.

The back door opens to a small hallway, presumably between the front lobby, the exam room and the doctor's private office. Gem notices some light in the back room. He readies his gun while Guigsy readies his knife, and the two approach the door quietly.

Gem has the younger boy open the door slowly and take a look. Guigsy relates that someone is seated at the desk, but it is turned around so he can't see anything but the back of his head.

On Gem's command, the two burst into the room quickly with guns aimed at the back of the chair. Gem tells the man in the chair not to turn around and put his hands up. The figure doesn't move.

Gem gets ready to fire a warning shot into the ceiling when a voice behind him and to his left tells him not to move. It's Sister Mary. Having the drop on them, Mary tells Gem and Guigsy to not make any sudden moves and put down their weapons. Gem lowers, though doesn't drop, his gun.

Sister Mary tells Guigsy to go ahead and turn the chair around. When he does, the figure in the chair is revealed to be the mummified remains of a middle-aged man in a doctor's suit.

The nun introduces the two to Dr. Kingsley. She explains the doctor was an old client of hers back when she worked the streets. She also used him for taking care of the girls, especially when one got into trouble.

A couple of years ago, Mary explains, he died of a heart attack during a particularly vigorous session with her. She realized that if she kept his death a secret and kept up the payments on his office and to the state licensing board, she could order and dispense as much heroin as she wanted using his credentials and have the girls sell it on the streets to their johns.

Gem asks Sister Mary if she, then, is Dr. X. She explains there is no Dr. X. Gem starts to put the pieces together, understanding that Mary is her own supplier.

Sister Mary is not interested in discussing the matter further. Instead, she wants to know what Gem is doing there. He explains that he wanted to talk to her because he was looking for the father's personal effects, as they were looking into some things when he died. Mary explains all of the father's personal possessions were likely shipped back to the bishop's office after his death.

Gem then asks about her finding the father dead. She explains that it was true she found him dead, but lied to the doctor about a heart attack. Instead, she explains that she saw the father shooting up some drugs the last time she saw him so she assumes he died of a drug overdose. Mary notes that although she and the father didn't always see eye to eye, she didn't want him thought of as a hophead.
 
Shocked at this revelation, Gem explains that what the father was taking wasn't drugs, and that it was supposed to help him. Gem feels guilty as he is the one who encouraged the father to use the stuff.

When Mary asks what the injection was, Gem admits he doesn't really know. He does say that it helped Biggins improved as did Shoes when he was injected. Mary tries to clarify who injected Biggins and Shoes, but Gem can only recall it as "some funny dressed, old-fashioned doctor". Mary jokes that it certainly wasn't Kingsley who did it.

Gem goes on to mention how he shot that doctor. Mary dismissingly remarks on "you boys and your problems" and chides him for not sticking to business. Gem tells her he is looking for some new business ventures, and offers to join her.

Mary tells Gem she won't be needing his services, then shoots Guigsy in the face. As the corpse of Guigsy falls to the ground, Mary turns to shoot Gem but he gets into the hallway in time. She follows after him, hitting him in the arm with a grazing shot.

At the end of the hall, he turns to shoot back, but his shot goes wide. Mary ducks back into the doorway of the office for cover. She fires back, but misses.

Gem begins walking backwards while firing. One of his shots catches the nun in the chest and she goes down.

Bleeding badly, Mary's black and white habit quickly grows red all over as she tries to crawl back over to her gun. Shoes tries to run up to kick the gun away, but she manages to grab it first. Luckily for him, she misses trying to shoot up at him from the ground.

Attempting to subdue her, he pistol whips the nun. But he doesn't hold back his strength enough, and the force of the blow is enough to kill her.

With Mary dead, Gem grabs her gun and begins to search the body. She has little on her except her rosary, which Gem discovers is actually a concealed garrote that can be expanded. He also takes Mary's wedding band so he can sell it.

After searching the body, Gem looks over the papers on the desk. He finds little of interest outside the various bills Mary had been paying and the doctor's prescription pad.

Ignoring the papers, Gem finds Mary's stash of heroin ampules and begins loading up one of Dr. Kingsley's medical bags he finds lying around the office. Once that has been gathered, he takes the knife off of Guigsy's body along with Guigsy's money clip containing $40.

Before he leaves, Gem makes sure to start a fire to burn down the office.

Session 17 - Scene 4 (of 15)

A couple of nights later, Father Mulroney awakes to find himself staring up at the stars. He has a deep chill in his bones. He's not sure what he's doing outside, in the dark, as the last thing he remembered was going into the rectory to lie down after injecting himself with the green liquid.

Standing up and looking himself over, he sees he is wearing his priest uniform. He also notices his fingers now have long, black nails and that his hands are covered in dirt and blood. The revelation sends a chill down his spine, but he otherwise feels quite strong and healthy.

The father then looks around his immediate surroundings. He can see a lot of gravestones around, he is obviously in some kind of cemetery.

Nearby, one of the graves appears to have been recently dug up, from the inside. One the headstone, he reads, "Father Clink Mulroney, 1869-1924, RIP". The priest steels his mind against the understanding that he has apparently dug himself out of his own grave.

Near the grave, he also spots the mutilated body of the night watchman. The man's chest appears to have been ripped open by some kind of animal. But seeing the blood on his hands, Mulroney realizes it was he, himself, who must have done it.

Shaken by these events, Mulroney decides to head out of the graveyard. Although, as he leaves, he does note to himself that he feels a much more intimate connection to the dead now; the thought of lying down with the cold corpses almost titillates him.

Mulroney finds new strength within himself and leaps over the cemetery's tall fence. He immediately goes into the street and flags down the first car that happens by.

The driver asks Mulroney what happened, and he explains he was the victim of a robbery (while being careful to hide his claw-like nails). He lures the man out of his car by saying he needs assistance.

When the man gets out, Mulroney tries to slice his neck using his claws. He nicks the man's neck and the man screams, asking what he is doing. Mulroney then tries to smash his head into the car, but the men gets out of the way.

The man continues to run down the street. Mulroney gets in his car and runs the man down. He then proceeds to head to the church.

Session 17 - Scene 5 (of 15)

When Father Mulroney reaches the church, he sees that it is boarded up and apparently no longer in use. He does, however, spot that one of the boards on one of the windows appears to have been moved.

Stepping a little closer, the priest looks inside. He can see a faint light coming from the back of the rectory. Mulroney grabs a tire iron from the car and attempts to quietly approach the church.

Inside, Gem is sitting in the rectory, where he has been hiding out the last two days. He is passing the time with some self-pleasuring when he hears someone loudly moving around outside.

Gem grabs his gun and moves up to the window hole. He peeks out and sees the ghost of Father Mulroney coming for him. The shock is a bit too much for him as he yells out, "Leapin' lizards!"

Mulroney hears the exclamation from outside and rushes up to the window. He sees a shocked Gem, who is mumbling something about "don't haunt me." Mulroney tells Gem to get back so he can get in, and Gem quickly backs up, half-stumbling in the process.

Once Mulroney climbs inside, he asks Gem what is the matter. He tells Gem he looks like he's seen a ghost. Gem just mumbles and babbles. The father tells Gem he's not dead then smacks him to try and get him out of his stupor.

Gem notices that Mulroney has long, bloody claws which further degrades his grasp on his sanity. He makes a run for it to the back of the rectory and cowers in a corner. Luckily, he manages to retain control of his bodily functions.

Father Mulroney tries to tell Gem to stop running. It takes a few minutes, but Gem eventually comes out of his daze. He points to the bag nearby and says "heroin."

The father asks Gem what happened to the church and recounts what he can remember in the moments leading up to waking up in the cemetery – talking with the detectives, Sister Mary wanting him to meet her at Dr. Kingsley's office, and injecting himself with the green liquid. He then relates waking up in the cemetery and how he and the security guard must have been attacked by some animal.

Overwhelmed by the information and the possible implications, Gem grabs an ampule of the heroin and spikes up. While Gem is riding the horse, Mulroney goes to look for the remaining vials of the green liquid; he has another idea about something Gem can inject.

Finding the ice box gone along with the rest of the church furnishings, Mulroney settles for finding a spare set of robes in the vestry. He then grabs the knife off of the drugged-out Gem and cuts down his nails, takes a shower, and changes into the robes.

Once he's back to looking and feeling more or less normal, the father grabs all of Gem's possessions – his weapons, money, and the bag of heroin. He holds on to the weapons and money but hides the heroin. Mulroney then settles down for a nap until dawn.

Session 17 - Scene 6 (of 15)

Alderman Jethro Biggins wakes up in a hospital bed. He doesn't recall how he got there or how long it has been, but his last memories are a mix of memories and bad nightmares of getting shot in the stolen hearse.

Looking down, Biggins notices his missing finger has completely grown back. But his hand is webbed between the fingers and the regrown finger has a long, black nail ending in a sharp point. The skin on the finger is also a bit scaly, as are the spots on his chest where he is healing from the gunshot wounds.

As he is trying to process these changes, Biggins also notices that he can see the back of the gauze around his missing eye. He rips off the gauze, and realizes he can see again. Grabbing a hand mirror near the bed, Biggins discovers that his regrown eye is slightly larger than his other one, and is a solid, almost glowing pale yellow color; it reminds him of the monster he saw in the basement of the old museum.

The shock is too much for the poor alderman. His mind breaks into psychosis, leaving him schizophrenic with a compulsion to steal things.

Biggins gets out of bed immediately. A nurse coming over to check on him is shocked by his appearance; she screams and faints. Another nurse comes over to assist, but is shocked by the alderman's appearance, yelling "What happened to your eye?" He simply walks past her.

The alderman looks for the nearest exit. He finds a stairwell nearby, but as he looks down, he sees that it is goes all the way down to Hell and the devil is down there beckoning him. Biggins responds by grabbing a nearby fire hose and blasting water down the stairwell. He then heads off until he can find another exit. No one stops him as they are focused on cleaning up the mess he made.

Session 17 - Scene 7 (of 15)

Once he leaves the hospital, Biggins decides heading back to his office would be too dangerous (they will be looking for him there), so he decides the church is the safest place to go. For transportation, he steals a bicycle from the hospital parking lot. The sight of Biggins with his transformed eye and hand riding a bicycle down the street while wearing a hospital gown attracts more than his share of attention.

Despite all odds, Biggins manages to make it to the church without being stopped. Like the others before him, he is surprised to find it boarded up. He does notice the missing board across the window and tries to subtly get inside. But his efforts are as subtle as his bike ride.

Father Mulroney is woken by the sound of someone crashing into the church. He wakes Gem and they go to investigate. They find the bizarre appearance of the alderman disturbing.

Mulroney asks Biggins what he is doing. The alderman responds that he is looking for a place to hide, as his office isn't safe. Gem exclaims that he won't be able to hide anywhere looking like he does. The priest tells Biggins he'll need to cover the eye, trim his nail, and get into some clothes.

Gem asks where he has been, as he was shot up last time Gem saw him. Biggins recalls getting shot in the disturbing nightmare he had, but is having difficulty concentrating because of the loud circus music playing in the church.

Biggins talks progressively louder as he asks if the church is having a bazaar sale or something. He asks if there is somewhere quiet they can go. Mulroney realizes that Biggins is having auditory hallucinations.

He asks Biggins what is hearing and Biggins explains about the circus music. Mulroney tells him there is no music, but tries to test Biggins' grasp on sanity by asking him if he sees the children sleeping in the corner. The alderman asks if they have some kind of record playing and they should turn it down if they need to sleep.

Eventually, Mulroney gets Biggins to go take a shower. Just as he leaves the room, Mulroney and Gem hear someone calling from outside asking what is going on in there. Mulroney recognizes the voice as that of Danny Kerrigan, the beat cop he has on the take.

Mulroney tries to disguise his voice and claim that he found a couple of indigents in the building, and that he needs help as one of them has a weapon. Kerrigan isn't buying it, and threatens to call the paddywagon if they don't come out.

The priest then announces who he is and tells the officer to go ahead and come in. As he does, Gem discreetly exits off to the vestry room.

The police officer remarks to the father that he thought he was dead. Mulroney explains the situation as being some kind of setup where he was kidnapped. Kerrigan explains that the church is now closed, having been purchased by some company called the Marduk Institute.

Father Mulroney explains the Marduk Institute was behind his kidnapping, in league with a local criminal named Leroy Brown. Kerrigan recognizes the name as being a rather tall black man from Bronzeville, though he uses more racist terms.

Recognizing that Kerrigan is a man who can be dealt with and who is somewhat racist, Mulroney sees an opportunity. He tells the officer that Brown needs to be dealt with; he's muscling in on O'Conner's turf and could cause all kinds of chaos in town.

Kerrigan takes the bait. He remarks on Brown also being a ladies man and mentions concern that Brown might try to move in on white women. Mulroney tells an outlandish lie about Brown being involved in the rape of three white women at once, but it comes off as being a bit over the top.

Still, Officer Kerrigan is convinced something needs to be done. Mulroney tries to convince Kerrigan to get a raid done on Brown, one he might get shot during. Kerrigan laments that Bronzeville isn't his beat, so he'll need to talk to Captain Deakins who could send a detective to do it. Danny mentions that the captain is usually fairly amenable to helping out in the neighborhood.

Mulroney then takes Kerrigan in the back and shows him the large stash of heroin. He explains to the cop that they'll have a lot of money coming in, and offers him a very large bribe for helping out with the Leroy Brown situation. Kerrigan agrees he'll make sure it gets taken care of.

Kerrigan asks the father what he plans to do in the meantime. Mulroney explains he and his syndicate can no longer stay in the church. He asks the cop for a favor, to get some plain clothes so he can be more discreetly dressed. Kerrigan agrees to fetch some clothes from the precinct lost and found.

Before he leaves, he tells Mulroney that his friend, the alderman, is in a coma. Mulroney explains that Biggins has recovered and is cleaning up in the back. Kerrigan mentions letting Captain Deakins know, remarking he knows the two men are close. He makes an off-hand remark to some papers the captain sent over to Biggins' office just before they found out he was in a coma.

Mulroney doesn't like the idea of Deakins being told Biggins is at the church. He convinces Kerrigan that it will be better if it is a surprise. To keep Kerrigan happy, Mulroney gives him the cash he took off of Gem.

Session 17 - Scene 8 (of 15)

Officer Kerrigan drops off some clothes at the church a couple of hours later. In the meantime, Mulroney has trimmed Biggins' claw and covered his hands up by putting on some gloves he finds in the vestry used by the altar servers. He also fashions a new eye patch for him.

After putting on the new clothes, Mulroney remarks that Biggins is now presentable for the public again. Gem is still annoyed about the father giving his money to the police. He also doesn't like the deal he made about the heroin money; his plan was to bribe Brown with the heroin to get him to give him powers rather than try to figure out how to sell the drugs.

Mulroney tries to assure Gem that they won't need to worry about money. He asks Gem what he has been up to. Gem relates the events since he got out of jail.

The father is shocked that Guigsy was killed. Gem sees it as no big loss, calling Guigsy a traitor who went over to O'Conner too easily. Father Mulroney tells Gem not to worry, as Deanie O'Conner's days are numbered. He calls O'Conner one of the "small details" they will be taking care of.

Gem is a bit uneasy about Mulroney's new boldness and wonders if he has gone crazy as well as Biggins. Mulroney continues with the conversation on what to do next. He mentions he picked up a vehicle last night.

Mulroney wonders aloud what they should do next. Biggins mumbles something about not liking his new clothes. Gem makes a motion to Mulroney to indicate he wonders if they need to keep the alderman around. Mulroney shrugs, not sure if the alderman has outlived his usefulness yet but does indicate he is willing to get rid of him if he has.

Relating down their options, Mulroney mentions getting the cash from Fung Xian or go to see O'Conner. He wonders how Deanie will respond to "crazy Biggins". Gem reminds the father that Deanie is waiting on him to deliver Cody Powers.

Mulroney considers the option of dealing with Leroy Brown, but says they should let Kerrigan take care of it. He also considers doing something about Ralph Sheldon. He asks Biggins what he wants to do next.

Biggins agrees to come along with them, but Mulroney reminds him he is wanted by the cops. Biggins is confused about what things happened in his dreams and what actually happened. Gem tries to tell him he really was shot.

The alderman isn't sure what to do next. But the voice behind him tells him he should kill them all. Biggins asks the voice why, and another voice tells him they are his friends. Biggins agrees.

Watching Biggins arguing with himself, Mulroney decides it might be best to send Biggins off on his own. He thinks perhaps the alderman could take care of Chaos and/or Dr. Bronfenburgher at the asylum. Gem, not quite catching on, suggests Biggins could break Chaos out, as they could use another hand.

Mulroney tells Biggins to stop talking to himself and reminds him about Alan White. Biggins recalls the name. Mulroney tells him about being in the asylum, and tells the alderman he needs to either get Chaos out of the asylum or out of this life.

Biggins agrees. Mulroney tells him to meet up with them later at the warehouse. He then tries to tell Biggins about the voice he is hearing; he advises the alderman that starting fires with soothes the voices. One of the voices tells Biggins to burn himself.

Mulroney gives Biggins the bus pass and knife from Guigsy. Biggins stares at his reflection in the shiny knife. He sees a face come out of his own skin, telling him to "cut them!" He begins stabbing at the air, arguing with the voices. Mulroney decides the best thing to do is get out of there quickly.

Session 17 - Scene 9 (of 15)

Heading over to the car, Gem asks for his gun back. Mulroney elects to give it to him, keeping ahold of the tire iron for protection.

Putting some of the heroin in the car, Mulroney decides they should head to Chinatown first. When they arrive, Gem notices the neighborhood is quieter than normal, with many shades drawn. He advises the father there could be trouble.

They drive over to the laundry to look for Fung Xian. Parking in the alley, they get out and cautiously approach the back door. Gem tries to listen at the door, but realizes the futility of trying to listen at the door of a large industrial laundry.

Mulroney has Gem head inside first, gun at the ready. When he opens the door and steps in, he spots a Chinese woman carrying a large basket of clothes. She is startled by Gem and drops the laundry and runs off.

Baojia appears a minute later. He yells at Gem and Mulroney, asking what they are doing there. Mulroney tells the boy they are there for payment from Xian. Baojia tells him it is a dangerous time, as last night the word came down, with ten dead in Chinatown.

Mulroney assures the kid that once they get paid, they'll leave. He also mentions having something else Xian might be interested in. The boy curses something in Chinese and leaves.

Moments later, the British-accented voice of Fung Xian can be heard from somewhere behind the hanging sheets. He asks what they want.

Father Mulroney announces himself. Gem scans the room, gun pointed. Fung Xian emerges, calmly telling Gem he won't need the weapon here.

The father tells Fung Xian that his men did not pay him and starts to talk about what happened to him after. Fung Xian is not interested. He curtly tells the priest that the payment was already arranged, and dropped off to Mr. O'Conner, expressing his confusion as he was under the impression Mulroney was doing business with him on behalf of O'Conner.

Father Mulroney realizes the misunderstanding. He tells Xian that they are "independent contractors" and don't work for O'Conner directly. Xian bluntly tells him that they should take up any problems with the money with O'Conner.

Changing the subject, Mulroney tells Fung Xian he also has a separate deal he wishes to discuss with him that doesn't involve O'Conner. Xian tells him to be brief, as he suffered many losses last night and cannot afford more.

Mulroney tells the man that his deal might help him afford more. He shows him the heroin and Fung comments on the purity. But he notes that he has no need for more heroin.

The father tries to convince him that the purity and large quantity of the heroin will make it easy to move. Fung Xian agrees to sell the drugs for him, for a 30% fee. He arranges for his men to come pick up the drugs that night at the warehouse.

Fung Xian originally wants to pay Mulroney once the drugs are sold on the street, but the priest wants a 25% down payment. Xian warns him that if there any problems, he would want the money back and tells him he would not want to make an enemy with the triad.

Session 17 - Scene 10 (of 15)

Meanwhile, Alderman Biggins, after a couple of bus transfers, makes his way to the Dunning Asylum. But things start to go wrong immediately when Biggins asks to see his good friend "Chaos" instead of asking for Alan White and can't remember the boy's real name.

After being chased off by the guard, Biggins elects to try and sneak in. He heads along the fence over to the part of the hospital where the small cemetery is. Looking around, he spots a relatively secluded place he can climb over.

Biggins has a hard time climbing. But he does notice the bars don't seem that strong. The alderman uses his strength, particularly in his webbed hand, and bends the bars out of the way. Once he's inside, he tries to bend the bars back but manages to break off part of the fence. He hides it behind a nearby bush.

Heading into one of the back entrances, Biggins looks around the hospital. He spots an orderly working on stocking one of the closets with his back turned.

The alderman tries to punch in the man's head using his webbed hand. At the last minute, the orderly turns and ducks out of the way and the alderman's fist smashes into the closet door, going straight through it.

The orderly tries to attack back, but Biggins fights him off. With his fist caught in the door, Biggins uses his strength to rip the door off its hinges. He smacks the orderly with the door, getting a glancing blow.

Yelling loudly, the orderly begins running down the hall for help. Biggins breaks the door in half to get his arm out, but by then several orderlies and a doctor are headed for him.

The alderman tries to make a run for it. But the other men are faster, and tackle Biggins to the ground. As the doctor injects him with a tranquilizer, everything goes black.

Session 17 - Scene 11 (of 15)

After leaving Chinatown, Mulroney remembers Kerrigan's comment about the papers being sent to Biggins' office. They decide to head over.

Gem looks around carefully as they drive in, but it looks like there is no more police surveillance around. They park a discreet distance away and head over.

The office is not occupied, and the front door is locked. From past visits, they know there is no back door to this particular office suite.

Gem tries to pick the lock, but doesn't have any luck. Mulroney then decides to force the door open by using his newfound strength to bend the metal frame of the door.

Once inside they look around the office.  Gem spots a couple of interesting envelopes on Biggins' desk – one from the police precinct and one from city hall.

Father Mulroney decides to read over the papers from city hall. Inside the envelope, the first set of papers appears to be the articles of incorporation for Destiny Memorial Funeral Home. The papers list the address as the warehouse address and everything is in the name of Antoine Prendergast. The board of directors is made up of a single person, the chairman of the board of the Marduk Institute. Mulroney pieces together that the fake funeral home is indeed a wholly-owned subsidiary of the institute.

The second set of papers is the articles of incorporation for the Marduk Institute itself. To Mulroney's surprise, these also list the address as the same warehouse; he had always believed the institute was some out of state entity.

Like Destiny Memorial, the Marduk Institute was incorporated by Antoine Prendergast on the same day last October. Unlike the Destiny Memorial papers, these list several members of the board of directors: Antoine Prendergast, Chairman of the Board of Colcord Steel and Industry, Chairman of the Board of the Waterfront Improvement Association, Chairman of the Board of First National Bank, Chairman of the Board of the Lakefront City Tribune, and the Chairman of the Board of Prime Entertainment LLC.

He knows Colcord Steel and Industry is owned by Richard Colcord, who Biggins saw at the Bamboo Room Club. And First National Bank is owned by David Thomas Morgan, whose party Biggins was invited to. Mulroney starts to see that Biggins was in the middle of things all along.

The father can't recall immediately who controls the Lakefront City Tribune, though later that evening he will remember that it is Senator Joseph M. McCormick. He does, however, recall the newspaper story saying the chairman of the WIA was taking over as the acting president, Phelan Fitzroy. Finally, he knows that Prime Entertainment is the company that owns all of the nightclubs in the city under Jonathan Allen Hill; clubs like the Bamboo Room Club.

Father Mulroney starts to understand that the whole affair is a conspiracy by the richest men in the city.

Session 17 - Scene 12 (of 15)

Gem discovers some interesting papers in the envelope from the police as well.

*** Letter from Captain James Deakins to Alderman Jethro Biggins ***

FROM THE DESK OF CAPTAIN JAMES DEAKINS
12TH PRECINCT, LAKEFRONT CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT

TO: Alderman Jethro Biggins
FROM: Captain James Deakins
RE: Antoine Prendergast
DATE: October 24, 1924

Alderman Biggins,

In reference to your query of Antoine Prendergast, I was able to find the name mentioned as a potential witness interviewed in the disappearance last year of a Mr. J. C. Shottum, former head of the Bloomfield County Historical Society.

According to the secretary at the society, the day Shottum disappeared he had several meetings off site, the last of which was with Mr. Prendergast. It concerned an inquiry into his relation to a possible ancestor of his in the Lakefront City area mentioned in a couple of old letters in the Historical Society archives. Apparently the letters had been recently discovered during some renovation work. Though I doubt it has any bearing on your inquiry, I am enclosing photostatic copies of the letters as they are interesting curiosities.

The detective's report on Mr. Prendergast has him stating that Mr. Shottum never arrived at their meeting and they suspected something must have happened to him on his way to the appointment. The case remains open. Could Prendergast have been the cause of the disappearance?

Your servant,
Jimmy Deakins
Captain James Deakins

Enclosure

Session 17 - Scene 13 (of 15)

*** Incomplete Letter Dated November 9, 1871 ***

Frederick,

I hope your first year at university finds you doing well and that you are attending to your studies. Your mother worries so about the cold winters in New England, but I cannot foresee them colder than the icy winds off of the lake here.

A curious occurrence happened upon me yesterday which I will relay on to you. Do you recall our old neighbor, Jeremiah Prendergast, whom you were always afraid of as a child? Well, he is believed to be perished in the great fire that consumed our old neighborhood back in October. I happened to be out walking in that area the other night when I bumped into a man on the sidewalk.

I was astonished when I looked up and saw the face. The man looked just like Jeremiah the last time I saw him, back years ago when he first moved in. I asked the man if he were kin, and he gave his name as Ephraim Cooper, Jeremiah's nephew come to take care of his uncle's estate. He was a very peculiar man and had his uncle's archaic way of speech and old style of clothing.

That night I found myself unable to sleep. There is something very queer with that man. I keep thinking it is something with his eyes – he pretended not to recognize me but I could tell in his eyes he did. Perhaps he visited his uncle once and I was pointed out to him, but I cannot recall Jeremiah ever having visitors except for the late night deliverymen.

Unable to rest, I found myself walking along the foggy streets again the next night, in the vicinity of the burned ruins of Jeremiah's home. As I got closer, I spotted the faint light of a hooded lantern inside the house ruins. I did not dare getting any closer to see what was going on inside, but I swear I could hear the thrust of a spade against the earth.

I plan to venture out again tonight and will finish this letter with what I find. I hope to have the nerve to see exactly what is going on there as I fear it is something nefarious. Of course, it could turn out to be nothing more than a search for a family heirloom and you will believe your father right fit for the madhouse. We shall see.

(letter unfinished)

Session 17 - Scene 14 (of 15)

*** Letter Dated December 19, 1871 ***

Dearest Mother,

I was sorry to hear that there has been no word on what happened with father. I join your prayers for him every night.

I have spoken to the proctor and given him my plans to return home this spring, once the railways are able to be traveled again. I know father's wishes would be for me to continue my studies, but we simply cannot afford it. I hope to be able to obtain a clerkship on my return that will provide for the family. At least I will be able to attend the speech of Mr. Colfax about the importance of the Pacific Railroad when he arrives next week.

I wish you would reconsider sending me the partial letter father was writing me, but I will trust your judgment on the matter. Your mentioning that it concerned old man Prendergast, however, did remind me of something odd that occurred a few weeks after I arrived here.

As you know, I have been working as an assistant clerk in the library archives for Mr. Hollis. One of my first assignments was to help him catalogue a large collection of old letters.

One of the letters I read through was a fascinating discussion about Cotton Mather by a cousin of Magistrate John Hawthorne who was a student here at Harvard. It seems that Reverend Mather had accused one of the boy's professors from here, named William Pendergrist, of witchcraft. But as this was after the unfortunate incidents in Salemtown, Cotton's father Increase Mather intervened using his authority as president of the university, and had the investigation stopped. To avoid a scandal at the school, President Increase discharged Dr. Pendergrist and rumor has it he was also excommunicated from the Puritan church.

After I was reminded about that letter, I went back to the library last week and performed further research. I eventually uncovered an old portrait of Dr. Pendergrist hidden in the library basement. He must be an ancestor of Jeremiah Prendergast – the resemblance between the two is uncanny.
I hope this letter finds you well and I send my love to you and all my brothers and sisters.

With Love,
Frederick

Session 17 - Scene 15 (of 15)

With Gem reading the letters aloud, Mulroney feels they confirm his suspicions. He believes William Pendergrist, Enoch Prendergast, Jeremiah Prendergast, Ephraim Cooper, and Antoine Prendergast are all the same person – someone who has used ancient knowledge, or perhaps magic, to extend his life unnaturally.

Mulroney doesn't really care what Prendergast and the Marduk conspiracy are up to, but he is interested in stealing their secrets to create an unstoppable army he can use to take control of the city...

Session 17 - Session Notes

It took me a while to come up with the opening structure for this session. The main criteria I gave myself was: there had to be some consequences for the characters, but they had to all remain viable. So, I thought through the logical conclusions.

Gem, being a known thief, would be stuck in jail. But someone had to bail him out. Since the other two PCs were indisposed, I thought O'Conner being behind it made sense.

Biggins in the coma made the most sense and was the most game-able. I originally envisioned a scene with Boss Burns visiting him and explaining about the whole "framed by crooked cops" excuse, but his crazy escape worked better so I went along with that. Actually, the whole reason for the 2 weeks later timeline was originally to bring things up to the day before the elections as part of a Biggins plot (which obviously got abandoned as the PCs went down a different path).

For Mulroney, he was always going to be presumed dead because I previously established that everyone injected with a full dose appeared to be dead as part of a dormancy phase. I had several ideas - waking up on ice at his own funeral, waking up at the hospital morgue, waking up in the lair of the conspirators - but ultimately I thought the cemetery worked best because it would keep things from going completely off the rails and go along with the 2 weeks later timeline change.

The best part of the session was that I finally got a chance to give more exposition and now the PCs actually understand at least half of what is going on. We're also clearly picking up steam and nearing the end of the storyline. I expect another session or two should do it.

Other thoughts:
* Originally, Guigsy was going to recover in time for the "big meet". If Mulroney would have been around for the meet and taken credit for getting rid of Ulnovsky and Carmody, he would have gained control of the old Flynn territory and Spike and Doyle would have been his new muscle.

* In case it hasn't been obvious, Captain Ross is Biggins' corrupt enemy on the police force. Ross worked for Flynn who worked for Tolino, and Biggins is clearly allied with the O'Conner side of things.

* Since we'd moved forward two weeks, I was planning on abandoning the Leroy Brown / Ralph Sheldon storylines (have them be taken care of by O'Conner's other guys) but since Gem wanted to deal with it.

* Again, aspects of Leroy Brown's personality discussed come straight from the song.

* The scene at Dr. Kingsley's office was originally planned in mind with Father Mulroney heading over there. Sister Mary was always designed to be the noir femme fatale, who secretly controlled the heroin trade on the North Side. She wanted to kill Mulroney for his bumbling causing her to lose the church as her cover and interfering with her plans. She was going to settle for killing Gem and Guigsy.

* The story of using the dead doctor's credentials to order drugs comes from the Robin Cook book, Godplayer, where I got the Kingsley name. The corpse in the chair is an homage to Psycho. I had him die during prostitution as the natural explanation of how she took over.

* The heroin is described as being in glass ampules. I honestly have no idea how it was distributed in the 20's by doctors.

* Mulroney lost a lot of sanity in the cemetery as he kept making uncomfortable discoveries. He developed necrophilia as a result. Technically, he rolled a sexual paraphilia and I decided that made the most sense. We all agreed it would just be a high-level joke - nothing we would explore while playing.

* Clearly, Mulroney is turning into one of the monsters. As is Biggins. Biggins is slower since he didn't get a full dose.

* Gem lost some sanity seeing Mulroney, and I encouraged him to act as if it was a ghost.

* Mulroney sees the green drug as a sort of super soldier serum he can use to his advantage while Gem sees it as the monstrous, unnatural curse that it is.

* We all nearly died laughing at Biggins' escapades leaving the hospital.

* Mulroney turning Kerrigan to his advantage was an interesting turn of events. I didn't see that one coming.

* Ever since they asked for the money from the Chinese workers, I had always planned to screw them over by having the money go to O'Conner.

* The "last night the word came down, ten dead in Chinatown" phrase is a line from Queensryche's song Empire (which I feel is the spiritual representation of this campaign) that I'd been wanting to slip in for awhile.

* Biggins forgetting Chaos' real name (despite it being used minutes before) is classic Biggins.

* Biggins is likely going to be locked in the asylum (and possibly lobotomized) for the rest of the campaign. He's down to 10 sanity points or so anyway. So, expect a new character debuting next session.

* I hinted about five times for the PCs to go to Biggins' office. I wrote up all those documents so I wanted to be sure they got found. Most of the information could have been found a lot earlier if it had been specifically looked for and/or if Biggins would have made some of those politics rolls I'd had him make for the last however many sessions.

* The articles of incorporation were actually fully-written up legal documents. I got a template off of the web. One thing of note - the documents clearly label the city as being in Illinois, though I like to keep that vague in the game itself.

* I call the conspirators the "Lakefront City Five" in my notes (I don't count Prendergast, who is manipulating them for his own goal). Hopefully more gets revealed on them, what they are up to, and how Krasnik fit into things later.

* The three letters were all printed up using three different types of handwriting fonts. I thought it made things more realistic, but one of the fonts turned out to be annoying to read.

* Deakins' letter nicely explains where J.C. Shottum figures into things. Of course, the PCs didn't realize there was a mystery about him at all since Shoes never revealed the note he found and Mulroney never ventured to the top of the attic at Ravenscry Manor to find his remains.

* The old timey letters from the 19th century were planned back at the very beginning of the campaign. In fact, I had to end up adjusting them for some of the changes I had made. Originally, Ephraim Cooper and Antoine Prendergast were different people (which is why this is the only non-Prendergast name you see). I ended up simplifying the conspiracy plotline a bit (as I have a bad tendency to get the story so overcomplicated the players can't follow it even if I explain it to them).

* The second letter changed considerably from my original thoughts as well. Originally it had very little new information.

* The mention of "Mr. Colfax" is a joke about then Vice President Schuyler Colfax, who was involved with the Credit Mobilier scandal related to the Pacific Railroad.

* The mention of "Mr. Hollis" is a joke as well, HOLLIS is the acronym of Harvard's online library system.

* The connection to Harvard, the Mathers, Hawthorne, and the Salem Witch Trials wasn't added until much later, when I got the idea from Robin Cook's novel, Acceptable Risk (which had a plot involving old letters similar to this sort of thing).

* The fact that he was named "Pendergrist" instead of "Pendergrast" then threw the PCs a little. It was meant as just a bit of color in that the name changed a bit between the 1690's and the 1870's.

* The hidden portrait of Pendergrist looking the same is pure cliché and used in many stories. In this particular case, I was drawing from both the Cook novel as well as Lovecraft's own The Case of Charles Dexter Ward (my personal favorite Lovecraft story).

* Mulroney's reaction at the end is further proof he's not a hero. He doesn't care what the evil men are up to or stopping them. He just wants to take over himself. Gem may well end up being the real hero, as he's not too keen on the father's plans.