Session 3 - Scene 3 (of 10)

Back at the docks, Biggins is getting nervous. It has been nearly half an hour, and the two Polish workers haven't returned yet. With a thick fog coming in off the river, the alderman is having difficulty seeing very far.

Suddenly, Bolus smacks him in the arm and excitedly tells him to look, pointing off into the mists. Looking closely, Biggins can see a humanoid form starting to emerge.

Still is denial of the existence of anything supernatural, the alderman calls out a greeting, introducing himself. As the figure gets closer, Biggins can see it is no monster, but rather a large Irishman.

The man asks Biggins if he is the one waiting for the boat. When the alderman confirms it, the man asks where his friend the priest is.

The alderman is fairly sure this man is familiar with Father Mulroney so he explains the priest will be by soon. The man indicates that he is waiting for the priest to arrive at the behest of Mr. Flynn, who wanted to make sure they found the boat alright.

The man goes on to explain that there has been a change in plans. Because of the nature of the use, Flynn decided not to use one of his own boats. Instead, they "borrowed" a yacht from the Lakefront Yacht Club. The Irishman chuckles that the yacht belongs to "that polo player, Beragon" whom Biggins recognizes as being Monty Beragon, a famous polo player married to the famous opera singer, Veda Beragon.

About then, the headlights from the truck can be seen as Shoes pulls into the parking area. Spotting that they have arrived, the man tosses the boat keys to Biggins, noting he has to go. Shoes catches partial sight of the man as he hurries off, but doesn't get a good enough look at him. Shoes figures it is one of Flynn's muscle, possibly Sean O'Casey.

When Mulroney gets out of the car, Biggins explains the man was working for Flynn and tells them about the new boat. The priest is nervous that something "higher end" will attract attention.

He then notices there is only one dockworker. Biggins explains he sent the other two off to pier 34 but they haven't come back yet. Mulroney is nervous, but decides they should wait another five minutes. In the meantime, he tells Shoes to drive the truck out to pier 21 and have it ready to be unloaded.

Just after Shoes drives by, Mirek and Jedrik show back up, talking in Polish and laughing. Mulroney is so concerned about the operation he fails to notice they've been drinking.

Instead, the priest hands them each a small packet of money, noting they will get half upfront and the other half when the liquor is dropped off at the Lexington Hotel.

Mulroney then instructs Biggins to head over towards the WIA office and check if he can see a car with two youths in it sitting around. The alderman happily agrees, glad to put distance between himself and the pier. The priest then takes the dockworkers over to the pier.

Session 3 - Scene 4 (of 10)

When Shoes gets out of the car, he immediately spots the large yacht. He can tell it is a 1922 Consolidated Commuter, quite a bit larger of a ship than he was anticipating.

As the dockworkers load on the barrels and begin untying the ship, Shoes asks Mulroney about the boat. Mulroney explains what Biggins told him about it belonging to Monty Beragon. Shoes is concerned a boat that big might be missed.

The priest tells Shoes to check around the area to make sure nothing is out of place. Not a minute later, Shoes nearly trips over something in the dark. Looking down, he sees it is a body. He calls the father over.

Before the two can investigate the body in detail, they hear police sirens. The sounds appear to be getting closer. Father Mulroney tells Shoes to get in the truck and get out of there while he jumps onto the boat and yells for the Poles to get away.

Shoes narrowly avoids smashing the truck into a police car as it arrives at the docks. The policemen ignore the truck and begin heading for the pier. They yell for the boat to halt, but by now it is a fair distance away. They fire some shots at it, but it disappears into the fog quickly.

Back on the street, Biggins hears the shots. Heading back towards the pier, he sees that the boat is gone along with the truck, and there are police on the docks.

Heading back towards Flynn's office, he looks around for anyone waiting in a car but doesn't see anyone. He also doesn't spot the figure in the window of Flynn's office, looking out the window with binoculars.

He does, however, notice that another cop car has arrived as well as a morgue wagon. He decides the best course of action is to leave the area and hails a nearby taxi.

Session 3 - Scene 5 (of 10)

Standing on the deck at the bow, Mulroney looks out into the dark fog. The river is not that wide so it won't take long to reach the other side. Still, he would like a better idea of where they are headed.

He's also still concerned about the ship, particularly with the dead body found nearby. He decides to head below deck and look for a flashlight. He calls for Mirek to accompany him. Neither man spots the wet footprints in the lower deck hall.

The two head into the supply room, digging around for a flashlight. Just as Mulroney finds one, he feels a warm splash of blood fly into his face and the scream of Mirek. He turns with the flashlight to see a large humanoid creature standing over the corpse of the dockworker. It has a large, bulbous head with fish-like eyes and a large mouth with sharp teeth.

One of the creature's webbed claws strikes out at Mulroney, but misses. The priest draws his knife and backs up, heading out the door. He tries to hold it shut while looking for a way to bar the door but is no match for the monster's strength. The door bursts open, knocking him back and to the ground.

The commotion has attracted the attention of Jedrik, who appears at the bottom of the stairs from the bow deck. He screams at the sight of the creature. Without thinking, he grabs a small picture off of the wall and throws it, drawing the monster's attention.

Mulroney takes the opportunity to stand up and head up the ladder at the other end of the hall to the captain's deck. As he gets up, he can hear the screams of Jedrik and the sounds of a continuing struggle.

Bolus is terrified and wants to know what is going on. Mulroney tells him to stay at the wheel and get them to land as quickly as possible. He asks the Pole if he's seen a flare gun around. Bolus points out a box nearby. As the priest grabs the gun and loads it, he hears the screams below deck come to an abrupt stop.

Father Mulroney grabs a nearby lantern and readies himself; he knows the creature will be coming any minute. Suddenly, the creature emerges on to the bow deck and heads over the top of the cabin, coming straight for them. The shock is too much for Bolus, who goes into a catatonic state.

Thinking quickly, Mulroney smashes the lantern and covers the area with oil. He then moves away and readies the flare gun. The creature is quicker than he would expect, and he knows he only has time for one shot.

When the monster reaches the captain's area, he fires. The whole middle section of the yacht explodes into flames, covering the monster's front and poor Bolus. The beast attempts to move towards Mulroney, but collapses, dead.

The priest readies the lifeboat into the water and manages to row away just as he hears the sirens of police boats in the distance. He starts his way towards shore, but his weak strength and lack of experience with boats lead him to take well over an hour to reach it.

Session 3 - Scene 6 (of 10)

Shoes sits at St. Vincent's, not sure what to think. After leaving the docks, he headed across the river but then realized they never scoped out the docks along the first ward nor established a rendezvous point when making their plans.

The youth tried to locate a suitable point and wait. But after seeing a large, fiery explosion in the river he decided to leave when Mulroney never showed up after an hour.

Hours later, Father Mulroney shows up at the church. Shoes sees the man is half-burned, soaked, and covered in blood. The priest is quite agitated, carrying on about how he was attacked by the monster and the claws that came at him.

Shoes isn't sure what to think. He believes there must have been some kind of altercation. He ignores the priest's talk of monsters and begins listing the various dangerous people they now owe money to after screwing up the liquor delivery. He does note, however, that Flynn might be OK because it wasn't Flynn's boat they blew up, and they obviously won't have to pay the dock workers any more money.

Just then, Alderman Biggins walks into the rectory. Mulroney again starts to tell his story of the creature in the river, but the alderman is incredulous. He asks Shoes if the priest has been into the liquor again. Shoes dryly remarks that they certainly didn't deliver it.

Biggins tries to ascertain what happened, but Mulroney just carries on about how the beast tried to eat him. Shoes refers to it as an "episode with the dock workers" and sardonically remarks on how he was the one who was almost committed at the asylum.

Shoes sits the father down and gets him a drink. Biggins suggests the priest draw a picture of who killed the dock workers. When Mulroney is finished, Biggins seems the resemblance with the picture he drew based on Maisie's description. The alderman is shocked, believing this could be real after all.

The youthful Shoes is more concerned about deadly humans than monsters. He notes both the Tolinos and O'Conners will be after them for money now, dryly stating they may have to raid the collection plate.

Biggins then explains they have even more trouble. He tells them how after he heard shots on the docks, he went back to his office. There, he saw a note from his secretary with an urgent message to call one of his contacts.

Without mentioning the contact's name, Biggins tells the story of his call to Captain Deakins and how the captain was warning him that the local prohibition agents had been tipped off to Mulroney's liquor operation and are planning to hit it soon. The captain mentioned the men by name, Beck and Burns, but Biggins doesn't recall the specifics when he retells the story.

Shoes looks around the basement room, spotting 20 barrels of whiskey and 40 cases of beer. He wonders aloud if they should just take it all to the Lexington and use it to pay off the Tolinos.

The father, however, is more concerned about the stills and other equipment. Shoes suggests they just blow the church up, which Biggins notes would be covered by insurance. Though, of course, the money would go to the archdioceses and not to Mulroney himself.

Mulroney would rather try to pay off the prohibition agents, but Biggins notes it can be difficult with feds since they have no local, trusted connection to the men. Shoes suggests killing the agents as a more practical measure, noting that no one locally would miss them. But Biggins and Mulroney believe that would cause infinitely more trouble.

Session 3 - Scene 7 (of 10)

As different ideas are being discussed, they hear people coming down the stairs; its Noel and Liam. When Mulroney asks what they have been up to, Noel states they found a car. Liam looks around nervously, says something about them needing to head back up to the car to get something.

After they leave, Shoes feels something isn't right. He suggests they get out of here now. They hear the two starting back down the stairs and Shoes readies his pistol.

As Liam gets to the bottom of the stairs, they can see he also has a pistol in hand. He spots Shoes ready and says, "Oh crap" and Shoes fires off a shot. It misses, as does Liam with a return shot. Liam steps down into the room as Noel comes down with his own gun, a revolver. Everyone moves for cover.

Mulroney yells for Biggins to leave out the basement door and go get help. He then takes out his knife and starts to make his way towards Noel. Noel fires at him but misses with a couple of shots.

Meanwhile, Shoes and Liam exchange a series of three shots each, all missing. Father Mulroney manages to inch his way up but Noel catches him in the shoulder with a round from his .38. Liam, however, misses Shoes, who catches the youth in the gut with one of his shots.

Noel is distracted as Liam collapses, allowing Mulroney to rush up to him. He attempts to stab him with the knife, but Noel manages to hold him off. Shoes points his gun towards the two and yells for Noel to surrender, knowing he has no bullets left to back up the threat.

Suddenly, Noel is smashed in the back of the head by something and collapses. Mulroney looks up to the stairs to see Sister Mary holding a bloodied processional cross. She reminds the father she told him not to trust the hopheads.

On the ground, a bloodied Liam begs for the father not to kill them, stating it wasn't their fault. Mulroney has Shoes tie the men up.

As Shoes completes the knots, Biggins shows up with a beat cop. Mulroney recognizes him as Officer Kerrigan, a local cop on his payroll. Kerrigan wants to know what is going on, but Mulroney explains it as an "unfortunate incident".

Kerrigan sees the blood pooling under Liam and notes he looks bad. He asks the father if he wants the two hauled in, but Mulroney insists they will handle it themselves. Kerrigan isn't so sure; looking the other way on Mulroney's booze and heroin operations is one thing, but murder is another. Mulroney, however, insists no harm will come to the men and convinces the cop to leave.

Session 3 - Scene 8 (of 10)

Once the policeman is gone, Father Mulroney immediately begins berating Biggins for bringing in a cop. Biggins responds that he was told to "get help" and isn't sure what else the priest could have meant.

The priest drops the subject and focuses his attention on the two miscreants. He tells Liam that he'll let the two of them go if he tells them who hired them. Liam doesn't trust the priest, demanding he be taken to a hospital first.

Mulroney then gives the instruction to Shoes, who quickly dispatches Noel with a shot to the head. Liam is anguished by the sudden death of his brother. He begins cooperating, however, telling Mulroney that it was O'Conner who hired them.

O'Conner, Liam explains, is upset because he found out Mulroney was working with the Tolinos to set him up. He hired Liam and Noel to delay the three here and make a call to signal the prohibition agents. O'Conner wanted to make sure all three were arrested.

After confirming Liam had not made any call yet, and that the prohibition agents wouldn't move in until the morning if they do not get a call, he tells Shoes to untie the man and let him go. As Liam gets up and starts stumbling his way towards the stairway, Mulroney gives the nod and Shoes shoots him in the back of the head.

Shoes wonders what they should do now. Mulroney tells the alderman to leave and admonishes him not to bring any more police into it. Shoes also notes for Biggins not to call any fed numbers either.

With Biggins gone, Shoes and Mulroney wrap up the bodies of the two dead youths in carpets and load them into the back of the truck. Once they are out of sight, the priest has Sister Mary get a few more boys down to the basement to help disassemble the equipment so he and Shoes can load it into the truck as well.

Once everything is loaded and they are alone again, Mulroney tells Shoes they will need to get rid of the bodies and the gun used to shoot them. Shoes drives the truck out, the two discussing the plan.

Mulroney doesn't want to burn the church down, as not only would it be sacrilegious, but unlikely to fully hide all the evidence. Instead, he wants to move the equipment elsewhere and start up a new operation while getting the Tolinos to pick up the existing liquor as a form of payment, or perhaps have the police nab them with it instead.

Shoes drops Mulroney off at the Bloomfield County Hospital to have his shoulder wound looked at. He tells the priest he will contact the Tolinos and have them meet Mulroney at the hospital to discuss how to handle the liquor. In the meantime, he'll get rid of the bodies.

He begins by heading over to Little Augie's. Shoes lets Augie know that Mulroney wants a sit-down with the Tolinos at the hospital to arrange a payment for them. Barton agrees to pass along the message, but notes that the Tolinos will probably send a flunky rather than one of the brothers themselves.

Augie also makes small talk about "that mess in the river last night". Shoes stays quiet as Barton goes on to talk about how the remains of four people were found – two burnt skeletons and two dock workers with their heads crushed in; not to mention the cops finding a couple barrels of whiskey.

Barton notes that wasn't the only trouble down by the docks, the body of some union representative was found as well. Knowing that Shoes was planning to ship something that night, he asks if he and the priest were involved in that. Shoes is noncommittal and says he needs to leave. Augie teasingly tells him to try and stay out of trouble.

Session 3 - Scene 9 (of 10)

Shoes' next destination is Harrigan's, looking for O'Conner. The place is pretty dead, none of O'Conner's men are around. He speaks briefly to O'Rorke, the bartender, to let Deanie know he was looking for him. He specifically mentions Liam and Noel.

When he heads out the door, Shoes is immediately stopped by James and John T. O'Bannion, a pair of O'Conner's lieutenants and bloodthirsty killers. James tells Shoes they've been looking for him, and orders him into a nearby car; Shoes is fairly sure the man's hand is on a pistol in his pocket. James notes that although they've previously had little dealings with Shoes and Mulroney as "small time operators", they are starting to cause real problems.

Rather than follow the order right away, Shoes convinces James to go look in the back of the truck first. The O'Bannions agree to have a look, but aren't terribly impressed with the two dead bodies of Liam and Noel.

James asks him what the meaning of showing them was. Shoes replies with his usual sardonic banter that he wanted to return the brothers to O'Conner since they were "his". James has his brother smack Shoes in the side of the head and calls him a smart aleck. He repeats his demand for Shoes to get in their car as the two shove him towards it.

John T. gets in the driver's seat and James has Shoes sit in the passenger seat. James then gets into the back, sitting directly behind Shoes. The youth stays calm, but wonders if the brothers plan to murder him now. He asks where they are headed, and James responds they are going to see O'Conner.

The gangsters drive Shoes over to O'Conner's small house in the heavy Irish neighborhood in the 2nd Ward. They take him into the house and confiscate his weapons before letting him see O'Conner in the parlor.

O'Conner gets out of his chair, wearing a smoking jacket. He tells Shoes, "you got moxie, kid". He asks why Shoes' boss is trying to set him up, revealing he knows all about Mulroney's conversation with Tolino.

Shoes plays dumb, saying the father's business is his own. O'Conner tells Shoes he'll give him some advice, and proceeds to tell him he's tying himself to a sinking ship. He then tells the youth he could be valuable and that his gang could use someone like him.

The unexpected offer surprises Shoes. But he stays loyal to Mulroney. He explains to O'Conner about Mulroney's plan to set up the Tolinos with the liquor raid on the church. O'Conner is wary rather than happy; he warns Shoes that crossing the Tolinos will lead to a lot of bloodshed and that he and the priest will never survive.

Shoes tries to negotiate with O'Conner, saying they need a place to hide out and suggesting O'Conner has enough connections to keep them safe.  Deanie asks what's in it for him. Shoes explains that if they can keep some of their territory, naturally they'd give him a cut of it.

Deanie likes the idea, noting his plans to gain control of the 1st Ward along with the entire north side. He explains about his supply of whiskey straight from Canada, and how he'd like to use Mulroney to expand westward into the Genna Brothers territory.

He then stops to ask Shoes about what happened the previous night on the river. Shoes tries to explain it as "an incident involving Polacks and smoking on a boat" but Deanie's not buying it. His connections told him there was part of a Statesville Prison uniform found on one of the charred remains and now everyone is worried about a possible escapee situation which is causing difficulties.

O'Conner also cautions Shoes about how he believes they are crazy for working with Flynn, noting that Flynn is deeply connected to Tolino. He tells Shoes that if they partner up, he expects no more "funny business", noting that the reason Shoes and Mulroney are still alive is that he has an aversion to killing a priest, but that won't hold up forever.

Deanie goes on to explain the rules. He'll let Mulroney and Shoes continue to operate, but they will be expected to expand into the Genna territory at their own risk. He will also give them a new warehouse to run their operations. In exchange, he expects a 60/40 cut of all money, in his favor. He also establishes that he'll turn a blind eye to their heroin operation, but he doesn't want them running any whores. With little choice, Shoes agrees to the deal.

Session 3 - Scene 10 (of 10)

Once Shoes dumps the bodies where they won't be found and unloads the brewing and still equipment at the new warehouse, he heads over to check in on Alderman Biggins. He finds the alderman at his office.

As the two head over to the hospital, Biggins explains about another call he had with his contact that morning. Captain Deakins (who is not named by Biggins to Shoes) had called Biggins to warn him about the trouble at the docks the previous night. Apparently, the body of union steward Jim Malloy was found at the docks, shot in the back of the head. In addition, there was the matter of the burning yacht in the harbor.

According to Deakins, the yacht is registered to Montgumery Beragon, a well-known local polo player. Four dead bodies were found aboard – two were identified as Polish dockworkers Mirek Zielinski and Jedrik Nowakowski; they were found with their heads crushed in. The other two were charred, mostly skeletal remains that have not yet been identified. One of those bodies was found with a partial Statesville Prison uniform on.

Biggins leaves out the final part of the conversation with the captain, where he let it slip that he was in the area at night and how the captain didn't believe his story about being out for a walk. Nor does the alderman mention the captain's warning for Biggins to try and stay out of trouble, as the docks area is outside his ward and he will have little protection there.

When they finally arrive at the hospital, the two quickly realize Mulroney has not checked in under his own name. Shoes decides to ask the admittance nurse, describing the father as a "half-burnt Irishman" with a gunshot wound.

Father Mulroney's location is eventually found, under the name of "Rocco Jonesey", whom Shoes then calls "Uncle Jonesey" for the benefit of the nurse. When Shoes explains what he's been up to, Mulroney quickly realize they will have a problem if the Tolinos arrive looking for him under his actual name. Shoes offers to go take watch.

Before Shoes leaves, Biggins explains about his phone call; the matter of the prison uniform found is a bit unsettling. Shoes wonders if the "monster" the priest saw was actually an escaped prisoner, but the father insists it was an inhuman beast with claws. As Shoes heads out to the lobby, he wonders if Dr. Bronfenburgher almost committed the wrong man...

Session 3 - Session Notes

This session was packed with things going on. In retrospect, probably too many things going on at once, but that's just how it turned out. It was a lot of fun, even if the Biggins player didn't manage to get himself killed off during his last session (or will it be his last... I'm already hearing discussion of skype again...)

Some random thoughts about the session:

* This session is from almost two weeks ago. It took me a while to type up my 16 pages of handwritten notes.

* Mulroney's car has never actually been described in the game, but when I do the write-ups, I'm thinking they are tooling around in a pretty old car; he is a priest after all. Granted, I assume both the car and the delivery truck are paid for with illicit bootlegging money and not from the archdiocese.

* Bolus, Mirek, and Jedrik did not have proper names during the session. I just gave them names during the write-up to make it easier (grabbing three random ethnic Polish names).

* The Sister Mary character was previously mentioned as my idea for one of the players to have a PC. Since she won't be joining us anytime soon (or possibly ever), I went ahead and had her make an appearance. I wanted to give a little more depth to Mulroney's organization; it can't just be him and Shoes.

* The heroin-addict brothers Liam and Noel are clearly a slam on the Gallagher brothers from Oasis. None of the players seemed to catch the joke, but my gf caught it immediately when reading my notes.

* The Irishman at the docks was not Sean O'Casey, but one of Flynn's other goons. Since Biggins doesn't know Flynn's guys and Mulroney and Shoes didn't get a good look at him, I figured I'd leave the identity a mystery for the moment.

* The famous polo player, Monty Beragon, comes straight out of the novel, Mildred Pierce (as does his wife, Veda). He's not intended as a main NPC, just adding some flavor.

* About a dozen Notice skill checks were missed during the scenes at the docks, some of them called out in the write-up. Note that the story still proceeds just fine, just that the PCs missed a lot of clues that would explain more.

* As I anticipated, the PCs assumed the body was a monster attack. Even after they found out it was a dead union guy later on, I'm still not sure they pieced together that Flynn's guy killed him and called the cops to set them up (also the reason they aren't using Flynn's boat).

* I admit, I'm taking a metric ton of dramatic license with the size of the river. Clearly this is not the same river that runs through Chicago in real life; I have it something more like the east river in NYC or the San Fransisco Bay.

* The monster finally meets the PCs. I killed off the NPCs pretty quickly (I barely bother to roll for that kind of stuff), but the Mulroney character did really good (and had a great idea about the flare gun); particularly since I originally expected the more combat-ready Shoes to be the one on the boat.

* Mulroney failed his SAN check when spotting the creature and lost 5 points. The player did a great job of having him ramble on about the monster coming at him with its claws later on.

* The part where Shoes (and his player) first realizes they never had a plan on how to meet up on the other side was hilarious.

* I love how the Shoes player has his character very down to earth and not believing in monsters, depite the mounting evidence (causing him to come up with increasingly dry remarks that try to rationalize things).

* The call from Captain Deakins was planned to happen. Biggins would have gotten it earlier but at the last minute they decided not to go back to his office first.

* The plot with Noel and Liam being bought by O'Conner was a direct result of the previous conversations. Basically, part of the setup has always been that O'Conner has a contact around the Tolinos. So, naturally, he would have heard about Mulroney's plan for double-crossing him.

* I nearly cheered at how Mulroney and Shoes dispatched Liam and Noel, because it was a classic anti-hero moment (often seen on shows like The Sopranos or Sons of Anarchy).

* Shoes going straight to O'Conner was unexpected. I suppose it would have been more logical for him to end up dead, but not nearly as interesting.

* I think I mentioned before, the O'Bannion brothers come straight from Legends of the Fall, and our frequent villains I use (regardless of the game being played).

* O'Conner wanting Mulroney to cut into the Genna Brothers territory is one of those things that led to the death of his real-life counterpart, Dean O'Banion.

* I had a couple of the NPCs refer to the boat incident in order to pass along the clue about the Statesville Prison uniform. Hopefully they decide to follow up on that because it leads to a lot of other clues.

* The plan to double-cross the Tolinos is quite ill-fated, and I tried to warn the PCs off of it. But we'll see...

Session 4 - Cast of Characters

Father Clink Mulroney - Irish Roman Catholic priest running a bootlegging operation out of his church
 
Alderman Jethro Biggins - Corrupt city alderman on the take from Mulroney
 
Francis "Shoes" McDougal - Young street criminal and former orphan acting as Mulroney's chief lieutenant / muscle

Session 4 - Scene 1 (of 6)

Shoes stands out in the lobby of the hospital while Alderman Biggins waits next to Father Mulroney's bed on the floor of the ward. Mulroney thinks about his plan to set up the Tolinos. He takes the piece of paper with the phone number for the Prohibition Unit that he took from Liam and gives it to the alderman, instructing him to head over to the church and keep a lookout, and call the number when he spots Tolino's men coming out of the church with the alcohol.

Jethro heads down to the lobby and finds Shoes waiting. The two begin talking, with Biggins explaining Mulroney's plan. As Shoes turns around from talking with Biggins, he spots a young Italian man behind him arguing with the duty nurse about looking for a "Father Mulroney", and the nurse responding that no one is registered with that name.

Shoes approaches the man with an offer of assistance. Next to the young Italian man is another older, taller man who appears to be Spanish. The Italian man tells Shoes they are looking for Father Mulroney. Rather than immediately lead them back to the priest, Shoes tries to draw out who they are working for.

But the men are not interested in conversation. They take a step towards Shoes in an intimidating manner. He can also spot that the Italian man is likely carrying a small pistol in his jacket, though the Spanish man appears unarmed.

After a brief back and forth, the Italian man gets tired of the discussion and finally commits that they are there at the behest of "Big Al". Shoes knows this means they are Tolino's men, so he shows them back to the ward. Along the way, Shoes notices that behind him the tall man is looking through a wallet, takes some money out, then tosses it towards a trash can, missing. Shoes tries to act like he hasn't noticed but makes a mental note to check out the wallet later.

When they arrive at Father Mulroney's bed, the Italian man introduces himself as "Mr. Nitti" and his companion as "The Basque". He explains they are there as representatives of Big Al and want to know why the priest requested a sit down.

Mulroney launches into a speech about having excess production and wanting to make a gift to Tolino because of his inability to deliver some alcohol the previous night due to "bad luck on a boat" and the cut for Tolino that went along with it. Nitti voices his suspicions that something is off with Mulroney's story, but Mulroney dismisses it by saying that lots of things went wrong that night – briefly mentioning the boat being procured by an Irish mobster, the dead body and the police, and a strange encounter with a creature on the boat. As Mulroney describes the creature, Nitti rolls his eyes and voices disbelief but the Basque cuts him off, finally speaking a single word, "Diablo".

Nitti doesn't want to continue the conversation about the creature and returns to talking about the liquor. Mulroney gives him the location of the church. The mobster tells the priest he'll discuss the situation with his boss and let him know. As he and the tall man prepare to leave, he makes a joke about Mulroney staying away from dead bodies and Irish mobsters in the future.

As the two leave, Mulroney calls out to the Basque, "Diablo?" He responds, "Si, Diablo." He tries talking some more in Spanish, but neither Shoes nor the priest make any sense of it (not speaking Spanish) and Nitti eventually gets him to leave.

Session 4 - Scene 2 (of 6)

Once he's sure the men are gone, Shoes heads back to the hallway and retrieves the wallet. Walking back over to Mulroney, he explains how he saw the Basque grab the money and toss it. Opening the wallet, Shoes spots a slip of paper and a driver's license for "Jethro Neville Biggins". As he states it aloud, Father Mulroney gets excited – telling him to get to Biggins as soon as possible.

Mulroney is worried about Shoes being able to find Biggins because they don't know where he'll be watching the church from, but Shoes notes the alderman is not an expert of disguise.

Shoes, figuring Tolino's men won't be heading to the church right away, heads over to the church at a sensible speed. The heavy traffic of mid-day makes it take longer than he would wish. When he gets to the neighborhood, he can't spot Biggins right away so he drives around for a while.

Biggins notices a truck that keeps heading around the block. Looking closer, he sees that it is Shoes. He heads out into the street to flag the youth down.

For his part, Shoes doesn't stop the truck but breezes by the alderman, tossing out his wallet to him. Biggins isn't able to catch the object but realizes it is a wallet as soon as it hits the ground. Checking his pocket, he quickly realizes his own wallet is missing.

The alderman is confused how and why Shoes had his wallet, also noting that his cash is missing. Shrugging, he heads back over towards his observation spot. Up the street, Shoes has a revelation – if the Basque was close enough to pinch the wallet from Biggins then he might also have heard them talking.

Biggins spots the truck make a fast u-turn up the street and head back towards him. He can tell Shoes isn't a very good driver, with the truck fishtailing. After hitting a curb and a loud clunking noise, the truck stalls out and slowly comes to a stop in from of the alderman.

At the opposite end of the street, a car is coming towards the men quickly. Shoes can't get a good look at the occupants but recognizes they are in danger. He immediately grabs the alderman and throws them behind cover.

As the car passes, the automatic fire of a Tommy gun rings out reducing the truck to Swiss cheese. Biggins also spots Shoes bleeding heavily from a shot near his shoulder.

Grunting through the pain, Shoes has Biggins lead him over to the church and into the garage. The car does not return, and the youth hopes the gangsters think he and the alderman were killed. Inside the garage he gets in Mulroney's car and tells Biggins to drive him to the hospital.

The two make it in good time. Taking a cue from Mulroney, Shoes has himself admitted under the name of "Jethro Jonesey".

Session 4 - Scene 3 (of 6)

Meanwhile, Mulroney lies in his bed, not realizing what has happened. He doesn't even notice that the orderly coming over to fluff his pillow is Italian until it is too late.

Suddenly unable to breathe, Mulroney tries to shove his assassin off, but the man is too strong. He also tries to kick at him, but isn't having much luck. With the pillow still pressed down hard, Mulroney begins to lose consciousness.

Down the hall, Biggins makes his way over to Mulroney's bed on the other ward after Shoes has his surgery. He spots an Italian orderly exit the curtains of the bed up ahead and knows something is wrong. He runs over and sees the pillow over Mulroney's face. Taking it off, he sees the man has started to turn blue.

Biggins immediately yells for help. A nurse comes over and is able to resuscitate Mulroney after a tense minute or so. When he regains consciousness, she tells him how lucky he was.

The alderman starts to explain that someone tried to harm "Mr. Jonesey", and the nurse wants to call the cops. Father Mulroney, barely able to speak, tells Biggins to stop her. As before, he doesn't want any cops involved.

Instead, Mulroney wants Biggins to get him out of the hospital. After getting the nurse to not make the call, the alderman reflects that he's not sure if the Italian man would have heard them saving Mulroney or not and agrees it is not safe there.

The priest then asks after Shoes, and Biggins explains about the shooting. Father wants to wait until Shoes is OK to move then get both of them out.

Biggins heads down to the area where Shoes is recovering and gives him an update. Shoes instructs him to gather a couple of wheelchairs and check the car, then come back for him and Mulroney.

After finding a couple of wheelchairs, Biggins heads out to check the car. Looking it over inside and out, he determines it hasn't been tampered with; at least to the best of his limited mechanical knowledge.

Heading back inside, Biggins takes Mulroney out to the car first. The priest is still concerned about the car but gets inside. The alderman then heads back to get Shoes, who keeps his gun ready under a blanket over his body.

Shoes directs Biggins over to the new warehouse in the 2nd ward of the city. Once he and Shoes are unloaded, the priest instructs Biggins to go back to the church and talk to Sister Mary; they need to get rid of the alcohol. After ruling out ideas to transport the alcohol somewhere, he decides Mary will need to get some of the boys to destroy everything and get it down the drain. The two men also instruct the alderman to bring them back some pillows and blankets (and the father's teddy bear).

Session 4 - Scene 4 (of 6)

By the time Biggins reaches the street St. Vincent's is located on, the cops are already there and the truck has been towed out of the middle of the street, though glass and shell casings litter the ground.  The church itself doesn't seem to be the source of any activity, however.

After looking around to make sure the area is safe, Biggins heads inside and meets up with Sister Mary. Her icy stare, as it usually does, unnerves him. He explains there has been an accident with the father, which she assumes is related to the shooting outside. Biggins half-explains that the shooting is related before going into the list of things he needs. He won't tell the nun exactly where Mulroney and Shoes are at, but does note it is somewhere comfortable.

He then explains to Mary that she will need to gather some boys and get rid of the liquor. After verifying Mulroney wants everything gone, she asks Biggins about her "operation". Biggins, ignorant of the nun's heroin trade, says he's not sure.

Sister Mary tells Biggins that without an order from Mulroney, she plans to continue her operation. Biggins tries to pry out of her some specifics, but she tells him he wouldn't want to know. She also comments that it is better she continue, lest she upset "the doctor".

Biggins starts to go into specifics about the police raid, but Mary isn't interested. She waves him off, telling him she will take care of the situation, "as always", and remarking that "you boys are always playing too rough".

After returning to the warehouse, Biggins explains to Shoes and Mulroney about the conversation. The father congratulates him, mentally noting that Biggins is finally becoming a competent functionary. Shoes says it explicitly, however, calling Biggins' sudden competence a "pleasant surprise".

Shoes then notes that their operations are going to take a hit. Given the heat from both the cops and Tolino, they will need to lay low for a while. Biggins states his intent to work on finding them a better safe house to recuperate in.

Father Mulroney is busy planning on how to get business going. The longer they take, the more in debt they'll be to O'Conner, who is not a patient man. His first order of business is replacing the truck they lost.

The priest instructs Biggins to head back to Mary with another set of messages. He wants her to "take some of the petty cash" and get a new truck purchased. Biggins notes her question about her operations. Mulroney, also not wanting to upset Mary's heroin contact (which she only refers to as "Dr. X"), tells Biggins to have Mary continue but keep it away from the church.

Shoes also notes they'll need some corn to ferment, so they should bring the truck loaded with a batch. He also wonders if the Basque noticed Biggins' address in the wallet, cautioning the alderman to stay away from home for a few days. Jethro notes he can stay in his office for a few days, and plans to send his wife and six kids to her sister's place up in Sheboygan.

Biggins' second trip to Sister Mary goes as well as the first. She informs him that "gentlemen from the government" stopped by while he was out, but everything went fine. She cautions that he and the others need to be more careful or she will be "lighting a candle" for them soon.

Meanwhile, Mulroney and Shoes try to figure out what to do next. They'd like to pay a visit to their "good friend" Ned Flynn, but aren't in any shape to do it at the moment. Shoes wants to look into the prisoner uniform more; he wonders if it is related to a stowaway or perhaps related to Flynn's machinations. Father Mulroney is still unconvinced; he insists he saw a monster on the ship and it was only a convict if the convict was "from another dimension".

Shoes wants to start by getting records from Statesville Prison, something Biggins should be able to help with. Mulroney is focused on the creature, and plans to spend some time looking into the claw.

Session 4 - Scene 5 (of 6)

The next week is spent with Shoes and Mulroney healing up and doing some research along with Biggins. They also have a brief meeting with John T. and James O'Bannion, who caution them about their precarious position due to "playing with matches". They do say O'Conner will see what he can do to keep the Tolinos from wiping them out, but it's going to cost a large favor.

Father Mulroney spends his time researching the claw. He decides the best course of action is to get in touch with a zoologist at one of the local universities. Settling on North-Central University as the largest state university in the area, he sets up a meeting with the Associate Director of Biology, a zoologist named Dr. Gary Galbreth.

The priest tells the professor of a recent "crisis of faith", discussing his monster encounter. Dr. Galbreth explains that cryptozoology is not his specialty, or something he has much interest in. However, when shown the claw, his interest increases.

Dr. Galbreth describes the claw as appearing to be possibly feline, and referring to various cases of "phantom cats", cryptids of mega-fauna cats sighted in various areas around the world.

Biggins, fascinated by Dr. Galbreth's discussion, shows the professor a drawing of the creature he saw. The professor notes the creature has characteristics more aquatic than feline in nature. He makes a photostatic copy of the picture and wonders if it is some kind of sea creature.

Mulroney notes he did encounter it on the docks. Galbreth theorizes it could perhaps be related to the long-mythical Loch Ness Monster; however, he does note that lake monsters typically take a more fish-like form. The doctor agrees to take the claw and perform some more tests on it.