Park Wars

The Park Wars story arc began when Mages noticed odd deaths in and around Granite Park. After further investigations resulted in three deaths, the Arrows launched a strike within the park and narrowly defeated a large group of zombies within an abandoned Bell Building.

• 8328 Jackson Road
• 38° 32' 45" N, 121° 23' 53" WLatitude: 38.545736
  Longitude: -121.398175
• Chronicled from 07 March 2009 to 30 June 2010

Contents 1 Initial Investigations 2 The Long Arm of Fate 2.1 The Price of a Rote 2.2 Consilium Involvement 2.3 New Friends 2.4 Disaster Strikes 2.5 Aftermath 2.6 From the Ashes 3 The Arrow Takes Over 3.1 On the Offensive 3.2 One More Casualty 3.3 Stairwell Fight 3.4 The Basement 3.5 Final Showdown 4 Wider effects 4.1 Heart of Granite 5 Scenes

Initial Investigations

While skating in Granite Park, Ollie was approached by one of his friends whose brother Randall had been missing. After a bit of investigation, he found Randall's corpse, from which the eyes had been removed. Peering into the past, he saw a hooded figure plucking out, and apparently eating, the eyes. Ollie soon visited the Rage, the one mage hangout he'd heard of, seeking help. The owner, Jammer, soon approached him, and Ollie told him his story. Jammer pointed him to Jenner, a sleepwalker at Mercy Hospital.

Jenner had received three other corpses from the area around Granite Park, each missing a different body part, and all bearing claw marks similar to those seen on Randall. He suggested that Ollie and an Adamantine Arrow named Dr. Roberts continue to investigate. The investigation turned up little, but as they were preparing to leave a sniper shot Dr. Roberts. The two quickly got in the car and drove off toward the Rage, and Dr. Roberts healed himself.

Ollie told Jammer what happened and asked for help learning a rote for Postcognition. Jammer pointed him to Curator Primoria, with the warning that she didn't give things away for free.

The Long Arm of Fate

The Price of a Rote

Ollie visited the Fillard Goldman Museum and asked to see Dr. Primoria. Instead Starling met with him, and agreed to give him the rote in exchange for a favor to be declared at a future date. Ollie's agreement caused him to be bound up in a Geas.

Armed with his new knowledge, Ollie returned to the building where the sniper had been, only to discover the sniper's body, sans hands. His postcognition revealed the same figure sneaking up on the sniper.

Consilium Involvement

Ollie visited the Museum again with several friends and explained everything that had happened to Tyria and Provost Ankh. Ankh promised back-up if they got in over their heads and to heal anyone who got hurt.

New Friends

Ollie, Ghoster and Zero met up at Granite Park at sunset to try to piece together more about the attacker. Instead they found a man, half-naked and with no memories whatsoever of his past. They quickly discovered he was Awakened and gave him the name Guy Park, but while leaving ran into another mage, Logos.

The five made their way back to the museum to see Tyria, although Zero wandered off. Tyria then called in the favor Ollie owed by asking him to teach Guy and another newly-Awakened mage named Valkyrie.

Disaster Strikes

While Ollie brought Guy and Val back to his house to begin teaching them, Logos and Ghoster decided to explore Granite Park on their own. Logos climbed the building the sniper had been found on, while Ghoster stayed below as bait. Soon Ghoster spotted unnatural shadows and called for help, but Logos had problems of his own: similar shadows climbing the fire escape. The two mages found themselves cut off, surrounded by zombies.

As Logos fought on the roof, Ghoster broke away from the zombies surrounding him, easily outpacing them as he ran toward the skate park. Hiding under a half pipe, he texted Ollie for back-up. Meanwhile, Logos had taken down the zombies fighting him and begun to catch up with his friend. He saw several other zombies approaching, including three that were walling off the entrance to the skate park with a bleacher.

Just then, Guy, Val, and Ollie arrived on the scene in Val's car. But that was far from an end to the group's troubles. The onset of rain made the ground slick, making footing perilous, and Logos and Ghoster were now trapped. As the other three attempted to come to their rescue, the zombies continued their attacks. Fortunately, the slick ground caused as many problems for the zombies as for the mages.

Finally, Ghoster ran toward the bleachers, giving Logos his lighter. Before Logos had a chance to use it, however, the zombies tore into him, swiftly ending his life. But his death wouldn't be the last. As the remaining mages attempted to make their escape, the zombies continued to claw at Ghoster. Seeing Ghoster had no chance of making it on his own, Ollie picked him up and carried him away. But this only gave the undead the chance to attack Guy, who also fell under the onslaught.

With Guy's death, Ollie's promise to tutor him and Val was broken, and the Geas on him unravelled. With fate itself turning against him, he could barely save himself, let alone any of the others. Disoriented and confused, he did the only thing he could: ran.

But Ghoster still wasn't out of harm's way. The zombies continued their assault with the most horrific weapon within reach: Logos' head. The next claw attack rendered him unconscious, but Valkyrie refused to abandon her friend. She wrapped the shadows around him, which confused the undead enough to keep them at bay long enough to reach her car, but they continued to attack her. Fighting blood loss, she started the car and began to drive away, despite three flat tires.

It wasn't long before the flat tires took their toll and Val lost control of it. Frantically, she tried to stop Ghoster's bleeding, but it was too late even for her paramedic skills. Granite Park had claimed its third victim.

Aftermath

Val was alone. Alone with her wrecked car, a cooling corpse, and no one she could trust. So she called 911. Epopt Zilker intercepted the call, telling her to wait for him. The conversation was interrupted by the arrivals of Ollie and Orphan, a member of the Arrow who had just arrived in town.

In a flash of anger, Val threw the phone at Ollie, only to have it shatter against the sidewalk. Knowing when he wasn't wanted, Ollie left, and Orphan soon heard scraping sounds. Thinking it might be the zombies, he moved the body to his car and drove Val back to her apartment.

The next morning, Ollie checked in at the museum to tell Tyria what had happened. She explained the Geas and released him from it, and informed him that Valkyrie hadn't been seen since the previous night.

Soon after, Orphan and Val stopped by the museum to check in. Starling led them into his office, and Hierarch Andrade followed them in. After listening to their story, Andrade decreed that because Val had turned down Zilker's aid, no mage would be allowed to heal her current wounds. Starling then told Val that the city's Arrows and Guardians were headquartered at the Circle of Creation.

From the Ashes

That evening, Ollie met Ankh at Dagwood's to explain what had happened and ask for help. At first, her reaction was cold, but she quickly realized that it wasn't his fault and eased up. Tug soon joined the conversation and offered his help and that of his brother Falx.

Not long after, Val and Orphan stopped by the Circle of Creation, where Val quickly found her entry blocked by the Ward. Continuing inside, Orphan found Magister West and Zilker, who invited Valkyrie in. Zilker soon departed, leaving the new arrivals with West, who asked them about what had happened, and began to piece together whether Val should become an Arrow or Guardian.

The Arrow Takes Over

Some time after the Granite Park disaster, West used it as an object lesson on strategy before assigning them to investigate the park for themselves.

On the Offensive

The Arrows explored Granite Park with Ollie and Ryan North. They quickly discovered that the resonance of the old Bell Building was oddly indistinct. Soon rain clouds began approaching, reminding Ollie of the previous attack. Several climbed to the roof of a nearby building, where Ollie noticed a figure watching them from the distance.

One More Casualty

As the group began to approach the figure, he disappeared around the corner of the Bell Building. Ollie ran off ahead, far faster than the others could keep up, and recognized it as Logos, who lashed out at him with what appeared to be Celestial Fire. Orphan repeatedly rewound time in an attempt to save Ollie, but the Arrows were simply too far back to have any appreciable effect. Before anyone could get close, Logos finished Ollie off fled into the Bell Building.

The Arrows discussed what to do with the body, finally leaving it with Viktor and Trench as they continued inside, heading toward the basement.

Stairwell Fight

Orphan opened the door to the basement, releasing a concussion grenade which injured and temporarily blinded himself and those around him. He quickly rewound time and warned the others of the danger. Joshua turned the door transparent to discover three zombies behind it as Tug heard a door being opened upstairs. A few of the Arrows followed him to deal with that threat, just before the zombies blew the door off its hinges. Meanwhile, those upstairs were greeted by a grenade, which they avoided by jumping down a flight.

Those downstairs had their own problems. The zombies in the basement threw a grenade, which Joshua kicked back at them, at the same time exposing himself to their gunfire. A zombie soon dropped in on the upstairs group, carrying four grenades with pulled pins. Orphan sprawled on top of it to protect the others, quickly discovering more grenades. Realizing hiss mistake, he rewound time, instead attempting to toss the zombie through the door. But Bacchus ruined this chance, attempting to pass the two and instead falling on them. Instead Orphan dropped the zombie and ran for cover before the blast shredded Bacchus.

After a vicious fight, the Arrows defeated the zombies downstairs and continued into the tunnel that was revealed behind them.

The Basement

Continuing onward, some of the Arrows noticed something seeping power away from their spells. Eventually, they reached a lit, open space with a giant pit in the center, dominating everything. They quickly noticed Logos further in, but before they could attack him, the pit eroded the spell animating him. The Arrows used the time down there for spellcasting in preparation to fight through the remaining zombies. Brutus soon snapped, crying out in a Paradox-induced fear of the darkness surrounding everyone. His screaming sapped already-flagging morale. Finally, Tug commanded two snakes to choke Brutus, just enough to leave him unconscious.

Final Showdown

The Arrows continued back up the tunnel and prepared to retake the stairway from the zombies. Teegan traveled upward invisibly, finding the stairs clear up past the first-floor landing. But the room they had entered through was crawling with the undead. The Arrows rushed into action, fighting desperately for their very lives. One by one, bodies dropped to the floor, mages and zombies alike, leaving only Teegan standing against the last few zombies. Despite grievous wounds and their continued assault, she picked them off before waking Brutus, allowing him to heal Joshua and Tug.

Teegan then transferred the last of her mana to Tug, allowing him to bring the remaining mages back to consciousness. Exhausted, half-dead, and nearly out of resources, the Arrows made their retreat through the now-cleared room and back outdoors, where they were met by Epopt Zilker. After a quick debriefing, Zilker fully healed everyone's wounds.

Granite Park had claimed two more victims.

Wider effects

Heart of Granite

The Arrow largely ignored the park over the next several months, but others began to notice. Soon a werewolf pack calling itself Heart of Granite claimed the territory surrounding the park, centering their holdings on the locus that had formed from the bleacher where the original three mages had died. Patrolling their territory eventually led them to investigate Bell Building, but they soon pulled out after a contact poison rendered one pack member temporarily blind.

Final Scene(s) Missing

Scenes

• • Skating Granite
  • All the Rage
  • Mercy Hospital
  • Searching for Leads
  • At the Rage
  • At The Museum
  • Back to the Scene
  • On Campus
  • Search for Answers
  • Auntie Tyria
  • Sunset at the Park
  • Back to the Museum
  • To Ollie's
  • Searching for Clues at the Park
  • It Really Happened
  • Facing the Music
  • Dinner @ Dagwoods
  • Report on the lines, and other stuff
  • We're off to see the Wizards
  • Mustering the Troops
  • The Funeral
  • Doomsday Church
  • Granite Park
  • Park Wars: The Arrows Strike Back
  • Once More Unto the Breach, Dear Friends, Once More ...
  • Bodies in the Basement
  • Heart of Granite Locus Hunt
  • Granite Park Investigation
  • Snoopin' and Poopin'
  • Granite Park meeting Max
  • Granite Park patrol
  • That Voodoo that Who Do?