Summary of Session 2

Dessa Novikov is an old Russian leper, part of a migrant family that has currently taken up residence in the coal town of Obolensk, Russia, a coal town outside of St. Petersburg.

For many years, Obolensk was controlled by a man named Alexei Vasilev, who ran the coal mines during the Communist regime. When the Soviet Empire collapsed, organized crime rose up to take the place of the old taskmasters, and with it came a man named Viktor Sorokin. Viktor is a Cammoran, who has patiently waited for the fall of Communism to return to his full strength. Now, he has constructed a new coal plant, and plans to make Obolensk his home from which to rule the economy of Russia.

The adventure begins with Dessa waking up and finding out that Viktor is expanding his plant, destroying the shacks in his way. While she initially decides merely that this means she and her family must move on, she then meets up with a despairing Alexei. Sitting next to an ugly black dog, the taskmaster pleads for help, and grimly points out that few other towns would accept a nomadic family full of lepers. Realizing that she has no choice, Dessa begins plans to stop Viktor.

Gathering her family, she plans to arrange protests, hoping that the other families will do something other than mope. After some rallying, she convinces her family and friends to attack the construction site at night. Unfortunately, Viktor's supernaturally perceptive guards stop everyone who tries to sneak in.

Taking another tack, she decides to approach the new workers that Viktor is using. Pleading for help and understanding, she succeeds in drawing out many that are sympathetic to the locals' plight, but any attempts at conspiracy are destroyed when a jeep full of Viktor's thugs show up. After some posturing, they start shooting, and Dessa scrambles for cover.

Looking into an alley, she spots a large black dog--the same creature she saw earlier when talking to Alexei. It's fighting with a person, or rather, the Anchor of a distant Power. As the fight rages, the alley dissolves into dust and slime, but the dog keeps coming, and finally tears the man's throat out.

The dog, mortally wounded, approaches Dessa, who offers it food and kind words. The dog responds, speaking in archaic Russian. Too jaded and exhausted to be phased, Dessa speaks with the creature, learning that the dog serves a powerful lord. Before it dies, the dog tells Dessa to eat its heart and gain its wisdom. When the creature passes on, she does so, and reemerges from the alley.

Viktor's thugs have packed everyone into two vans. Acting quickly, Dessa runs after one of the vans, easily chasing it down even as it accelerates away. She hops through the back, and glares so furiously at the guard that he crumples.

After a few minutes, the people are filed out and surrounded by guards, and Viktor emerges. With a hissed curse, Dessa plagues the soldiers, who crumple to the ground, and Viktor realizes what he's facing. He invokes his sacrosanct status under Lord Entropy. Dessa listens, and does not destroy him. As Viktor departs, she finds herself being called to from outside. Leaving the room, she finds an alley containing a dying cat. The creature clearly whispers the words "Come to me, Dessa. I am your Lord, and you are called to arms." Accepting her destiny, Dessa steps forward and disappears.