McCall looks out across the Texas landscape, gazing into the distance. "So, a group of supernatural kids, like Scooby Doo and the gang became superheroes, all show up just as we're getting ready to drive the owners of Open Air Ranch out and take the land from them dirt cheap." he muses, "I don't like this. Their timing is too perfect to just be a co-incidence." he frowns, "Mr. Maroon? Do we have any other assets that could deal with this situation?" he asks, turning to his lawyer who is sitting at the couch, laptop open on the coffee table. 

"Not as of yet sir. Most of your operatives are busy on other ventures for the time being." he replies, "Sir, if I may make a suggestion... perhaps we should wait and observe for now. They may be supernaturals, but they're also children. They may have some weaknesses we're as of yet unaware of." he nods. 

"Hm... sounds like a plan to me Mr. Maroon." he nods, turning back to the window. "Assign a few of our tactical men to watch the ranch for now. If those kids leave to go back wherever they came from, we move in." he replies confidently. 

"... sir, are you -sure- you don't want to simply wait for that and then begin pressuring the Smith family to sell again? I am certain that if we simply find an adequate price they will cave." he nods. 

"Mr. Maroon..." replies McCall in a terse tone. "I did not get where I am today by negotiating with mundanes." he replies, walking past a wall with several photographs hanging from it. One of them is old, very old, showing a man who doesn't look unlike McCall standing outside a wooden building with the words 'Founding of McCall Amusements, 4/13/1845' engraved onto a plaque on the frame. "They're just a bunch of slack-jawed yokel farmers who happened to get lucky is all. Nothing more, nothing less... and as our friend Coyote showed us, it takes more than luck to win a game..." he grins, looking at his desk. Sitting on it is a battered old deck of playing cards and an ancient book that looks like it's been bound and rebound several times titled 'Hoyle's Book of Games'...

After Coyote's attack on the ranch Nelen attempts to find out more about this Mr. McCall that sent the vampire and his companions, but is frustrated to come up blank. All he can find online is that he's the descendant of the man who created McCall Amusements, the company that runs the casinos in Houston, shortly after the city was first founded in the 1800s. 

The group tries to work out what to do as, in the distance, an old steam locomotive is heard going down the tracks near the ranch. Nelen comments on how odd that is, as most trains switched to diesel a long time ago. In response to this Andrew Smith, Trixie's grandfather, says that it's not a normal train, but a train called the Dark Ride, and tells them the story of it. 

Years and years back, back when I was just a lad m'self, there was a train station just outside Houston that burned to the ground one night. Some say one of the boilers in the train broke, others say that one of the conductors went nuts and set the place on fire, and a few whisper that someone practicin' witchcraft tried to summon a demon right outta the fiery bowls o' Hellitself and it got loose. Whatever the reason, th' place burnt right down to ashes. 

It got rebuilt a coupla years later, but after that fire the station was cursed... people'd vanish in there, go to the gent's or outside fer a smoke or even right outta their train cars, leavin' all their luggage and things behind. The police looked inta it, even got a couple US Marshals pokin' around, but nobody ever found out what happened to 'em. Finally, the station got shut down fer good and no more trains would ever go outta there. 

But that ain't true, whatever happened there is still goin' on. That train ya'll heard is the Dark Ride, th' only train that still runs outta that station. Every once inna while someone goes into the old station... teenage punks on a dare, the crew of one of them ghost huntin' shows, or even just someone who's gotten tired of bein' alive... and inside the station will be an old steam engine waitin for 'em... They board the train and, well, nobody ever see's 'em again. 

Nobody knows where the train takes 'em. Some think they just vanish, like all the people in the station did, some say it just dumps 'em out in the desert and they never make it back to town... but I say that train isn't a normal train, the engineer is ol' Scratch hisself, and that train takes 'em straight down to Hell!

... which may have gotten a reaction if dealing with supernatural events wasn't an average Tuesday for his audience. Still, Trixie seems interested and the others seem to agree that going to investigate something supernatural beats waiting around all tense and wound up, so after a quick run around the house Simoni, Arja, Dawn, Natasha, and Trixie set out to the train station that Trixie's grandpa mentioned. 

They're initially disappointed by their discovery, the train station being an old decrepit building with boarded up windows covered in spraypaint and graffiti. Simoni flies into the building through a broken skylight and unlocks the door from inside, and a quick look around shows cobwebs, rats, and at least an inch of dust (though Dawn isn't complaining about the rats)... until a loud whistle pierces the night and the far doors open along the tracks, a massive steam engine pulling into the station and coming to a stop. 

The girls enter the train and find that it's abandoned, or at least apparently empty, as someone enters the train from the other side. Before the girls can leave however the train starts moving again and pulls out of the station. They're almost thrown off their feet by the sudden movement, and then the compartment door opens and another person walks in. 

Trixie grins faintly as she grabs the wall for support "Well we're movin....now we just gotta survive the trip..." 

Simoni looks a bit worried at that, "Yeah, um... where -is- the train going?" she asks as the door to the compartment opens from behind and a rather annoyed voice says "Oh great. You guys again..." 

Standing in the doorway is a fifteen year old girl with white hair, a thin sword in the belt at her waist. Floating behind her (though only Natasha can see it) is a pale girl with wide staring eyes and misshapen, twisted limbs. "What the hell are you doing on this train?"

The girl is a sin-eater known as Annabelle Morte though the girls don't actually know her name. They encountered her during a trip to Maine when she entered a house populated by the undead to rescue a girl at the behest of her family, but to say they didn't warm to her was an understatement.

Natasha immediately hisses at the girl, having faced off against her during those events, and Arja just sighs and says that this train probably is going to hell if she's on it. 

The girl's hand goes to the hilt of her sword... then she sighs and takes it away, "Ugh, you really don't know what this train is do you?" she asks, shaking her head as Simoni scoots closer to Arja, Dawn just leaning against one of the chairs as if she's watching an interesting soap opera. "Well, you'll find out soon enough I suppose, we're almost there." she nods as you suddenly get the sensation that the train is travelling downwards... and then all the lights in the compartment go out and plunge the whole train into darkness. 

When they return the view out the windows shows the stone walls of some kind of cave... and something more disturbing, the train isn't empty anymore. The seats are filled with ghosts. Young, old, men, women, each one staring blankly ahead as the train continues onwards. Some seem normal, others clearly died from unnatural causes as their spectral forms show gashes in their throats, slit wrists, or even the effects of poisons. "This isn't a train to Hell." says the sin-eater, "But you can see Hell from here. We're in the Underworld." she nods.

Immediately Arja, Simoni, Trixie, and Dawn begin to feel the effects of the Underworld. The world is a dead place, not intended for the living to enter, and they find that it's hard to breathe and an oppressive weight seems to be bearing down on them. Their magics sputter and fail as well. Only Annabelle (who is a sin-eater and between life and death) and Natasha (who is undead) are unaffected by the Underworld. 

During the ride however the girls find that Annabelle's goal in the Underworld is the same as their's. She's looking for information about Mr. McCall. At the same time Natasha and Simoni recall the vision she had in the Nightside, about the spirit telling her 'When you and your friends fall below, find me...'. Well, you can't get much more 'below' than the Underworld, so Annabelle decides its as good a reason as any to summon the ghost. She places an offerenda, an offering to the dead on the floor of the Underworld station, then has Simoni describe the ghost to her and claps her hands loudly. Simple, but effective. 

While they're waiting Annabelle reveals that she knows what McCall's secret is, as he's been creating ghosts for some time now (which is why she's here), specifically he's been doing it for almost two hundred years. 

The sin eater sits back in one of the wooden benches as she waits for the ghost to arrive. "He's been killing people in his casinos. People go in, play against him, and dead bodies come out the back door with a ghost following them." she explains, "It -could- just be a serial killer, but the ghosts don't show any deathmarks..." she glances at the group, "... those spectral wounds. A ghost's body reflects how it died most of the time, though some geists are different. These guys die with no marks from anything. No poisons, no gunshots, nothing." 

Trixie nods, crossing her arms "So he does have some kind of magic then, and he's using it to kill people" she says "Well at least that confirms he's a scumbag and not mundane..." 

She shrugs, "Oh that? Nah, that one was obvious. I mean he's almost two hundred years old." she replies as Simoni manages to clear her head enough to stare at her, even Dawn looking interested as she sits on the floor, constantly shaking her head to stay upright. 

Trixie blinks "Wha..." she says as Natasha looks at her as well "He's a vampire?" 

The sin eater smirks, "Not... exactly." she replies, "He's what we call an 'abmortal'. Every so often some mundane or mortal magician finds a way to, well, cheat death. They're not immortal, but they have a trick they can use to keep themselves alive somehow, almost always at the expense of either mundanes or ghosts. Whatever he's doing in that casino of his keeps him from aging or dying. Thats why I'm down here, I'm trying to work out how he's doing it so I can stop him from making any more ghosts."

It turns out that McCall isn't the descendant of the man who founded McCall Amusements, he's the same person. McCall has been killing people in a way that allows him to extend his life, having been alive almost since Houston was founded. 

As she explains the sound of a wooden cane tapping across the floor reaches their ears as the woman from Simoni's vision approaches them. She picks up the offerenda, crunches it up in her teeth, then says, "Took ye bloody long enuff." 

Arja raises a brow "Let me guess, you're that matriarch her grandfather killed to take over and started fucking everything up?" 

The woman raises her eyebrow, then smirks, "Nobody can call ye dumb, ya wee monkey." she replies, "Eliza Fullmoon, last Matriarch o' Clan Fullmoon. I'd curtsy, but me hips ain't what they used ta be ya unnerstand." she says, speaking in a thick Irish accent as she straightens up slightly. Her dress is ripped in the middle, the wound from the Mundane Blade clearly visible in her spectral flesh from where Franklin ran her through.

Eliza confirms that she does know about McCall and that she'll tell them what she can, but for the moment she presses Arja and Simoni, asking if they know the meaning behind what she told Franklin when she died. She also comments that its nice to see Natasha again, hinting that she knew the vampire when she was still alive. 

"Aye, ah know 'bout McCall too and well get ta him, but he's small potatoes compared ta what Franklin be plannin'." she replies. 

Trixie nods "No offence ma'am but he's fairly big time when he's tryin to take my family farm, but I get your meanin" she says as Arja nods "Obviously Franklin is priority A, but let's loop back to McCall and how we kill him because I feel like it'll be satisfying to get a nice easy win in before we stab Frankie in his stupid face." she says, Natasha smirking a bit at that "So," Arja continues "Obviously my Garuda and your...storm crow things...are connected, that was what you meant to imply, right? That's why Simoni changed?" 

She nods, "Aye, that be part 'o it. Th' Lady used ta get around in th' old days she did..." she smirks, "Th' garuda an' our witches be 'cousins' o' ah sort, but th' other half be th' important bit." she nods, "Th' sword's gluttony will be 'is undoin'." she says in a firm tone, "Think on that fer ah second lass..." she raises her eyebrow expectantly. 

Arja furrows her brow a bit "I figured it meant we gotta hit him with the sword, turn its hunger on him?" 

She shakes her head and sighs, "No lass, if it were that easy then he'd be dead by now." she replies, "Th' sword gel! Its gluttony! C'mon think ye bloody ape!" she stamps her spectral foot, "It eats -magic- lass! Its all th' sword was made ta do! It eats an' eats an' eats an' then..." she gestures with her hand. 

Arja slaps her head "We over feed it! There's a limit on how much magic it can eat?" she says as Trixie nods "I can throw spells at it all day, your brother and Simoni and shit even Steph now too, we can get that thing full as a prized hog..." 

She smirks, "Aye lass, now ye be gettin' th' idea... Its ah sword, it canna just crap out it's dinner when it's done. Every spell, hex, cantrip, curse, an' aye even all th' magical bein's it's eaten over th' years still be inside it... an' that sword is -old-. Th' mundane blades were created back durin' th' days o' ancient Babylon, they're th' reason why humanity was able ta create it's society in this world without bein' taken over by supernaturals." she nods, "Franklin's sword is almost full up, it canna hold much more... but it can still hold ah lot." she nods gravely, "It'll be more than just chuckin' ah few fireballs 'n hexes at him and waiting fer it ta burp. Ye'll need ta do somethin' big... an' it has ta be you two." she points at Arja and Simoni. "Right afore ah died ah used me magicks ta see inta th' future... an' ah saw ye lasses atop th' spires ah Castle Fullmoon, Arja ridin' on Simoni's back as she does... then ah bright golden flame an' the sword shatterin' inta pieces." 

She nods, "It'll take ah lot ah magic, more than ye can normally make, but ye lasses are gonna do it somehow..." she sighs and deflates a bit, "But ah was dyin', and now that ah'm dead me magic dunna work no more... Ah canna tell ye -how- ta do it, just that ye can do it somehow." she nods.

Once she gets the point across she warns them that while she knows they're capable of destroying the Mundane Blade she neither knows how they'll do it nor what will happen when they do. The blades are centuries old after all, and nobody has managed to destroy one before. 

She then moves onto the issue with McCall, grabbing one of the younger ghosts in the station that she recognizes as one of his victims and asking him what happened, to which the ghost only replies "What happens in the casino stays there..." in a forced way. 

Annabelle frowns, telling her that if that would've worked she wouldn't be down here in the first place. Trixie suggests that perhaps it has something to do with gambling and Annabelle snarkily replies that of course it would because it's a casino. 

Eliza ignores them and instead examines the ghost, then smirks and shoves her hand into the spectre's chest, up to her elbow. The ghost screams as Eliza reaches around inside him, even in death she's still a witch and she can still do some things... 

The sin eater rolls her eyes at the girl as Eliza continues to wave her hand around inside the flailing ghost, "Almost... almost... hold still ye idjit! AH!" she grips something, then pulls her arm out with a flourish. Struggling in her grasp is a small black creature with eyes like glowing coals and a row of sharp teeth in it's mouth, snapping and clawing at her with small spindly arms and sharp claws. "Ah thought ah recognized th' symptoms. McCall puts th' little imps inside th' bodies so they'll possess th' ghosts and keep 'em quiet. Guess he's had ta deal with sin-eaters afore." she nods, tossing the small demon to the ground before lifting up one foot and stamping on it. The creature lets out a loud squeal and splatters, leaving an oily ichor on the floor. "Aye, now then, get talkin' ye." she says, turning to the ghost. 

"He... he said it was a game..." the specter says, "I was in debt, badly, I dunno what went wrong, but I kept losing hand after hand and the slots never paid out and... I couldn't afford to cover my bill, so he said all I had to do was play cards with him and if I won he'd wipe out my debt and send me back home first class... but... I couldn't beat him, and the more chips I lost the harder it was to think... and then when I lost my last one I felt like something hit me in the chest..." he trails off, "... and I woke up on the train..." he nods. 

Trixie nods, "Fuck...FUCK...he's like me" she says, shaking her head "Damn it I should have known the only person who'd even think to hire a fuckin luck vampire would be another Hoyle's reader...He hexes people when they come in, gets em in debt, then cheats em in a magic game like we do in the hunting ground, but he's not takin magic power, he's takin life."

The girls, having gotten their answers, prepare to leave. As they get up to go however a faint giggling sound comes from one of the tunnels... 

'I found you... I found you... I found aaaaall of you...' 

Dawn, practically unconscious from the Underworld's effects, suddenly sits up alert and whispers, "I know that voice..." 

A minute later a figure steps into view... a white-skinned man with two puncture wounds on his throat and black holes where his eyes should be, a mass of messy dreadlocks on his head as he grins, showing rows of sharpened shark-like teeth. He's dressed in a teeshirt and jeans, barefoot otherwise, and grinning like a cat that just spotted a helpless baby mouse. "I found my dooooolls~" cackles Paale, his arms lengthening into wicked claws. 

Dawn arches her back and hisses as Simoni starts to whistle... then Dawn slumps as Simoni's whistle turns into a cough. Dawn is exhausted and Simoni's powers won't work here, even Arja's flames are little more than sparks! 

Eliza and the sin eater step forward however, Eliza looking back at the girls, "The train, get back to the train! It'll leave and go back to the station in the living world!" she hisses before gripping her staff as she stares down the specter.

Paale, the serial killer turned sin-eater has returned, except this time he's much more than he was. Arja, Simoni, and Dawn flee as Natasha, Annabelle, Eliza, and Trixie stand their ground against him, but then Paale's body begins to swell as he takes on a more fearsome appearance. He balloons like some gigantic ape-like monster, his shirt splitting open to reveal an exposed rib cage, a dozen pairs of small misshapen arms reaching out of it as if begging the girls to help them. 

Paale has become a geist himself, a monstrous creature calling itself 'The Dollhouse'. He leers at the girls as Natasha taunts him, saying that she already defeated him once before. 

The sin eater blinks, "Wait... you're the vampire that killed him?!" she says in a disbelieving tone, "YOU?" she shakes it off as her geist rises up behind her, wailing angrily at Paale. He seems to swell up infront of them, his chest squirming under his shirt. 

"You... I remember you two..." he frowns, then swipes out with one massive hand, knocking her away from his path as he does likewise to Eliza, the ghosts and girl sent flying. "Go away Annabelle, I played with you already..."

Paale then summons a burst of ghostly flames from his mouth, scorching the ground as Natasha and Trixie dive out of the way. Natasha is fine but Trixie is about to collapse and it becomes clear that Paale is simply too powerful as a geist for them to defeat. 

Annabelle struggles to her feet, her geist pulling on her body and yelling, 'Patrick is here! Kill him! KILL HIM!' in a rabid sort of way as Eliza gets up as well. Annabelle reaches around for her bag as Eliza shakes her head, then stamps her foot. Immediately several ghosts soar out of the nearest tunnel and go for the girls, grabbing them about the shoulders and pulling them towards the train as Eliza moves between the hulking geist and the terminal. "Get on th' bloody train an' flee ye foolish gels!" she shouts, then turns to face him, "Ye won't get past me lad." she says, holding her staff like a club, "Ah may not be th' matriarch no more, but ah witch ah still be an' ah still have some tricks!" she says, glaring at Paale as he cackles at her, the girls trapped within his ribs screaming in agony as his body is wreathed with ghost fire. 

The ghosts throw Annabelle, Trixie, and Natasha into the train compartment, landing them next to the unconscious forms of Arja, Simoni, and Dawn who had just made it before blacking out, as the doors slam shut and the train begins to move. Outside the train you can hear Paale screaming in fury, "No! NO! THEY'RE GETTING AWAY AGAIN! I WANT TO PLAY WITH THEM! LET ME PLAY WITH THE DOLLS!" he howls, his voice only barely sounding human as Eliza somehow holds him back.

The train moves out of the station and begins to pick up speed as Paale's screams become fainter, then stop as they move out of earshot. As they leave Annabelle explains that Paale is the one who originally killed her, causing her to be reborn as a sin-eater. Her geist, the Broken Doll, is another of Paale's victims from when he was still a mundane serial killer named Patrick Samson. 

The girls get their vitality back as the train returns to the living world and, as it pulls into the abandoned station, Annabelle leaves saying that she needs to gather her krew (a group of sin-eaters) if she's going to take down Paale now that he's become a geist. The others leave and, as it's close to sunrise, head back to the ranch.