Go with Father Bennington
From Create Your Own Story
"I'll go with you, Father," you say.
"Good, my child," he replies. The priest leads you out of the large room, down a hall, and into a small side room. Inside is what looks like a fully equipped mad scientist's laboratory, along with a white-haired man dressed in a lab coat, and a slim brunette woman of about twenty, dressed like a punk rocker, complete with spiked leather bracelets on each of her slender wrists. Father Bennington introduces you.
"Nice to meet you, Miss Hart," says the white-haired man. "My name is Gary, and that's my granddaughter, Brittany. Don't mind her outfit. She's almost as brilliant a scientist as I am."
Brittany groans, but playfully. "Come on, Grandpa." You can see the genuine affection between grandfather and granddaughter.
"Nice to meet you too, Gary and Brittany," you say. "And please, call me Katarina."
"So, Katarina, where are you from?" Gary asks.
You smile. "Long story." You tell it as best you can.
"Katarina, did the sun shine where you were?" Brittany asks. "Grandpa says I saw it when I was a baby, but I was too young to remember it."
You think back to the last time you saw the sun, when it set as you drove your rental car away from the airport in Bucharest. Then you look at Brittany and sorrow flows through you for her. To go her entire life with no memory of the sun...
"Yes, Brittany, the sun shone. Sometimes. But the clouds were natural."
The girl looks down at her boots.
You reach over and take her hand in yours. "I promise you, I'll help you see it someday, or die trying." She smiles faintly and squeezes your hand. Gary and Father Bennington smile too.
"We've been trying to come up with anything we can to hold the vampires at bay," says Gary. "But even when they work, all we can do is hold them. That's not enough..." He trails off and a distant look appears in his eyes.
"At least we have enough silver artifacts for the people that go outside," Father Bennington says. He points at your silver cross. "That is a powerful one, Katarina. It stopped that vampire dead in its tracks so you could take its head off."
You finger your holy symbol. "Is there any way we could use its power to strengthen other artifacts, mix them together, anything..."
The priest shakes his head. "I can tell that's an ancient artifact. It's only powerful because it's so old. The older and purer a silver item is, the more powerful it is. Wear it well, my daughter."
Gary then introduces you to his work and shows how you can help him. The four of you spend the next few hours mixing chemicals and adding catalysts. Finally, Gary looks at his watch and says, "I think it's time we all turned in. We're all tired and we can get a fresh start in the morning."
As you turn to go, you notice a door in the back of the room, firmly secured with a shiny padlock. Father Bennington notices you looking at it and shakes his head.
After Gary and Brittany have left, you look at the priest. "What's in there?" you whisper.
Bennington shakes his head again. "Gary has some secret project he's working on in there. He calls it Operation Hail Mary. He won't let anyone else go in there or tell them what it is, not even Britt. He says it's too dangerous."
You perk up, curious. You feel like you have to find out what's in there, and with your lock-picking skills, you feel confident that you COULD get into that room. But you're not confident that you SHOULD.
