Here we have a handful of photos from Session One, named Spirits Rising, Falling, which took place on January 15th, 2005. Feel free to go read the History of the Game for that session to see what happened if you want to -- but, really, I don't think the pictures really need that much explanation....

Oh, and for the record, all the pictures in this gallery were taken by Bobby Brandi, who plays Kurt Libel of the Gangrel Clan. Thanks for sharing them, Bobby!

We start off the photos simply, showing Father Azrael Knight of the Nosferatu (played by Joshua Wong) and Hans Jensen of the Sabbat (a NPC played periodically by Eric Sasmor) relaxing, playing chess. Hans lost the game, incidentally -- but he might have been distracted by the antics of other people around him....

Moving on, here are two of the Tremere of St. Louis, Ted Reynolds (played by Jonathan Krieger) and Benjamin Wilcox (played by Jake McLeod), relaxing, probably discussing an arcane point of mystical lore while generally just looking good.

Here is Ani Carin Bybee of the Anarchs (played by Marian Aanerud) talking with a pair of Camarilla. It's hard to tell in the photo, but I believe she is talking with Sheryl Daniels of the Ventrue (played by Amy Weaver) and Mikhael Romanov of the Toreador (played by Stephen Witham). Presumably, they're talking politics -- after all, politics were a major topic of discussion that evening!

Oh, and speaking of the Anarchs, here is Charlie MacNemera, better known as "Richter" (and played by Ryan Merten). This sect-less Kindred, neither a part of the Anarchs or the Camarilla or any other sect, only arrived in St. Louis recently, and spent part of the evening getting to know people. In case it's hard to read, the sign at his side says "I subsist on the blood of the living / will fight for food."

At one point in the evening, the Keeper of Elysium was given a present -- a Malkavian in a box (just what everyone needs, right?). Here we see that Malkavian, Edie (an NPC played periodically by Jenny Latham), standing in the center of a gathering consisting of (from absolute left to right): Keeper James Gawain Bedavere (a Malkavian played by Greg Waters), Johan Liebert Von Wiennen (a ghoul played by Syd Bridges; you can just make out his face as Greg is covering him), Leilani Dawson (although you can only see the back of her head), Eric Sasmor and Douglas Mortimer of the Malkavians (played by Brook Cavell; he's partially blocked by Eric). It should be noted that Eric and Leilani were in the scene as STs, not NPCs.

Finally, as those of you who've read the downtime news for this session are aware, there are some costumed vigilantes in East St. Louis. Here, in a rare out-of-character photo, are some of those costumed heroes. We're not identifying any of them -- by character name, player name or superhero name -- simply because it's supposed to be a secret, you know?