Contagion - I'm Sittin On the Side of Satan

Michael Rod {A.K.A. Jim Testies} used to write for Black Dog Gaming Factory, well before Jessica's first writing contract with them. He was one of the top authors for Warlock: the Pretension's first edition, and did such good work that he might have actually gone on to Develop the line. But one day he had a "spiritual awakening," and soon left Black Dog to go and follow it.

Of course, having been employed by BDGF, the only "spiritual awakening" Jim got was a dark one. He'd always been sensitive to spiritual matters, and he came to understand what he was really working for {or, at least, his own warped - and highly generous - view of it} after only a few short months. But instead of doing the sane thing, and fleeing for his own sake, he willingly sold himself to the The Truth {the Wyrm}, and agreed to become one of its many hands on the earth.

He thought he might be able to do "good" by his new master by staying at his job, but he soon realized that his talents were somewhat wasted. Sure, he could write game books full of corrupting ideas, and bring new, dumb-ass servants to The Truth, but anyone could do that. That and it didn't pay well, either...

Besides, he was smart enough to realize that RPGs were only ever a niche market: products sold to lonely, disaffected middle-class kids who mistook morbid depression for style. The real power was going to be on the internet, which more and more "ordinary" people were plugging into every day. Imagine what he could do for his master if he could find some way to reach out to them...?

So he quit his job, left town, and went to go refashion himself anew somewhere else, taking the name Michael Rod as he did. And Michael Rod went back to school to learn all he could about HTML programming, the Internet, e-commerce... any subject he thought would serve him well in his newfound devotion.

All the while, he grew more well-versed in the ways of The Truth - well enough to know that the internet was the anathema of The Truth. He didn't understand enough about his master to know the conflict between the Wyrm and the Weaver, but knew enough to know that his plans to spread The Truth over the internet were going to need a lot of work.

As such, meeting Jessica - while visiting BDGF's office incognito, just for laughs - was a real stroke of luck. He was able to sense her presence, and she realized who it really was under the hair dye and contacts. It might have come down to a fight, except that he guessed she was responsible for the "accident" that had happened at Dunkin Donuts, earlier that morning. And he complimented her on it, as he hadn't liked the victim, either.

So they got to talking, and talked about their goals, and came to a mutually beneficial plan. Jessica agreed to show him how to utilize the spiritual space of a computer, so that spiritual entities could be stored within it, provided he allowed her spectral allies to mop up after any successful releases of those entities. So he would get to put The Truth into people, and she would get to harvest the lost souls that sliver of The Truth created while on its rampage.

However, they needed a neutral ground for their pooled efforts, so they could put some distance between one another. It wasn't that they didn't like each other {at least not that they'd admit, being wary} but that they knew they might have problems from one another's rivals. Her people might try and do something to him, and as for his people... well, she was trying to flatten an aspect of it, wasn't she?

They didn't have to look to far to divine the answer, though. As they pondered, they chanced to overhear Black Dog's new webslave, Connor Claptrapp, loudly complaining about "that fuckass Spectre site," yet again. So Jessica took note of the URL, slipped online to get a look at the site, and declared it perfect.