Comic Fury Webcomic Hosting - Comic profile

The out of game context of the last panel is the storyteller probably showed the group a picture from a source book when they were introduced to him..(I'll let you figure out who he is on your own)

The actual tree the Sequoia reproduces through cloning. This is where research comes in. The players have no idea that this is a natural ability and think the Storyteller is just ripping off the Sorcerer's Apprentice and start blowing up their own guys out of spite (though effective spite).

Sometimes battles are largely amongst NPCs. It's always a tough call how to run those because you want it to be fair but you don't want to have to roll for every single action (and sometimes can't with out it taking a few years)

Knowing where your enemies are going to be has it's own advantages.

The Operative they fought in the cemetery has a name now and looks like he got better from the whole zombie thing.