GM: Sam Tillis
Players: Adrienne Mueller, Dylan Arena, James Lawton, Sean Nittner, Sarah Terman, Matthew Fisher
System: Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition
Content warning: body horror bits masked (like this)
Wow, this session was a lot. We’re not playing till November so Sam said “we’ll see if we can clinch things on a suitably dramatic moment for this week”. Oh boy, did we ever. In fact this game got so intense that I stop taking notes at the end. So, details may be fuzzy at the end. Here we go.
Factions
Here’s the folks and factions that we knew about about and were trying to work with, fight against, or anticipate:
- Twilight Lodge. Carl Stanford. Potential ally?
- Ho Fang. Sorcerer. Bloated Woman. Powerful. Very bad.
- House of Quiet Repose. Madam Lin.
- Isoge. Japanese Military.
- M’Dari, arriving on a boat in three days.
- Jack Brady and the New China Militia.
Refreshing ourselves on goals:
- Getting the Yith artifacts from the warehouse
- Rescuing Choi Me-Ling from Ho Fang’s manor
- Meeting with Jack Brady
- Intercept or stop M’Dari when he arrives on the Laurentides
Shanghai – June 10, 1925
Constellations are a myth, a human-made construct to force order on the chaos of a thousand thousand stars glinting overhead. So too have we made an attempt to map order onto the simmering factions of Shanghai, drawing lines between them to explicate and contain. Do these lines reflect truths? Or are they illusions, fatal if relied upon as solid ground? Whatever the case, these lines have begun to form arrows: to Ho Fang, to the Seven Cryptical Books of Hsan, and perhaps to Jack Brady, somehow at the center of it all. Today, we follow some of those arrows towards their inescapable conclusions. May our gods protect us from the costs.
Nighttime activities
Li-wen would have gone to Amos for this, but he had left for the House of Quiet Repose so she approached Iris. “I want books. I found a shortcut around books, which is useful, but now I want the books too.”
Iris signed, the same story all over again. Someone who needs to understand the world and don’t care about the damage it would do to their psyche. “If Amos was here he would love to give you these books. I’ll give them to you, but please be careful, it’s easy to slip into madness.”
Li-Wen bristled a bit, annoyed that Iris thought it was okay for our group to read the books and she wasn’t but Iris reassured her that we had all had bad reactions to reading the books. The botanist just didn’t want any of us to be the next Roger Carlyle.
Iris gave Li-Wen Selections de Livre d’Ivon (the first book Francois read, that eventually connected him to Nodens) said she’d watch over her. Yes, like a babysitter. Standard protocol or all of us.
—
Charles brought Francois from French Cognac to drink and connect. Charles remembered when he got out of the hospital from the jaguar attack and the way people looked at him with pity or revulsion. He was doing his best not to reaction to Francois’ oversized cranium and help him feel at ease.
Charles asked about photography. How did you get into it? Have you taken any strange pictures? Any well paying clients?
Francois took some time to warm up. He was distracted by things fluttering about the cosmos, but he is passionate it about photography and eventually he was drawn in. “It’s more about capturing the feeling of a moment than getting the best lighting or anything else.” Francois showed some of his work. Much of it was pictures of cult members and strange sigil, but deeper down there were some beautiful landscapes and portraits.
With each photo, Charles would reminisce “Oh, this reminds me a of a time when I was…” and he trailed off into a story.
—
Colby and Nails were on watch, but spent most of the night mapping out plans to attack the warehouse. Objectives were to get the crates and find out what was behind the door. Kill quietly and if more than half of us fell, fall back. Oof, those are some gruesome “acceptable” losses.
On watch, they saw people in shadows watching the their hotel. After some time the realized it was Shanghai police, probably 2-3 at at time, working in shifts. They weren’t focusing exclusively on our rooms, but they were watching the hotel.
—
Iris was watching over Li-Wen who was fervantly reading the text and after a time began mumbling to herself. Eventually, eyes unfocused she set down the book and was only mumbling under he breath. After a few minutes Iris put a hand on her shoulder.
Li-Wen jerked away “Why did you interrupt me?”
“You were…drifting.”
“That feels right. Tell me, have you ever been in the eye of a god?”
Iris admitted she hadn’t but she did the know the signs of people slipping away. Li-Wen said that the it was the book that seemed to be casting a spell through her to summon aid. That wasn’t something she right…
—
Catherine and Amos returned to the House of Quiet Repose and experiences both sensory deprivation and sensory overload. Eventually the were taken to a pavilion where they were blindfold as beautiful people in silk robes practiced martial arts, throwing and catching darts with incredible grace. They listed as this happened, listened as tea was served and sipped. As breaths were drawn. As hearts beat. [We got a learning check for Listening].
Eventually Madam Lin spoke “We’ve shared with you our practices of observation, but I believe you have means of learning things that are beyond us.” She expected us to teach her Dreaming and Precognition. A costly exchange.
Amos asked for someone who was skilled with a sword and a young woman Dai-Yuhan volunteered. With some help the entered dreaming together and Amos guided her to the library, answering questions as he could, unsure what she would remember.
Catherine mentioned that while Amos’ journey was one that was occasionally dangerous, her visions were always traumatic and she was unsure of her ability to take another with her. Lin condescended to only ask her for this service once and provided a massage for both of them to help Catherine relax, settle her heartbeat, and drift away from time.
The returned to Madam Lin as a 16 year old girl in a charm house that was a derelict and the House of Quiet Repose was opulent. Lin was crouched over the body of a man whose throat she had just split, listening to the sounds of the house, rifling through his pockets, and preparing to escape. Catherine could bring her to this point, but no further. In Lin’s vision this was revisiting an old memory. Catherine however, unraveled the memory and explored a timeline where Lin made another choice. She saw a future where Lin was living in poverty and a future full of horrors. A future full of Masks.
When the returned the the present Lin was disappointed that she couldn’t see this alternative timeline for herself but honored her promise not to ask Catherine to try this again.
When Amos woke and the three convined, Catherine asked for Madam Lin’s spies to aid us in our upcoming assault on the warehouse, to send us signals if needed.
Amos asked for them to create a distraction but spreading word that Brady had been seen (in a place in Shanghai far from where we were)
Madam Lin asked we sought out these horrible things? To stop horrible people from using them!
—
Charles took a turn watching over Li-Wen and she asked him “Have you read those books?”
“No, not my thing.”
She appraised his hulking figure. “You think that you have power, but you you really don’t. Do you speak French?”
“The only French I know isn’t appropriate for me to say to a young woman.”
She smirked and went back to reading till the wee hours.
—
Iris went to sleep, but not to rest. She sent a dream to Jack Brady, but with nothing but a name and a picture of him, was not sure she would find him. Employing the dream plant tendrils to seek him out, she filled many people’s slumber with nightmares. Maybe one of them to Brady. And if so, it showed them meeting.
June 11, 1925
Catherine and Amos woke incredibly rested. They felt wonderful.
Charles, Colby, Francois, and Iris woke a bit blearing from being up late.
Li-Wen was still still out cold. She was up till the wee hours reading and was going to need some strong coffee.
—
Iris voiced her concern to Francois about Li-Wen “Is there a spell in that book to summon a god?”
“No….?” Francois’ interest was piqued.
“Well, maybe you should talk to her about it. It seemed that the book was trying to use her, instead of the other way around.”
Francois begrudging agreed “Fine, I will talk to her, but it’s not like I’m her confessor or anything. It’s definitely worth reminding her that that she is a neophyte. I’ll put her in her place.”
Francois’s haughty retort wasn’t reassuring to Iris “With all do respect Francois, there a lot you don’t know either.”
“Knowing the mind of a god is a difficult task… but I’m making great progress.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of. I don’t want you to end up like Roger Carlyle.”
Francois scoffed. In his head he knew Carlyle was a pasty, used and discarded. If anything he was the next M’weru.
—
Charles asked Nails to get them chloroform, but to do is discreetly.
“If there’s anyone who can get chloroform in this city, it’s Nails Nelson.” He headed off with all confidence.
The Meet
This was the day to meet Brady at the park, or so we hoped. Catherine had sent him a message via Fergus Chum but we didn’t know if it had been passed along or discarded…or worse intercepted.
We arrived early. Colby, who was known by Ho Fang’s people kept back. Charles was in the park keeping an eye on everything. Francois and Li-Wen walked together, discussing matters of last night. Amos, Catherine, and Iris went from entrance to entrance looking for Brady.
The park was picturesque, full of small groves and private nooks. It was mostly locals so we stood out someone, but not enough to cause any alarm. Just some westerners meandering around.
—
Francois and Li-Wen doing a great job “pretending” to be in conversation.
“I want to make sure you’re not pushing too quickly.” Francois tried to voice concern without being condescending. A difficult task.
“You pushed me pretty quickly.
“You’re strong. I pushed as far as you could take. But…compounding that while you’re still fragile is dangerous.”
“I’m floating at sea right now, and I’m tryin to build a dock. Something to hold onto.”
“What do you think would have happened if Iris didn’t iterrupt you?”
“It was a spell to some aid…which I didn’t need at he moment, so she was right to stop me. But in a time of need she had better not get in the way.”
“We’re here to help you.”
“No, you want to use me, and in exchange you’ve given me a gift that I value. I’m okay with all of that, but let’s not lie about what this is.”
—
Charles and Colby saw multiple people enter the park with intention carrying cases that held something big. Maybe French Horns? Maybe tommy guns? Probably the later. The “musicians” filed into the hedge maze and Charles and Colby (as much as he could discretely) followed behind.
—
Catherine, Amos, and Iris eventually found some notes by the entrance that led us to the center, near the hedge maze. We had a plan. If the group going in whistled those on the outside ran in to aid. If the group on the outside whistled, everyone ran. Seemed like a good plan (muahahahahaha).
We met Chu Min, an associate of Jack Brady, who didn’t trust us at all. He told us that we could meet Brady if we proved that we were allies but rescuing Choi Mei-Lin, possibly because Brady loved her, possibly because she was the only one who knew where he was.
Things were going well until our fine clothes and reference to other allies betrayed that we were working with Madam Lin. Tension suddenly went through the roof and Colby blew the whistle (as he saw the men pulling the expected tommy guns out of their cases).
Catherine broke from the plan however, and stayed put. She reached out a compassionate hand to Chu and told him that when we arrived in this city we had no idea who were allies or enemies. We’ve made the connections that we could to find what we have so far, but our goal was to meet and help Jack Brady. He wasn’t sure, but he did call off the attack. “If I see you return to the House, I will know you’ve betrayed us and you will be our enemies. The revolution must continue.”
Catherine only had a dim notion of China’s efforts to throw off the yoke of imperialism, but in heart she believed their causes were aligned. She mirrored him “The revolution must continue. Now we must go.”
“Yes, you must.”
We made haste before he changed his mind about the guns.
—
After we regrouped Colby chastised us sticking around when he signaled for us to run. Catherine accepted that she broke the rule but believed that by staying she prevented the violence.
Francois however was irate. “I heard the whistle, but I didn’t know who sent it so I didn’t know to run int our out!!!” Clearly we need to develop our signals more!
Preparing for the night
Nails didn’t return. Curses, the cops must have followed him. Catherine asked Li-Wen if large bribes were effective at getting people released from custody (Li-Wen likes it when people are blunt and honest, so she didn’t dance around it). She said it depended on who held them, politics and personal vendettas, but yes, in general, bribery was the way.
Also, we wanted to get Isoge ready to help us, and learn more about Ho Fang’s manor, so we split up to cover more groud.
Amos, Iris, and Li-Wen tracked down reports of Nails to the French Concession and when the finally talked to an official the learned he was arrested for a whole lot of crimes (including several we didn’t know about).
“We have this man custody. It’s easy to tell who he is because he says is name often.”
“Good. Good. We’d like to smooth things over.” Amos said, Li-Wen translated, and Iris reached for her credit rating.
The officer asked who we were and what were doing. Iris assured that we were academics from an American University and had Nails around for security. The story added up and a figure was agreed on. The officer said that we should keep a low profile and that they would be keeping an eye on us. Sure, sure. Low profile. That’s us!
The bribe was more than Iris wanted to pay, but manageable for now. Things would be tight from here out, but given our plans we might not be in Shanghai for long.
When the left Li-Wen let out a long sigh “I’m guessing that the reason you were all so calm and collected back there was that you didn’t know who you were talking to. That was Pockmarked Huang. He’s the point of intersection between the police and the Green Gang. He’s a very powerful man.”
Great…another powerful figure we’ve probably made.
—
Colby and Francois went to the Stumbling Tiger Bar. Francois hung back, a watcher among the other watchers. Madam Lin, Ho Fang, and the Japanese military all had people here. All of them watching each other.
Colby entered, talked with Fergus for bit. He was glad that Colby returned, not all do. Colby said the service was good (indicating his honest connection to Brady) and inquired about setting up a meet with Isoge.
“We’re all friends here in this bar. Outside these walls however, no so much. If I arranged a meeting outside of here, who knows who would actually turn up. “
Colby surrendered that the only place to talk to Isoge was right here, and so approached him directly and asked for that aid. “We’re going to kick the hornets nest tonight. Could you draw some of them away?”
“A bold move, which hornets would you have me draw?” Isoge was in place.
—
Jimmy drove Charles and Catherine to Ho Fang’s manor. From the drive by we could see it had high walls with barbed wire on top of them. There were two entrances that cars came in and out of. A single doorman on the outside. The compound abutted several others so access was limited.
Thankfully the Ching-An Monastery (the same where Li-Wen ran to after seeing her uncle’s murder) was close by, and from a tower in the monastery we were able to discreetly get a good look at the compound. We identified the garages, what were likely the servant areas, a rough number of people who doubled as servants and guard that were present, and after some time…we saw Ho Fang himself.
Unfortunately we didn’t have time to get all the information we wanted, but fortunately Madam-Lin also had watchers here. Two attractive women smoking cigarettes were standing idly nearby. Catherine (who now smokes after her 10 years of mental aging) lit a cigarette and joined then, shifting slightly so the swallow on her dress was prominent. The duo became a trio as they welcomed her in. She waved her cigarette through the air in a manner that mirrored the movements of Ho Fang. They gestured as well indicating they would watch him from here out. Good enough.
Other things we noticed in the the compound. No obvious occult or mythos signs. A pool with strange plants growing in it (noted for Iris!) and flesh eating fish (fun!).
A hit at the warehouse
Catherine had seen this night. Had watched the guards make their rounds and knew she was being watched by two cigarette smoking women. But in this timeline, they were were not reporting on her, but reporting to her. The would signal of trouble was afoot.
When the guards were at their furthest distance, Catherine picked the lock (ah…what the group first brought her along to do… it all comes full circle) and we moved inside under the cover of darkness. Four men sat playing cards at a table, and two others walked together holding torches.
We crept into position except Francois who walked up the steps to the office above. A floorboard creaked under his foot and everyone was alerted to his presence. What they weren’t alerted to was: 1 grenade and 3 rifle shots (Best line of the game from Colby after Iris killed a man in a single shot “Botanist, my ass”). In seconds all the guard were dead and we got to picking up the Yithian artifacts and moving out, while dumping gasoline over everything.
From the office above Francois saw nautical charts (which he grabbed) and in the river, a yacht coming to our direction. As it came into view he could read the name on the side of it. The Dark Mistress. That was a our “Dar…” boat!
We set the fire (deciding we would not look at what was ever behind that frightening door, but would put extra gasoline around it) and got out. We were loading up the cars with the crates when the police arrived and would have been right on us, if not for the other fire and other gunshots that distracted them (Thanks Isoge).
We hoped in the cars and peeled out with (thankfully) only two cop cars behind us. We shot back and forth at each other and eventually we blew out the tires of one car and Nails shot the driver of the other (NAILS!!!!).
Jimmy’s car had a blow tire so we pulled over to change it quickly while Colby chastised Nails for breaking with the plan. “What plan? You said we would go in quiet like and the first thing you did was throw a grenade.” We pointed out that now the cops would be after us for killing one of them. He pointed out that they wouldn’t be if we had killed the other three. Neither side was going to to getting through to the other. We changed the tire on Jimmy’s card and got out of there, rendezvousing with couriers Charles had arranged to pick up the crates and take them back to our hotel room.
In another era our our investigators lives this would have seemed like a lot for one night already. We could be thankful no one got hurt and call the night a success. But there was more on the line for us now, so this was just the start of our evening.
Ho Fang’s Manor
We arrived at the manor and learned from our watchers that three cards had just left in a hurry. Our timing was working!
We used the wall of an adjoining compound to get access to the back of the manor (from our earlier observation it looked like that was the less frequently used area by the staff). Catherine climbed up, cut the barbed wire and cleared a path.
From the ceiling we dropped down at the back of the compound. Charles stayed up top with his gun trained on the courtyard. Francois went down but stayed outside, hiding behind the raised wall of the pool.
The rest of listened, heard a whimpering coming from one room and silence from the other. We decided if Mei-Ling was being held in one room she might be guarded, so we should go in the one adjacent and see if we could learn more.
Inside the room was much smaller than expected. A large buddha statue was against the wall but there was no prayer mat in front of it, or signs incense burning. Amos noticed the ears were shiny from being touched so he grabbed hold of them and realized the head of the statue had a fine seem in it. With some effort he was able to turn the head around and a door opened behind the statue. [Secret doors are rad].
We entered a hallway that led to three rooms. On the right was the gun room, now mostly emptied though it looked like mere minutes ago it was full of pistols and assault rifles. On the left was the a potion room where all kinds of plants were being used to make alchemical creations. We all though Iris would be interested but she was focused on finding Mei-Ling (that and the fact she too no interest in the plants in the pool should have been a sign).
The final door at the end of the hallway was covered with an iron grill and locked with an intricate lock. Catherine, with Colby’s help holding the picks (there were sooo many tumblers) got lucky and got it open [extreme success on lock picking]. Inside we saw a whole lot of things we didn’t want to.
Straight ahead was a giant statue of the bloated woman, a grotesque site that defied terrestrial anatomy. We averted our eyes. In the center, a raised casket that was divided in and a box on the top of it with rats that could be dropped into sections, and finally a woman locked inside, had her feet and ankles gnawed by rats. Against the left wall was a beautiful and ornate teak cabinet. And on the ceiling were shifting lights and invited the gaze.
Colby looked up and his whole body went slack, as if frozen in place. Catherine pulled him back (with some effort) by his belt and he tumbled back into her. She did all she could avoid looking at the room’s contents.
Amos entered and saw the woman in the casket. He cast Earthly Serenity on her and asked Catherine to come in and pick the lock on the cabinet. It wasn’t as sophisticated as the door but it was still difficult, and she was trying not to look at what was going on around her. It was going to take some time…
Meanwhile Francois and Charles spotted to of the staff walk their way and stop outside the pool, kibitzing about something in Shanghainese. Francois crept along the wall so he was on the opposite side of the pool from them and waited. Charles trained his gun. There was a rattle as someone was banging on one of the doors to a locked room (one we hasn’t taken notice of yet) and the two staff members looked at it, but then Charles noticed they must have been given some orders not to open it, because they turned away to disregard the rattle.
Catherine finally got the lock open and Amos was able to lift the woman (who was Mei-Ling) out of the casket. She was only barely conscious but when she was lucid, she had been turning away from the ceiling to avoid looking at it. Smart.
Amos rushed out with her but Catherine stayed behind to find out what was in the teak cabinet. One more lock to pick. This one trapped. I like to think it was attuning herself to the sound of the darts being thrown that let Catherine hear the dart fly and dodge it, but I think the lactic acid in her shoulders had just build up so much that by the time she finally got the lock open, she just dropped her hands in exhaustion. Either way, the dart missed and she found six books and several scrolls inside. She grabbed them without looking at their covers and handed them to Nails who shoved them in a sack. Colby was still out. Iris tried to do first aid on him but there was nothing wrong with his body. [Meanwhile Colby was making sanity check after sanity check and making them…until he didn’t].
We needed to get out of there quickly, but we also had an opportunity to strike Ho Fang without ever having to see him and destroy the contents of this room. Amos picked up Colby and Catherine enlisted Iris’ reluctant (sign #2) help and she rigged not one, not two, but three grenades to explode when the door to the shrine was opened. Here’s crossing our fingers.
We opened the outside door and were immediately noticed by the two guards. Thankfully Charles and Francoise were ready. They both fired (gun and bone spear respectively) and injured but did not kill the guards. One guard turned and cut Francois tether with his sickle. The other called for help. As we piled out Iris finished off one, and Nails the other. The bone spear was fed another soul.
Catherine moved to the door where the whimpering was heard, opened it to see a child’s bedroom with a small child of six or so sitting in the center eating a bowl of worms. She looked up and smiled with alien eyes and worm in her mouth and said “Too late.” NOPE. Catherine wasn’t having any of that! She close the door and ran back, ignoring the other door that someone was banging on.
Amos collected the spear and we all made it for the roof. Most of us got up by climbing. Nails tossed Colby’s body up, Amos handed Mei-Ling to Charles the best he could. One sickle-wielding servant/guard/cultist (really had to know where those lines are drawn) swung his sickle down to sever Catherine’s arm but she grabbed the shaft of the bone spear to block the blade. She wasn’t trying to fight back but the bone spear craved blood [or maybe Sam was just rewarding my extreme success, or both] and she stuck it into the man. Nails then plunged his knife into him and the spear drank again.
Charles threw a grenade which stated a small fire and then Amos poured gasoline to make it a bigger fire. The rest of us clambered up to the roof and ran out of of the compound. When we got out, Chu Min driving a truck with a covered bed was waiting. “Get in!” He yelled and without much of a better plan, we climbed in the back, still carrying Colby.
A Revealing Ride
On the way several things happened.
Mei-Lin woke, and despite the spell of Earthly Serenity, she was confused, startled, and scared. We tried to reassure her that we were talking he to Jack Brady and that we wanted to help. Iris asked her where Brady was staying, but it took some time to get any cogent information from her. Instead of performing first aid on her wounds, Iris persisted [Sign #3].
Meanwhile. Amos rifled through the bag and found a book that might have answers to brining Colby back. He handed it to Francois to look at. The both gave each other a knowing look (like this is a terrible idea and were going to do it anyway) and dove into the Necronomicon!
It didn’t matter that it was in Latin, the knowledge flowed into them and the pages flipped themselves. They were quickly talking of a maw, another dimension that had trapped Colby’s mind inside it. Maybe they were onto something, maybe they could save him, but they were also enraptured [loosing 10+ sanity each] and speaking of themselves as gods. They were lost, at least for now.
Catherine had some vague notion. She knew the Yith could move their consciousness through time. That’s how they made the Georges. She also knew she had a big shipment of their artifacts. Perhaps she could build something that would allow her to find Colby’s mind and put it back. It was huge longshot, but as she listened to these two egomaniacs blabber about bending the law of the universe to their will, she realized she couldn’t count of them to help. When the truck stopped at an intersection she jumped out the back and yelled “I’m going to save Colby!” and then set off running to the hotel. Charles hopped out and ran after her.
Nails, through all of this thought everyone in this entire truck was fucked. Colby was fucked. Francois and Amos were talking nonsense. Fucked. Catherine just jumped out and ran down the street. Fucked. Mei-Ling had been tortured and was barely cogent. Fucked. The only one who was making any sense (and who happened to be paying him) was Iris, so he looked to her for direction.
Mei-Ling finally was cogent enough to talk and over the exhalations of Francois and Amos, she croaked out the location where Brady was staying and SNAP, Iris was Iris again.
A hour earlier
Iris came to inside a locked room. She looked in the mirror and saw the body of kindly looking old man. “Fuck”. She tried the door but it was locked. She banged on it, but there was no response (that was the noise Francois heard).
There was a chest in the room that she could have inspected, but she figured anything left here for her was not going to be useful. She pulled a business card out of her pocket and saw it said Silver Twilight Lodge. She must be in Carl Stanford’s body. Fuck.
Iris/Carl scrambled to find a paper clip and some other tools and set about picking the lock to her room [So much lock picking this game, I love it!]. She did it, but it took time.
When she got out, we had all left and the servants were frantically putting filling buckets from the pond (I guess it was good for them that we threw a body in there so the fish were sated) to put out the fire. One of them asked Iris/Carl a question in Shanghainese which she didn’t understand, but she just gave him a dismissive look and walked past. The man, and all of the staff at the house, were deferential and let Iris/Carl walk out of the compound without further quesioning.
She caught a rickshaw and headed to the hotel as fast as it would take her. There she saw Catherine and Charles running and called after them. “Catherine. Catherine. It’s me. Iris. I’m in another man’s body. He did a spell and we swapped.”
Catherine was focused on helping Colby but this was too strange not to draw her attention. She didn’t trust her so she asked a few questions “What is your brother afraid of?”
“Fire!”
“What are you afraid of?”
“Water!”
SNAP. The body was now Carl Sandford again and Iris was Iris again.
“What did you wear at Evangeline’s funeral?” Charles asked. Yay for one more questions!
Carl looked like he was going to try and continue the ruse, at then just smiled. Well, it looks like you’ve got the best of me. I’ll be going now.
Catherine leveled her Mark 2.0 Device and told him “Unless you want your body to be coursing with an ungodly painful amount of electricity. Stop right now and tell us who you are!” [Extreme success on an Intimidate roll. Evangeline would be proud!]
Back in the Truck
Iris slammed closed the Necronomicon (after figuring out that’s what was making Amos and Francois so insufferable) and told them what happened. This was bad. Carl Stanford was working with Ho Fang. He knew where Brady lived. He knew about the trap. He was talking to Catherine and Charles now. Maybe they could stop him. He was also a very powerful sorcerer. Maybe they couldn’t.
Amos attempted in vein to get word to Charles and Catherine. Shu Min wasn’t allowing a phone call or anyone to leave, now that they knew Brady’s location. Instead he led them into a shabby looking warehouse that opened up to a not-shabby-at-all war room. The walls were lined with guns and explosives. The people inside were diligent and well trained. And at the center of this nerve cluster was a man who look like he had aged many years from the pictures we saw of him: Jack Brady!
A zero trust deal
Carl Stanford did not seem intimidated by Catherine or Charles (neither was a sorcerer) but he was intrigued by her yith device and by the knowledge they had.
He could recover Colby from the maw. However he wouldn’t allow Ho Fang die (he still needed him) and he wanted something from M’dari (a mirror) that we might otherwise intercept. He also wanted Catherine’s device and for us to get out of the way.
Lines of negotiation started. He could have the Yith device after he recovered Colby. We would kill M’dari but leave the mirror to him. Through all of this the possibility of trying to kill each other kept being bandied about, but Catherine did her best to keep the conversation moving in a productive faction. She wanted Colby back as soon as possible so they agree to go into their hotel room (they were just outside) and have Stanford create a new maw to summon him out of. We’re never getting the security deposit back.
Jack Brady
Brady was about exactly as unhinged as we thought he might be. He shouted, he slammed his fist, he waved his tommy gun around like it was an extension of himself. Before he would talk to us at all he demanded the emphatic answer to one question. “Are you fucking cultists?”
NO! No. No? The responses from Iris, Amos, Nails, and Francoise respectively.
The conversation only stayed civil because Iris kept reminding everyone in the room that we had the same goals and could help each other. Even so, Jack did open fire on Francois (thankfully missing) for a particularly arrogant comment.
Jack had the Seven Cryptical Texts and was having them translated. He had one half the Eye of Light and Darkness and meant to repair it. He had lots of guns and was ready to shoot any sorcerer, horror, servitor, or cultist that got in his way. He thought we were all fools for trucking with the mythos (which he called by name) but he was also befuddled that we might be actual allies who really wanted the same thing he did. His only friend (Roger Carlyle) was ruined by these people who used him and they were going to pay.
Oh, and he let us know one more thing. Gavivgan was not the Pale Viper. Penhew was (and still is). One more fucking sorcerer on our hit list.
Then Iris dropped the bomb, that she had been possessed by Stanford, who worked for Ho Fang, and who right now might be relaying that information.
“THEN WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU ALL DOING HERE? GO KILL THAT FUCKING SORCERER AND BRING ME HIS HEAD!”
Chu Min drove them back to the hotel as fast as he could without getting pulled over. A difficult needle to thread.
Vandalism and threats
Back at the hotel Catherine was trying to buy time. She hoped her companions would return with Colby’s body so the mind (soul?) could be transferred back into it. But either way she planned to give Stanford the Yith Device. Give it to him with 1.21 gigawatts of fuck off.
Here’s the thing about fucking cultists. Catherine doesn’t like them, but she also things their minds are so warped that they really can’t understand the moral choices they are making. Just like rich people just don’t have empathy for the poor because the can’t understand it, Sorcerers just couldn’t feel the pain they caused. That doesn’t make them any less evil, it just isn’t personal. In her mind they are moustache twirling villains who will spout some ideology that justifies their madness and need to be stopped.
But Carl Stanford was a different breed of evil. He didn’t care about any cause or lead a cult. He didn’t have a magical tome or artifact binding him to an a being from outside our reality. He had all his faculties about him…and he still didn’t care. He chose a path of callous indifference in the face of suffering. He wasn’t evil. He was uncaring, something that hurt Catherine to her core.
While he was painting the ceiling in Charles’ room (thankfully not noticing the crates of Yith Artifacts in Catherin’s room, yay for luck rolls) Catherine silently ran her finger across her throat, but it was not needed. Charles heard the same same word she did and had his shotgun ready.
Carl Stanford completed the painting and stepped out in the main room. He chided Charles for the shotgun but was not intimidated by it. “Great. Are we ready?”
We didn’t have a vessel (Colby wasn’t here) but he said that any living thing would do. He could put Colby in one of us, but a cat or a dog would work as well. The mind wanted to return to it’s body, once Colby’s body arrived, whatever-left-of-his-mind would return. He said that with the same apathy he exhibited thus far. Catherine seethed.
We found a cat that hand been hanging out by Colby’s bed and gave it to him (it had to be a cat). He entered the room, close the door, and impossibly darkness began to exude from it.
Reunion
Jimmy and Li-Wen arrived first (they had come direct from Ho Fang’s manor). When Jimmy heard there was a sorcerer drawing Colby’s soul out a dimensional maw in another room he said he be in the bar. Li-Wen on the other hand stared ate the darkness from under the door in wonder.
The rest of the crew returned with Colby’s body and a hearty hankering for a sorcerer’s head.
Carl stepped out of the room with a cat in hand and took us all in. “Aha. You’re going to try and kill me and it’s not going to work. Give me the artifact as we agreed on and you can live—”
Two Hours Before
Colby looked into the maw and felt his body slip away. In his mind he was knocked out by some kind of visual psychosomatic effect. He held onto himself even as he heard the screams of anguish from the others that would not cease, would not vary, would not end. His own self began slipping away as well [He kept making sanity checks, but eventually failed one]. He remembered the mirrored goggles that Catherine made for him and he donned those, offering some protection from the swirling lights, some sense of self in an endless void.
Then he was himself again, but perched at a strange angle, too close to man he had never seen. He saw all his companions with wide eyes. And among them he saw himself, laying unconscious. As he looked down and saw black fur on black paws, he believed that he had ben transformed into a cat. Shapeshifted against his will.
“Colby. Jump!” He heard Charles yell and he bounded from the man. Just as the windows exploded.
Showdown
Charles gave the signal [Spending a leadership die] and fired. Carl Stanford flicked his wrist and the bullets flew astray shattering a window.
Francois through his spear. Stanford flick his wrist again. The immovable object and the unstoppable force collided. A man who couldn’t be struck by a projectile and a projectile that couldn’t miss. Their wills collided and Francois won [better power roll]. The spear plunged into him, but now EVERY window and mirror shattered spraying glass and hurting everyone (Stanford included) in the room.
Carl Stanford felt the power of the spear in him and decided this was a more valuable artifact that whatever trinket Catherine had created. He told us all that if we let him go we would live and then he filled Iris, Catherine, Amos, and Nails Nelson’s lungs with water. Amos resisted the effect, but the rest of us were suddenly drowning. He then jumped out the window, to the street below. Spear still inside of him.
As the cat was struck by glass and a concussive force Colby’s mind leapt into his body, tormented by the experience [17 sanity loss]. Unaware of anything that was happening he saw Catherine suffering and grabbed her from behind and squeezed to help press the water out.
She should have collapsed in a coughing fit but she wouldn’t let herself cough. She remembered the breathless state of the Ulema and staggered to window to fire an arc of power into Stanford who could not deflect that blow. It was a glancing strike though [horrible damage roll] and he continued.
Amos, saw how Iris was suffering and he rushed to help her expel the water.
Charles saw the man who had been shot, cut, speared, and electrocuted still ready to run and he would not have it! Like the jaguar he once hunted Charles jumped from the second story window to crush the sorcerer beneath his mighty bulk [Strength 90. Size 75. Ouch]. Carl Stanford died with the spear still inside him. Nodens drank deep once more.
We coughed up the summoned sea water in our lungs, grateful just to be alive and together.
The Kiss
Catherine ran to Colby so glad he was alive. She squeeze him in her arms, pulled back, looked into his eyes, and then kissed him. It was long and deep and magical. I’m not saying it was this scene in her mind, but I’m not saying it wasn’t.
Has she betrayed Reggie’s memory? Is it okay to feel this way? Will Colby still respect her as a scientist and a peer? Will she give her love to someone just to have it snatched away again? So many questions she’ll be asking herself…just as soon as this kiss is done.
Thoughts on the Game
As I shared with everyone just after the game: THAT FUCKNG SESSIO! You could feel it by the incredible appreciation we showered each other with at the end, how we fervently talked plans during the break, and the tension as those final rolls were made.
Force of will doesn’t usually count for much when you’re facing mythos horrors. You can rage at the machine all you like, unless your hand is on the levers, prayers for salvation all go to absentee gods. But this session we fucking gumptioned our way though so many challenges.
Not that we didn’t plan and research as well, but in the end we took a lot of risks, paid for them dealrly, but accomplished our goals.
- None of our allied factions actively betrayed or trying to kill us? Check
- Yith artifacts? Check
- Warehouse fire? Check
- Rescuing Mei-Ling? Check
- Acquiring the fucking Necronomicon and other books? Check
- Finding Jack Brady? Check
- Finding the seal and the seven crypto currency books? Check
- I never thought I’d say this, but each of us alive and IN OUR OWN BODIES? Check
- Kisses? Check
- Killing another shitbag sorcerer? Check
- Keeping all the stuff said shitbag sorcerer learned from Ho Fang? Check
- Mansion fire? Check
- Feeding Nodens three lives including a Sorcerer? Check
- Colby getting to be a cat? Check
- Killing Ho Fang with grenades? No, but maybe???
I saw Sam pass Sarah a note, but didn’t put the pieces together. Soon after I forgot about it and when Iris was acting strange, I chocked it up to the fact that we were all in a rushed state. It was a fun reveal but my suspicion is it wont work another time!
I’m kicking myself that I didn’t tell Colby to use the mirrored goggles before looking up… but if he hadn’t we would have never met Sandford. The causality of things is strange. Catherine won’t let that happen again.
We lost so much sanity this game. 10+ for half of our team. Two have indefinite insanity now. Our motley crew is in a bad way. If this campaign didn’t have such a tight timeline (we’re about six months out from the apocalypse at this point) I’d say we should give everyone time off to recover, but I don’t think that will happen.
The kiss. It was beautiful but I think Catherine will immediately think it was a mistake. She cares too much about Colby’s respect for her and doesn’t want to damage their relationship. Plus, he’s just gone through horrible trauma, this is no time to ask him to do anything but try and recover. And in the end…she just terrified of losing another person she loves. She already lived ten years with Reggie, just to have that snatched away from her. She doesn’t want to have another emerald to carry around in place of a lost love.
Next session things we need to do, and fast:
- Cut off Carl Stanford’s head (promised to Jack brady)
- Apply first aid to the cat (it held on to Colby, it’s the least we can do)
- Destroy or disenchant the maw in our room.
- Get our stuff and get the hell to somewhere else! Even if Ho Fang wasn’t alerted to where we were by Carl Stanford, everyone has spies and the police are CERTIANLY after us after what happened at the warehouse.
- Be really unsure of what she just did (Catherine for sure, but possibly others).
- Make a plan for M’dari and the mirror he has.
- Figure out what we’re going to tell Madam Lin and Isoge.
- Breath, maybe?
