The Chronicles of Ceteri B-Team: Season 3, Session 6 – Waite, Wait, Don’t Tell Me

Dramatis Personae

  • Amos M. Humiston (Played by Chris D): The Linguist, Librarian, and Leader (Temporary). He is the brains to the rest of the group’s brawn. Recently Amos has completed a double Masters in Library & Information Science Archives and History and has also managed to get a rather special job lined up, if he can ever get around to it.. Tagline: “True alchemists do not change lead into gold; they change the world into words.”
  • Dillon J. Lynch (Played by Calvin J): The Tough Guy and a master of knives and fists. He is in search of his brother that he never knew he had. He bears a strong sense of duty and strives to do the right thing. He is broke, new to town, and new to this. Whatever this is… Tagline: “Yeah, I brought a knife to a gun fight.”
  • Henry H. Norris (played by Rory F.): The Detective and Shooter. Not the smartest, fastest, strongest, or toughest of the team, but perhaps the best rounded. He is a classic overachiever, always trying to make up for past failures and even limited successes by working harder and smarter. Life caught him unprepared once, and he does not want that to ever happen again. That attitude and certain knacks have earned him a good income and a respectable place in Boston society. Henry is new to the group, having met under less than auspicious circumstances and is the religious member of the group. Devoted follower of Horus before really understanding what that even means but it just felt right. Tagline: “If he can see it he can shoot it, and he sees really good!”
  • Lorenzo J. de Modouco (played by Christian G.): A man with movie star looks and a voice that belongs on the radio. Slowly coming to grips with the fact that he isn’t exactly human, but a “Lupus Dei” – “Wolf of God” – otherwise known as a Benandanti. Lorenzo’s been a firefighter employed by the Boston Fire Department for a couple of years. This gives him access to places he normally shouldn’t be able to go as well as medical gear and information that might not be available to the public. He’s become a master of spear fighting and is a highly capable combatant. He’s been helping Amos collect cursed objects and  Tagline: “You can take me to the gates of Hell, but I won’t back down and I won’t be turned around.”

Previously . . .

It’s been a couple weeks and it’s now the anniversary of the Lorna Road massacre along with the incident in New York with the WTC. The city has gone a bit quiet and the hub and the bub among the supernatural has kept it a dull roar but they’ve kept busy. Lorenzo has been spending time teaching Dillon and Henry some of The Hunter Trade on their downtime while they finish putting the Conex boxes into Henry’s yard. With that job over with, Dillon is going to need another source of funds and construction seems to be the most likely place to look for something to do. Lorenzo is one of the few firefighters remaining in Boston as most have gone to help with the cleanup in New York, he’s picking up a few extra shifts with the firehouse and paramedics. Amos has spent his spare time learning more rituals and with this day coming up, he hasn’t been sleeping well.

The Witches Three

Amos, Dillon, Henry, and Lorenzo
The Last Call
Friday, September 28th, 2001, 0:00 pm
45 Union St, Boston, MA 02108

They meet up in a bar, though at least half of them aren’t old enough to drink. They get some nice beer while Amos sticks to his normal cream soda and death wings. The beer is a rather fancy microbrew that has been named a Beer Float, it tastes almost like vanilla, cinnamon, hints of other fancy spices. The bartender is Sam Peasbrook, a cursed human that cannot die and is effectively immortal since a witch girlfriend cursed him to live forever with her, but then forgot to cast it on herself as well before she died. The place is fairly dead for a Friday night, only the pixie table guards but Dillon still wants to carouse.

Henry asks the pixies why it’s so quiet and they demand payment, so Henry keeps buying them food for every answer. Apparently, several people have gone missing over the past days, at least one of them was from a church. Not getting out too much, they don’t have much to say. Amos enjoys his death wings, though complains it’s a bit weak tonight and in response the owner, Al, sends out a basket of wings that seem almost glowing and heat vapors are pouring off. Amos declares them proper death wings as sweat pours off his brow and he has to focus the pain away.

Three women enter the room, one somewhat matronly, one old and severe, one with chestnut hair and a devil may care attitude with a scar on the left side of her cheek that causes her lips to scowl. The last one is readily identifiable since it’s Myriam, Lorenzo and Amos’s foster mother and she looks happy to see them but not happy to be there. Amos is able to identify the other two, one being someone he knows only as a name on a wall and a picture, his Great-Aunt Alice Waite, and then the younger one being his Aunt Justine Waite.

Amos gives Myriam a hug, who gives Amos a hug and admonishes Amos and Lorenzo for not writing or calling. He also gives his aunt a hug and asks what she’s doing there. Apparently she tracked down Myriam and Myriam tracked down Amos with a spell, who wonders why she didn’t just call him instead. Myriam doesn’t know where Kamali has been. Justine explains why they’re there, someone she knows has been kidnapped and she wasn’t sure who she could turn to for help. Amos asked why she didn’t just go to the police and she reveals that the person is no longer in California.

Amos has to chew over things for a moment, he’d never met Alice before but she needs the lesser coat of arms which Amos has so they can break through to see where this person is. It’s been eight years since Amos has last seen Justine and now she’s there asking for his help, or having his Great Aunt and ask for his help. He can’t quite comprehend it since he’s just a hedge but Alice insists that they need both the amulet and Amos, the Head and the Heir with the Greater Coat of Arms and the Lesser Coat of Arms. Amos can only stare at them for a moment, his aunt is almost in tears. The only thing he can ask is what they need him to do. They comment that he’s more powerful than he says, as they’ve seen the wards. Amos objects, commenting that he only followed the books, even asking Al, the owner of the Last Call, to back him up on it. Even he says that Amos’s are some of the best he’s ever seen.

After being beaten several times at darts, Henry speaks with Myriam about the collection he got from Sharon Norcross. Asking her to identify a list of things since Amos doesn’t. She’s sad to hear that the owner of them passed away. She identifies the items and puts prices on some of them before asking where they came from. Lorna Road haunts the group again.

Amos silently hands over the tarot cards from his haversack to Alice. She shuffles and deals the cards several times, they come out the same several times. She asks if Amos knows what they’re saying and he knows that they’re saying the next action the group takes as a whole is going to disastrous. They’ll find the girl, but she’s guarded.

Alice asks to come back to Amos’s workspace and opens a gateway across the street from Amos’s house. She has to recast it outside though when they mention they need to get their vehicles. They get them through safely.

Waite, Waite, Don’t Tell Me

Amos, Dillon, Henry, and Lorenzo
Amos’s House
Friday, September 28th, 2001, 0:00 pm
106 Highland Ave, Hull, Ma 02045

Alice is concerned that Amos doesn’t know how to cast a gate spell, but he says that he’s never been taught. Henry notes that apparently Amos doesn’t know everything while asking Alice if there’s a way to get the charm somewhere. Amos invites them across the threshold and offers them a drink, giving Justine the best darn water she can get.

Downstairs in Amos’s workplace, they get to work. Alice breaks a chunk of lapis lazuli off her necklace and then holds her hand out to Amos. He stares at her for a moment before taking her hand. She admonishes him and says she needs the amulet which he hands over and she fits it into the back of her amulet with a click and it starts to glow. She then scribes out a spell on a piece of paper which Amos recognizes as coming from his Tracking Spell grimoire. Amos helps casts Cartographic Binding while Alice casts Greater Seek Target. The first time the cartographic binding encounters resistance so he casts again, pouring his stamina and energy into it. The map lights up, especially at West Boylston and it’s likely at the Old Stone Church.

Henry checks the information the pixies gave him, confirming he’d been giving the address of the church by them which is where some missing folks have been sighted. Henry is already plotting on how to rescue the girl, they seem to think that time is of the essence while Amos is winded after casting the spell. Myriam says she’s going back home while Justine is saying that she wants to come along and when Henry asks if Justine was the one that got the girl into the mess in the first place, Amos tells him to shut up.

Aftermath

They get warped back into Boston proper back to The Last Call while Alice explains that they’ve got some defenses that prevent her from taking them there completely. It takes them an hour to get there, the church is off to the side of the road and Henry immediately starts by doing recon. It’s a nearly full moon and Henry can see that there’s some kind of funky weird light emanating from inside that he tells the others about.

After Action Report (GM)

I decided the previous week this was going to be a “Amos session.” I do that every once and a while to give a PC more spotlight time and to help cement and realize their backstory more. I missed up a few details on Amos’s history, but I quickly fixed those. The session itself stilted and halted a bit as Amos’s player is also the guy who does the session recaps. Honestly, I don’t know how Chris D. keeps up with it all but he’s a valuable part of my crew and is the grease that helps the game go. Anyways, I brought back in Myriam and introduced two “new” NPCs from Amos’s past (his Aunt Justine Waite and his Great Aunt Alice Waite). Alice was fun to roleplay as she is a bit severe and lacking in humor – you would be too if you had the kind of gig she’s got. No, I’m not saying. Justine is more than a little wild-eyed. She literally left a cult a few weeks prior and was deprogramed by her Aunt Alice. They then went in search of Iolanthe Galanis – the girl that Justine had grown close to while both were involved in the Cult (which needs a freaking name). Overall, a good session. The players seemed to enjoy it even though I canted the interactions toward Chris D. This is good as I tend to do this with all players so they will get their chance at some point too.

Other Notes

I’ve been having stomach cramps so I ended this session an hour early. Stupid stomach cramps.

Bonus report from Rory.

Soundtrack

“Hallelujah” by Leonard Cohen (The Boys in the Last Call drinking)
“Family Portrait” by P!nk
“Awake O Sleeper” by The Brothers Bright

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