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 four and a half months since the last time, people have been monster hunting and working and getting richer. Lorenzo was running part of the EMT/Firehouse but everyone put in at least twenty hours a week into monster hunting but at least one put in nearly forty hours a week. They’ve tracked down several more cursed items, the worst being a Monkey’s Paw, it was really bad. There’s definitely someone out that there is has been spreading them around. They picked out several more monster hunts, including a vampire nest that just came into Boston and decided that they wanted to take over things.
It’s February 14th and Lorenzo probably hasn’t been lonely at all, checking up and seeing if Gina has been working. Henry hasn’t been having much luck with his own dates so that they’ve been gathering up at Amos’s house where Justine and Io have joined Dillon in staying as Amos has been busy for the past four and a half months, only recently waking up from his intensive training. Dillon has been reading classified ads and enjoying Justine’s cooking. Lorenzo, finding Gina free, has taken her out on a date and gets invited back to her place for some hot coffee.
The fifteenth rolls around with Dillon and Henry preparing to go to work and training respectively with Lorenzo making Gina a wonderful breakfast in bed after a lovely night having been had. With Dillon and Henry reading the paper before going to work, they find a classified ad for lovelorn singles that triggers their suspicions and a weird feeling. Henry calling the number gets a voicemail where he’s instructed to leave his name and number and they’d get back to him, he decides against it and just hangs up instead.
Late at night, Henry gets a call from a contact of his, Ronnie Gosnell, a police detective at Metro who has found a strange case and she knows that Henry is into that kind of thing. She wants Henry to come to a specific address that is downtown but isn’t officially on it. It’s been ruled a suicide but there’s no way it’s a suicide. Dillon is enjoying his time off shooting some darts at The Last Call while Lorenzo is having his own fun during his stretch off.
No Sleep Just Caws
Amos and Dillon
Humiston Residence
Friday, February 15th, 2002, 10:00 pm
106 Highland Ave, Hull, MA 02045
Amos tries to ignore the constant tap of rocks striking his window and goes back to sleep while Dillon stumbles back into Amos’s place only to witness a very large bird throwing rocks at the window. Questioning the raven, he demands payment in exchange for Dillon getting his name and says that he has something for Amos.
Rousing Amos out of bed, he stands on the doorstep staring at the giant bird who hurks up a letter for Amos. Saying that he can call him Price instead of a name and that the letter came from someone that Amos knows who it is and if he wants to return to sender Amos has got to shove it up Price’s cloaca. Accepting that he’s got to accept the package, Amos asks about a receipt and gets an inkwell, a quill pen, and a piece of paper hurked at him, signing it with an X instead of his initials. When Price comments on if the X is his name, Amos asks if Price is actually his name which they both accept as being fine. Showing courtesy, Amos gives Price some Red Bull and Doritos and then asks how to contact him in case he could use a package delivered and gets a silver coin hurked at him.
Opening the letter, outside of the wards, it’s a warning from Mara that the time is drawing close and to gather the treasures. Amos treats it respectfully and places it in a Ziploc bag and draws a bunch of warding symbols on it before taking into the Church adjoining his house rather than his house proper. Waking Io for a bit when he yells to Dillon to see if they have any Earl Grey tea left over who hands the box to Dillon before joining Amos at the church.
A Odd Death
Henry
Humiston Residence
Friday, February 15th, 2002, 11:00 pm
4452 C Street, Boston, MA 02110
Henry is at the crime scene where multiple police cars are, he looks around for Ronnie while casing the scene. He has a chance to see the body before it was taken away. Both cuts on the person’s wrists are very deep and it’s unlikely for someone to cut very deep on both wrists. The woman’s face seems odd, like she went to sleep but woke up terrified. Ronnie is drinking some coffee and watching the scene, she agrees that the wrists are wrong and there was one thing that stood out. She breathes on the window pane where archaic symbols appear in the fog. He doesn’t recognize them, but he’s able to memorize what they look like for later identification. It’s the second suicide in as many days, the first being Mark Siegel and this one being Charlotte Rodriguez. Looking around, Henry finds that the knife that cut her wrists is from the victim’s kitchen. It’s still bloody but there’s no obvious evidence.
Henry texts Lorenzo and Amos about the suicides. Amos tells him to head over since it’s not like anyone needs sleep.
Up All Night
Amos, Dillon, Henry, and Lorenzo
Humiston Residence
Saturday, February 16th, 2002, 0:00 am
104 Highland Ave, Hull, MA 02045
They meet up and get ushered into the church so they wouldn’t bother Justine and Io any more. Henry starts drawing the symbols explaining they were at the scene, Amos stops him before he finishes and identifies them as Enochian symbols for a spell to draw life from a person. He’s able to identify that it wasn’t a suicide from the circumstances and that there’s other ways to frame a suicide. He checks the police blotter in the local paper and finds they were about the same time for the suicides and there was a man stabbed about the same time as the rest, about sundown. James Gill. He’s definitely connected along with multiple others who have died via stabbing or knives since the first of the month.
In the ICU
Amos, Dillon, Henry, and Lorenzo
Boston General Hospital
Saturday, February 16th, 2002, 1:00 am
55 Fruit St, Boston, MA 02114
That’s 14 death since the first of the month and Henry suggests checking out James who was taken to the same hospital that Gina works at, arriving about 1 am at the hospital where Gina asks why they’re there and Lorenzo says that he’s thinking about the breakfast they had together. Henry tries to say he’s there on unofficially on behalf of the police and Gina shuts him down for a moment since she isn’t sure who he is and she isn’t sure she’s allowed to let a civilian claiming to be there unofficially. He tries to bullshit his way past her and she asks Lorenzo for confirmation who says that yeah, he just really wants to be a cop.
She gives the two his file and while Henry wants to see James himself. It’s not a random mugging, the stab wounds are precise and each stab penetrated an organ. Whoever stabbed the guy is an absolute artist with the knife but only mentions it to Amos while they check out the vending machines. Henry tells Gina to give them a call if something else strange crops up and to keep things out of the paper if she can. Lorenzo offers her a dinner in exchange for what she’s done for them, she’s planning on being off soon in any case. They arrange to meet back at the Store’s upstairs apartment with materials for mapping it out.
Up All Night, Part II – The Upper-All-Nighter
Amos, Dillon, Henry, and Lorenzo
Humiston Residence
Saturday, February 16th, 2002, 0:00 am
104 Highland Ave, Hull, MA 02045
It appears really random until Amos overlays it with his memories of the ley lines and finds that each one happened on a ley line or point of power.
He finds that each is connected to the other in a line and the next one, if it follows the pattern, will end up right on Lorna Road. The first murder took place on Alston, right at Engine 41 where a firefighter went into his own room and slit his throat. Amos suggests they make something up for the folks and Lorenzo suggests cooking some chili which the two collaborate on. They finish off by the time Dillon gets back with a large amount of doughnuts around 8 in the morning and haul the chili over to the firehouse.
Engine 41
Amos, Dillon, Henry, and Lorenzo
Engine 41 Firehouse
Saturday, February 16th, 2002, 7:00 am
460 Cambridge St, Allston, MA 02134
they meet Eric La Braden, the chief for the station who is a bit happy to see Lorenzo and compliments him on making full fireman. They ask if he’s looking for a transfer, but Lorenzo is still happy with his current location. They just came by because they heard what had happened with one of their men and then warns them about Amos’s chili. They have a quick challenge where they find that it is a bit spicy. Amos asks to see where the room where the suicide happened so he could pay respects. While the men have a contest with the chili and Lorenzo egging them. Amos finds the room and the magical residue on the window which are the same Enochian script as the other “suicide”.
A man comes behind Amos and comments that Rick didn’t seem like the type to do that. They had been waiting for a call and he’d been with Rick, only leaving for a moment to go to the bathroom and found him dead by his own hand on his return. He’d used an electrician’s knife to slit his own throat and the window was open, he’d have sworn that he’d closed the window. Amos, unsure of what to say only shrugs and nods, listening to the man’s story. Approaching the window reveals that there’s a fire escape on the other side.
Aftermath
Amos places a flower on the windowsill to show respect and then recites St. Florian’s Prayer for Firefighters before introducing himself to the man who introduces himself as Steve and exchanges a few words before suggesting they go down to enjoy some of the chili they’d brought which have already driven several men into the bathroom with its spiciness. Amos, determining something, suggests that Steve heads down first while Amos uses the restroom only to double back to Rick’s room when he has a moment under the cover of the Mists and tap into the Ley Lines.
After Action Report (GM)
Session 8 was false-started THREE times and I’m glad it’s done. The session started a bit slow but that was mostly my fault as I didn’t get enough sleep. Once I had the ball rolling though it was a great session with PCs picking up the clues I dropped and practically running from one to the next. I think I have full player investment and now it’s just a matter of getting them more into the story.
Other Notes
Bonus report here.
Soundtrack
“In Your Eyes” by Peter Gabriel (The raven trying to get Amos’s attention)
“Fire” by the Ohio Players
“Mack the Knife” by Bobby Darien (Closing Song)