Dramatis Personae
Agrivain Tashaslan (played by Travis E.): Inhumanely attractive and a genius spellcaster, Aggravaine is trying to make a name for himself in the supernatural world of Ceteri.. Tagline: “TBA.”- Charles Malone (played by Will M.): Charles is a detective, mechanical tinkerer, and powerful sorcerer who always tries to do the right thing. He has seen things that would drive normal people to insanity so many times that nothing really phases him anymore. He has a strong moral compass and tries to right wrongs wherever he finds them, especially when a paycheck is involved because, well, everyone has to eat. May or may not have been drawn to this work by a supernatural entity. Tagline: “Chosen? Sure, I could be chosen.”
- David A. Marshall (played by Scott R.): David is a photographer and teacher who has been chosen by God to fight the good fight against the supernatural forces of darkness. Unlike the popular perception of a saint, he is neither preachy nor dull – instead, he is patient, faithful, and genuinely interested in those around him, and is especially protective of children. He rarely chooses his adventures, but trusts that every step he takes will bring him closer to where he needs to be, and that the blessings he has been given will see him through. Tagline: “Saying a prayer is good. Being a prayer is better.”
Leo Brienza (played by Emily S.): A werewolf private investigator. Leo has a fondness for Twinkies and is a disappointment to his family. Tagline: “TBA.”- Ranulf Graeme (played by Chris D.): Ranulf is a man that introduces himself with a heavy sigh, not only because his name would bewilder the most experienced barista, but also because his life has recently gone down the toilet. Put in administrative leave for something that wasn’t his fault, he’s now forced to join up with some of the folks that actually caused his misery until they make his life better. He’s not going to rely on them alone though, as a tychomancer, a tellurgist, and he simply is one of the best cartographers and survivalists on the Autumn Road. Tagline: “No amount of careful planning can beat pure luck.”
- Chocodile aka “Chocky” (NPC): TBA. Tagline: “TBA.”
Previously . . .
The game opens with several people kidnapped, Charles and David who are bodyguards to a third, Tierney de Vries, and had been hired by the man’s brother: Johnathon. An angel came down and ordered Charles to take the job and thankfully, despite failing in their job, they don’t have to offer a refund. The kidnappers weren’t able to see faces and kept themselves shielded with spells. David is able to tell that they’re not really evil, they’re just very greedy. And all they’re able to tell is that they were in an apartment building since they’ve got rather magical bags on their heads that muffles out the senses.
Extraordinary Rendition
Charles, David, and Ranulf
Trollmarket
Wednesday, October 4th, 2000, 9:00 am
Somewhere in Underhill
Leo is acting as a getaway driver while Ranulf and his Pixie, Chocodile, get sent in. A lucky break on scrying gives Ranulf a near complete idea of the layout of apartment complex. Ranulf sends a Misted Chocodile through the venting system while he expertly sneaks through the apartment complex like a stealthy wizard, making their way to the room the three men are in. The door itself is locked, but only for a moment as the pixie breaks through the vent and unlocks it from the other side.
As David prays for freedom, Ranulf plays einy, meany, mieny, mo and pulls the bag off of David’s head and Chocodile helps the rest. From previous experience, Ranulf knows what to do with handcuffs and casts some premeditated accidents on them to cause metal fatigue freeing the men. David pulls off a table leg while the other men are being freed. They ask where all their items are, and Ranulf touching Charles’ shoulder and uses his Gut Instinct to tell them that they’re in the next room over, the bathroom. Charles immediately gets dressed while seeing that the rest of the apartment is rather barren except for some sandwiches. De Vries is still fine, but tired from being questioned.
After getting dressed, they check the hallway and quickly close the door. Hearing jingling on the other side, Ranulf thinks quickly and casts a premeditated accident on the keys on the other side causing them to break in the lock. There’s a quick curse on the other side and then an explosion occurs, flames lick through the cracks around the doorframe but the door stands firm. A look through the peephole shows that there’s a rather scorched area on other side, definitely magic. Ranulf assigns the others to find a window while he places a chair under the door handle and grabs the three magical hoods. The only window they find is nailed shut and Ranulf stops David from pitching a chair through, allowing Chocodile to instead force his way through the nails, burning his hands, but getting through the window silently. They get everyone out and into Leo’s hatchback, they look back to find an all-out battle erupting in the apartment complex behind them as they speed away.
Back At the Base
Charles, David, and Ranulf
Boston Athenæum Secret Basement
Thursday, August 2nd, 2001, 7:30 am
10-1/2 Beacon St., Boston, MA 02108
Ranulf and Leo takes them to their base where they see thousands of pixies flying around. Sacrificing the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, they start performing first aid on de Vries. His jaw is dislocated and was rather worked over, but Charles manages to help him quite well before David lays on hands to heals him before they question him. He was researching gateways in a general treatise, but the men were constantly demanding The Key. He wasn’t able to see them, just hear and speak. One of the men seemed familiar to him somehow during the interrogation sessions that seemed to last for days. He needs to speak with his brother, Johnathon, and they hand over their cellphone.
The three get to know each other as de Vries speaks with his brother, with Ranulf showing them what a flock of pixies does to a box of twinkees while letting them know that they’d been hired by Johnathon to find them all. David takes some action photos of the pixies while de Vries asks for some place to lay down. Ranulf directs him down the hallway and to keep away from the pixie hives. As he’s leaving, de Vries’s has an epiphany that it may have something to do with items he bought from England from an sorcerer’s estate, John D. Ginsburg that had previously died in the 60s. He was responsible for formulating the currently used gate spells, sturdy and just better in general. There was also some rumors that he was also involved in some shady stuff. He gives them keys to his office to grab a bill of lading to get the cargo from a ship.
Meeting Mr. Bojangles
Charles, David, and Ranulf
Trollmarket
Thursday, August 2nd, 2001, 9:00 am
Westbound Subway Transent
Charles conjures some credentials to fake a lifetime subway pass to get them to the office. Waiting for the train, they manage to notice a misted individual following them. While they aren’t evil, according to David, Ranulf’s Gut Instinct tells him that they’re in danger. Getting onto the subway car, he waits for the individual gets close enough to have a premeditated accident, tripping over a crack in the station floor and falling on the tracks where their foot gets severed by the subway train pulling away.
With that danger avoided, they wait to get to their destination, listening to a hobo singing Mr. Bojangles at the top of his longs and playing the spoons. When David goes to give the hobo money, he sees the man’s eyes are silver and time freezes around David and the hobo. He can feel the holy energy radiating off of the hobo. David greets the hobo politely and names himself as Ithuriel, telling David that he spoke with David earlier, telling him that help was coming. He tells David that they need to get The Key before the other side does, and when questioned further he’s warned that if given any more help then the other side has to be helped as well. Well there’s only one way to go, and that’s to ask what the other side knows. The other side only knows that it opens up a portal to any of the outlands, and that with The Key, one could bypass defenses and get straight into Heaven or Hell. They’re not even sure that The Key is with the lot of materials that de Vries purchased, just that he’d have it within a month of the scrying, which happened 3 weeks ago. They don’t even know what The Key looks like. This is all the angel can tell him, and the only other aid Ithuriel can give is that David can go with his blessing before time unfreezes and again the Hobo is singing.
They get off the train where David explains what he saw, and Ranulf calls it a bunch of useless information and that the divination the other side knew had no way of telling if it was those three that would give de Vries The Key or if he would have gotten it regardless. Walking into the building, they use the password to get the key to de Vries’s office and head up in the elevator. The door sticks a little and the occupants get a little uncomfortable as a muzak version of Barry White’s “Can’t Get Enough of Your Love Baby” starts to play – Chocodile singing along in his disturbingly deep voice.
Finally, a Bob
Charles, David, and Ranulf
de Vrie’s Lab and Office
Thursday, August 2nd, 2001, 9:30 am
9 Hawthorne Place, Boston, MA 02114
They don’t see anyone as they approach the solid metal door with a key and numpad, which David unlocks. They hear someone inside, rifling through cabinets and filing drawers. The office is more half office, half laboratory. David trips on the way in, alerting the thugs inside and the sound of a shotgun racking can be heard.
The pixie rushes forwards, pencil in hand, and stabs into the eye of one of the thugs. David hides next to the door, drawing his gun on the way. The shotgun wielding thug rushes out the door and aims for David, but as he brings the shotgun up his luck turns bad as he fires his round into the ground. The next thug draws a glock and watches as the shotgun thug falls through a weak spot in the floor where the buckshot hit, stumbling the shotgun aims upwards and discharges causing a piece of metal to fall and impale him, killing him instantly. David easily convinces the last thug to surrender, the gun on the ground and crumpled paper in his hand. He was hired to do a dead drop at a bench in the park once they find the bill of lading with no further instructions, he was paid $10,000 for it. He’s incredibly helpful in the hopes of being let go. Ranulf picks up the man’s wallet and pockets his driver’s license while David learns that the money was wired into an account.
They decide to let him go, with Ranulf wishing him luck with the next 24 hours before muttering a curse under his breath, afflicting the thug with bad luck for the next day. They search the office, finding it normal for the most part along with more bills of lading. They plan on leaving a fake one at the dead drop with Ranulf’s Sorcerous Mark on it to make it more easily tracked before they decide to clean up the evidence by figuring out where the nearest Autumn Door is, which is upwards on the roof which opens into Faerie. It takes a moment to reopen the door, but they managed to dump the bodies quickly.
Dead Letter Drop
Charles, David, and Ranulf
Boston Common Park
Thursday, August 2nd, 2001, 10:00 am
139 Tremont St., Boston, MA 02108
They stop by the park bench and drop off the false bill before heading off. They’re sure that they can track it later, and even if they can’t then they leave Chocodile there to watch over things.
Making Friends and Influencing People
Charles, David, and Ranulf
Conley Terminal
Thursday, August 2nd, 2001, 10:00 am
Boston, MA 02127
The PCs head toward the docks where the terminal is open 24 hours and David convinces the guard to let them in for it, quite convincingly too with the guard helping them load it up in his little golf cart. It’s almost a quarter ton worth of weight. The guard likes David so much, he offers to let them use his company truck to get them their stuff. Ranulf immediately calls shotgun and navigates their way back.
Aftermath
At the base, Charles casts some lighten load on the crate to make it easier for them to bring in while David returns the truck. When they all get together, Chocodile comes in to let them know that while they were gone, someone who was Misted picked up the false bill of lading. Now they just have to go through the crate and track down the bill and the person that grabbed it.
After Action Report (GM)
This was a really great session. I was worried as we were done one player (Emily), but this turned out good. So good in fact it was easily one of the best games I’ve ran in the campaign setting. The action was tight. The players asked the right questions. They worked as a team. It was good. I really enjoyed myself. I ended up pushing off another hour because we were at such a good stopping point I felt that going on might hurt the next session.
The crits were also in evidence as each player rolled at least one crit over the session. Chris D. rolled several and made (unintentionally) malicious use of his “Premeditated Accident” spell. Drawing in the new players (Scott R. and Will M.) was much easier than I thought it would be and Scott is a consummate roleplayer (I already knew Will was top notch as he’s a veteran of my campaign). Overall, really happy with how things turned out. Can’t wait for the next session.
Other Notes
This was a short session ~3 hours as I got my GMing chops updated to the game and the players.
Soundtrack
“When Things Explode” by Unkle (Opening Scene)
“Can’t Get Enough of Your Love Baby” by Barry White (elevator scene)
“Mr. Bojangles” by Nitty Gritty Dirt Band (Closing Scene)