Episode 2 Report

[Spoon!!]

Day Five (Cont'd): They didn't do much except get back to Miskatonic somewhere near midnight. They all disbursed to their various abodes (the girls to the ladies dorm, the Chemist to his reasonable sized abode, the artist to his hotel and the lawyer to the underclassman's down; the Chemist and the Artist both had decent Credit Ratings with some justification, so they lived off campus).

Day Six plus: Being a nice GM, most of this session was given to the players relaxing upon their return to Miskatonic. They were called into a meeting with the Dean (the Chemist saw the Vice-Chancellor due to his being on the Uni's payroll) because of a discussion that Blaine had with the Dean. The artists description was an amusing combination of the truth with creative flair that had the Dean ordering him out, "Out! Just get out!", and a 'dear god, why did we ever open the liberal arts block?' sort of feel. The rest of the group was able to explain the situation relatively well. Though the lawyer managed to frustrate the Dean through his generally coming in, being annoying for a few moments and then just leaving. The medical student and the Linguist decided to research the Dreamlands and began to learn about humanities collective unconsciousness and the like. They also discovered the identity of the weird professor on campus (given where they are, that's high praise) by the name of August Fenwick (a professor I played in a Masks campaign I imported for the purposes of dishing out info as needed). He was paid a visit, whereby he explained the concept of the Dreamlands in a vague sense and gave out some information about the Zoot. The Medical Student also struck a deal whereby she would help clean up his messy office once a week in exchange for him giving her lessons on the occult.

After some manipulations by the lawyer, the artist decided to hold a small part to celebrate their return to the Uni alive and well. The lawyer and the Chemist went shopping for a snappy suit for the Chemist and a present for the Linguist, who the Chemist had a definite thing for. While the Chemist was being fitted for a suit the lawyer disappear to send flowers and a note to both the Linguist and the Artist. The Chemist then bought a first edition book (I forget the exact tome, but something appropriate famous). Independent of this the Linguist and the Medical Student went shopping for a dress for the Linguist. They all then arrived at the party later that evening, all bringing booze of description, acquired through various means (The Chemist bought two bottles of fancy wine as an entree from a French restaurant, and the Medical Student apparently brewed her own) as an apology for using up the Artists Absinthe. Upon receiving the first edition, the linguist promptly went off to spend the evening reading (she had also managed to figure out that it was the Chemist who sent the flowers as the Lawyer had used his name). The Medical Student drunk as a skunk and woke up the next day under a bench with a gash on her head, her arms around a stop sign.

The Lawyer had also hired the Artist a 'Gentleman' for the evening who was put to good use. Everyone bar the lawyer had gone home, and the Lawyer proceeded to make use of room service and ordered coffee, bacon, eggs and sausage (in what is becoming his standard fare). He also managed to organise a date between the Linguist and the Chemist for that evening. The Medical Student did a bit of her service for Fenwick but didn't partake of her lesson due to the hangover. She got as far as clearing the couch before she fell into a crumpled heap onto it and falling asleep. She awoke later under a pile of books and papers because the Professor had forgotten she was there. He may have also sat on her once or twice while she was out to it. He gave her a coffee with some strange herbs in it that helped her get sober (after making her roll a CON check to see whether she needed to use the toilet or throw up). She slid some under the door of the Chemist who had returned to his office, but her note was unrecognisable so he didn't try it.

The date between the Chemist and the Linguist went awkwardly. Up until the Linguist decided to strip and sneak into the Chemists bed to give him a surprise. She was caught by Vincent (the Chemists Butler who I have stated for convenience) who covertly directed her to his employers room. He then informed the Chemist that the young lady was awaiting her in his room, *cough* *cough*. No time was waisted, and a few DEX checks later a lovely night was had.

All in all it was a nice character development session. Some plot was injected in the form of seeing the Dean, meeting Professor Fenwick and the players being made aware that Blaine and the rest of the expedition had mysteriously returned. That and Professor Harrold had gone to check on them...

[Spoon!!]

Characters: Male Chemistry/Physics student currently going for a PhD; Male Lawyer looking for extra credit; Female Science/Medicine Major; Female Linguist Major; Male Art Student. There is also an amusing love thing between pretty much the entire player base, especially as the Science/Medicine Major is a lesbian and the Artist is a rather obvious gay fellow.

Tl;Dr: My players managed to shrug off 90% of Month 2, with some well placed intimidation rolls and some planning. Also, there is an accidental marriage is planned.

Dear god my players. Yesterday we had our latest session, and they have managed to bypass quite a lot of the plot of Month 2 by being incredibly and utterly direct. Though this may, at least in part, have been my fault.

After having a bit of a breather session last time, I got down to brass tax. The Chemist and the Linguist had just spent some… time together, doing what young people are want to do. I make them roll a listen check, which the Linguist passes and the Chemist doesn’t. She hears a scuffling down stairs which has her sitting bolt upright in bed, her time in Cobb’s Corners still fresh. This wakes the Chemist in turn who falls out of bed. Revealing what she heard, the Chemist grabs his pants and a shotgun kept in the cabinet beside the bed before going out to look. The Linguist follows, dressed only in the bed sheet.

They find Laslow and Gibbons coming up the stairs, both armed and Gibbons carrying a doctor’s bag. Given what Blaine had described the party doing, they had come to turn the Chemist into a spy so that they could counteract party shenanigans. They hadn’t counted on a) the Chemist being a decent shot, and the presence of the Linguist. Gibbons was killed instantly at close range after a brief standoff by the Chemist while the Linguist ducked into the bathroom to retrieve her gun (where she’d left it the night before after getting changed; Vincent, the butler, had stripped and cleaned it in the meantime). The shotgun’s second blast did some damage to Laslow who was only just managing to stay conscious and disappeared a few moments later. Following the shadow, the Chemist only just managed to keep track of him. At least up until he got slugged in the face and kicked in the torso. Long story short, with the assistance of a shot from the Linguist, Laslow was soon unconscious and tied up and he and Gibbons were taken out back to await the arrival of the police who were called. The lawyer was also called and Vincent was let out of the closet and patched up, as he’d been the source of the scuffiling.

The police came and looked over the scene, and the Sergeant in charge assumed the Chemist and Linguist were married as he took their statements and asked them to come down to the station to get their official statements once everything had settled. The marriage thing was something that the Chemist didn’t bother to correct him on, which would come back to bite them both in the ass.

The lawyer then showed up and had the situation explained, with the marriage situation amusing him no end. The Linguist was politely escorted to the University dorms by the police to gather herself and she proceeded to go and wait for the Dean to show up to complain.

The lawyer returned to the University with the Chemist where they went in search of the Doctor-in-training and the Linguist. The Doctor was found easily and quickly filled in on the situation. They all then went in search of the Linguist to get their stories straight and found her after she’d had a talk to the Dean. The Dean, having no legal reason to go after any of the Cobb’s Corners expedition, came across as somewhat ineffectual. They all got their stories straight in a discussion held in the Chemists office, where a staff member or two knocked on his door to congratulate him on his recent nuptles.

To avoid any legal problems later on in the piece, the Chemist proposed to the Linguist and plans were made to get married at some point in the next few days. Both the Chemist and the Linguist bemoaned having to talk to their respective families (parents in the Linguists case, brother and grandparents in the Chemists). The Artist showed up at this point with flowers for the bridge and groom, along with a present and copy of the morning newspaper which referred to them as Mr and Mrs Chemist, to the annoyance of the Chemist. They all returned to the Chemists house for breakfast, and everyone proceeded to move in to the Chemists because of “strength in numbers”.

After a healthy brunch they departed again for the University in search of the students who’d just returned from Cobb’s Corners. Finding only two of the Library Crew (the other two expected back soon from their assault on the Chemists place) getting down to brass tacs. After a successful intimidation roll (a crit) the Doctor was on her way to getting some info. Deciding that answers were coming to slowly, the Lawyer beat “Block” into unconsciousness. “Trent” was a lot more co-operative after that and told the investigators all they wanted to know. Especially with threats of being shot from the Doctor.

He explained that he was only a Dog’s body and not even from this century, and gave what little he know of the Mi-Go. The Chemist made a throw away joke about their coming from pluto and was amazed when this was confused (this is a little anacronistic I know, but it was far to amusing a situation to turn up). Anyway, they locked him in a library closet and dragged the unconscious “Block” off to Professor Fenwick for further explanation. Armitage showed up to find out what was going on, but was brushed off. Fenwick expanded on a few answers while the Artist had a discussion with the in-the-closet Tones.

While there, an assault on the meeting place of the Mi-Go agents (at Professor Harrolds off-campus apartment) for 6 pm that evening. Professor Fenwick promised to bring a few extra hands. All the while shinanegans were being planned elsewhere as the Chemist and Linguist were getting “acquianted” more now they were engaged and the lawyer ended up really stocking up for the assault. Eventually everyone got ready for the assault and they were all arriving at the location in question as the session ended…

[Spoon!!]

Due to a shorter session last week, the plot wasn't advanced too much... except for the deaths of all of the players fellow returnees, plus Professor Harrold, save for Blaine (who the players have ignored since his return) and Laslow (who run for his life from the players after attempting to get at the Linguist and the Chemist). If you remember the end of last session, the players had hatched a plan to kill the brain swapped fiends through the judicious use of weaponry. It was this point I figured that I may have been a bit liberal with what I'd allowed the players have gun wise. While not overly OP they do have a large number of ordinance (Tommy guns, apparently owning a Browning Automatic Rifle, etc acquired through a less than reputable source). Something I will have to consider and take into my planning for future games.

They sent in the artist to ensure that people were home, which he did, before waiting a couple of minutes and then Molotov Cocktailing the house. Around the back the Chemist and the Linguist were charged with making sure no one escaped. This would be done, in part, thanks to a dumpster they assumed would be in residence. Making all of this on the fly, due to the fact that they were so far off the book at this point I was going prematurely grey, I let them have it. Again something I'm going to need to change in future games in regards to leniency. But this was also in part due to the fact that I was curious to see how far they were willing to go. Which was all the way apparently. Regardless, the brainswaped discovered what was going on. The artist bluffed them into letting him go out back to ensure a safe escape while the rest went off to collect their weapons.

The artist escaped out the back and the trio began to get to the front (after shoving the on-fire dumpster into position blocking the door). A few moments later they heard the sounds of a lightening gun moving the dumpster and were soon being followed by Harrold. In the possession of a lightening gun he fired on the Chemist who he knocked over (sent him down to 1 HP and who passed his CON check). It was at this point that the Linguist crited (a 001 to the amusement of the table) with her pistol and killed the Professor without a second thought in defence of her fiance. Noakes tried to make a break for it out the front door, only to meet the lawyer, who mowed him down with a Tommy Gun and who then requisitioned Noakes lightening gun.

Everyone then proceeded to book it and pray that no one actually saw who they were in the few minutes they'd been on the street. Enter, start arson, leave indeed. We then proceeded on what everyone has termed the Call of Coronation Street as family members started arriving for the upcoming and as yet unplanned wedding. We started with the arrival of the Chemists brother (a n'er-do-well) and grandparents (a former tank commander who fought in the Great War and his dowager wife) and all the fun that entailed and we finished the session with the announcement of the arrival of the Linguists parents...