[Gamelog] BtVS: Potter's Bluff [Archive] - Comic Book Resources Forums

Perry Holley

04-02-2005, 10:25 AM

FADE IN to a shot of Potter’s Bluff, a small Georgia coastal town. This shot shows the town as a wholesome piece of small-town Americana. Low, ambient music plays in the background. Cut to a shot of a blond-haired Darla (played by Amy Lee), inside her rather normal-looking bedroom. As she looks into her mirror, we flash quickly to her previous life (in another body) as a gypsy somewhere in Europe.

VOICE-OVER: Though much is taken, much abides

Quick cuts of Darla dying her hair black, altering her jewelry, dying her clothes darker. Cut to a scene of Darla talking to the school nurse Theo Russell (played by Andre Braugher). Cut to Theo standing in a funeral home, keeping a wary eye on a coffin.

VOICE-OVER: and though we are not now that strength which in the old days

Cut to Theo in his home, looking over several arcane-looking tomes. Cut to Theo talking to Vance (played by Gregory Smith) while in Theo’s office. Cut to several quick scenes of Vance riding his motorcycle, playing his guitar, getting jackslapped by a beautiful Native American girl.

VOICE-OVER: Moved earth and heaven

Cut to a hazy scene of Vance (actually while on the spirit plane) facing the Great Eagle. Cut to Vance running breakneck through the woods, testing his new abilities. Cut to Vance talking to Cassie (played by Anna Paquin) in front of the high school, with other students in the background. Cut to Cassie, in a empty loft, playing the violin.

VOICE-OVER: that which we are, we are

Cut to a scene of Cassie looking into a mirror in her room… and then the mirror-reflection begins to speak and move separately from Cassie’s movements, indicating her second personality. Cut to a scene inside the funeral home, with Darla, Vance and Cassie in the forefront, and Theo in the background.

VOICE-OVER: One equal-temper of heroic hearts

Cut to a scene in the same funeral home, with a vampire rising out of the coffin, and the horrified reactions from Darla, Vance, and Cassie. Cut to a scene of Darla, Vance, and Cassie sitting at a table inside the Spiral, a teen juice/dance club, making plans in hushed tones.

VOICE-OVER: Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will

From the same scene, zoom focus past our trio to the Mystery Woman (played by Gina Gershon), wearing a black leather duster, observing the three teens from the other side of the club. As this happens, the music begins to rise, becoming more ominous, and then suddenly become quicker, sharper, but no less ominous. As the music changes, the transition between scenes comes even faster.

VOICE-OVER: To strive

Multiple cut scenes of our trio fighting the vampire in the funeral home.

VOICE-OVER: to seek

Cut to Cassie in a bathroom stall, holding her head as she is rocked by a postcognitive vision. Cut to Darla, laying out a Tarot spread while sitting on a bed next to Vance.

VOICE-OVER: to find

Cut to scene of Vance, Darla, and Cassie inside an abandoned fishing factory, on a raised walkway, with vampires approaching, flanking them; Darla has a stake and a katana, Vance and Cassie each have a stake and a large hunting knife. Quick cut to an exterior shot of that same abandoned factory, with Cassie crashing through a window. Cut quickly to Cassie’s POV, as she rapidly plummets toward a dangerous-looking scrap heap. Music rises, as if to a crescendo, then suddenly stops. At the same time, screen cuts suddenly to black, right before Cassie’s apparent demise. After a second or so, fade in to a shot of Vance, Darla, and Cassie in a grimy-looking alleyway (actually earlier outside the abandoned factory, although that’s not obvious from this one cut scene), weapons in hand; uncertain, but determined, and not willing to back down.

VOICE-OVER: and not to yield.

Fade to black. After a few seconds, we fade in on a scene of what looks like a dirt road, with a locked fence, the sign on the fence covered by graffiti, and the bridge crossing over a bay in the background. This is the flip side of Potter’s Bluff, the part that’s decayed, abandoned. We linger on this scene, as the words

Potter’s Bluff

are superimposed on the screen. A couple of second later, at the bottom of the screen

…coming soon

Linger on this for a few more seconds, then FADE TO BLACK.

Perry Holley

04-02-2005, 10:34 AM

(This is more than a bit late... actually ran this last weekend, but only now posting it here. Will hopefully get tonight's game posted in a more timely manner...)

***

Teaser - Nighttime, we see a young blond-haired girl running fearfully for her life. Due to a flickering streetlight, this scene almost has a strobe-like effect. Chasing her is a man, running easily, showing no exertion. The girl runs suddenly into an attractive woman, looking to be perhaps in her 40’s. Before the girl can do anything, she finds herself held by both the man and the woman, unable to escape.

“Oh god. Oh god.”

“God isn’t here,” says the woman, as both hers and the man’s facial features transforms, revealing them to be vampires. “Just us.”

Both vampires then bite into the girl’s neck from opposite sides. She struggles in vain for a few seconds, then her body eventually goes limp, collapsing into the woman’s arms. They continue to feed for a few more seconds, then stop, apparently sated for the moment.

“Should we turn her?” the man asks.

“Her?” the woman answers incredulously. “This little piece of white trash? We can do better than that.” She casually tosses the now-dead body off the side of the road, which proceeds to roll down the ravine. As we hear the conversation of the two vampires fading off as they walk away, we focus in on the still form of the girl for a few seconds, lying at the bottom of the ravine… and then suddenly, her body jerks, as her eyes open, flashing red.

Opening sequence - theme song: “Another Dead Girl”, by the Changelings.

(commercial break)

Act I - Open scene to Cassie, playing the violin in an empty loft. The music is beautiful, hauntingly so. Suddenly, Cassie finds herself jarred by a vision of the blond girl lying dead in the ravine, whom she recognizes as her schoolmate Darla. Cassie uses her cell phone to call a friend in the police department, making up a story about how she was supposed to meet up with Darla for a study session. Although the police can’t officially do anything for 48 hours, her deputy friend agrees to pick up Cassie and take a drive through the area to see if they can find Darla.

Meanwhile, ‘Darla’, still in the ravine, is trying to re-orient herself. Looking into the purse she has with her, she finds a driver’s permit and a mirror, both of which show her a face she does not recognize. She flashes back to her life as Svetlana Borska, a gypsy living in Europe. Images of her gypsy tribe tracking down a demon cult, battling them in an underground cave. Her people were successful… only to have a sudden wind extinguish all the fires, and then the screams of her tribe being killed quickly, violently. The last thing Svetlana remembers is hands grabbing her head suddenly, snapping her neck. Shuddering, she picks herself up, and begins to walk down the road, trying to discover where she is.

Cassie, riding in the Deputy’s patrol vehicle, spots Darla off the side of the road. Darla brings her hair around to cover the scars on her neck… which are already starting to heal. The deputy gives Darla a ride to the address on her driver’s permit, which takes her to a run-down apartment complex (“made of brick, once bright red, now faded to the color of scab”). Finding the door key, she makes her way inside, scenes of Darla’s life flashing in her mind as various objects and mementos throughout the apartment triggers memories of the body that she now inhabits. Eventually, Darla’s mother shows up from her shift at the local diner. ‘Darla’ feigns a familial recognition of the woman. Darla’s mother tells her to be sure to get plenty of rest… “After all, tomorrow is the first day of school.”

(commercial break)

Act II - The next morning, we see Vance being driven to school by his mother. He and his mom have just moved here from Atlanta a few days ago, and they’re currently living with his uncle. She reassures him that the school should have his parking permit for his motorcycle ready in a few days, and she asks that he try to look as their move here not as some sort of punishment, but a chance to start over. Vance runs into Cassie, and is intrigued by this strange little girl who carries, of all things, a set of tuning forks with her. Vance, Cassie, and Darla go through the usual grind of the first day of school. ‘Darla’ manages to fake her way through classes without giving herself away, even though she has no knowledge of the place (except for the occasional flash of the real Darla’s memories), though the person whose body she now inhabits has lived here all of her life. Vance briefly encounters the school nurse, an older black man named Theo Russell. Cassie and Darla both encounter the school’s queen bee, Charity (think Cordelia with more brains and fewer morals), and are both promptly dismissed by her. Charity then proceeds to hit on Vance, inviting him to come to the Spiral (a local juice/dance club) the following night. Vance indicates that he might, although with an underlying sarcasm that goes completely over Charity’s head. Noticing this is an attractive Native American girl named Nika. Nika and Vance talk, she indicates that she will be at the Spiral the next night as well, hoping he will be there. He indicates he will.

After school, Darla takes what little money she has, and buys both hair and cloth dye, as well as other necessary implements for her own personal make-over. She also stops by the local new-age bookstore, where she arranges to get some part-time work. Cassie is also there (along with her friend Charlotte, the bookstore owner’s daughter), and notes the change in Darla, who evasively dismisses Cassie’s comments. Darla leaves, and goes home so that she can dye her hair and clothes, and alter her jewelry more to her liking.

Meanwhile, Vance finds himself drawn toward something that he hears, not with his ears, but in his mind. He finds himself at the house of an old Indian shaman. The shaman draws him into the spirit plane, where Vance encounters the Eagle Spirit, who offers him a chance to become his champion, by becoming a Totem Warrior. Vance agrees, and the Eagle Spirit shows Vance the faces of Cassie and Darla, referring to them as allies. Back in the real world, Vance then runs through the woods, testing the limits of his newfound strength, reflexes, and senses. After returning to the shaman’s house, he encounters Nika (actually the shaman’s granddaughter), in tears… who then proceeds to jackslap him (she had expected to become the Totem Warrior). She then runs off, leaving a confused Vance.

Later that evening, Cassie is attending the funeral service for her friend J.B. (one of the few friends she had made in the year that she’s lived at Potter’s Bluff), at the funeral home where her father works. Following a premonition, Darla finds herself at the funeral home as well. Vance also makes his way there. Not many other people are at the service yet, although Mr. Russell is there, in the background. After a few moments of conversation between the three teens, they all hear a thumping from inside the coffin… after which J.B, now a vampire, breaks out, to the shock and horror of those looking on.

(commercial break)

Continued in next post...

Perry Holley

04-02-2005, 10:36 AM

Act III - Big fight with J.B. against Darla and Vance. Cassie is mostly in shock, especially when J.B. offers to vamp her so that she can ’live forever’. J.B. finally gets dusted by the combined efforts of Vance and Darla. All three sit in stunned silence for a moment, when the drunken caretaker walks up, looks at what has happened, mutters to himself “Closed-casket service…” and sweeps J.B. ashes away.

After the actual memorial service (where Cassie plays the violin in her friend’s honor), the three teens, along with Mr. Russell, grab a bite to eat at the local Waffle House. Slowly, hesitantly, the begin to reveal their secrets to each other. Mr. Russell tells them that he was once a Watcher, and what that means. He also reveals that the town of Potter’s Bluff is actually built on a Hellmouth, due to what was once a nexus point of two ley lines crossing, corrupted by the betrayal and mass murder of the local Guale indian tribe back in colonial days. He explains to them what he knows about vampires, and his fears that more vampiric and demonic activity will be rearing it’s ugly head. As everyone gets ready to leave, Vance spots a mysterious woman in a black duster, watching them from across the street. When Vance and Darla head in the woman’s direction, she disappears into an alleyway. When they look down the alleyway, there is no sign of the woman, even though the alley is a dead-end.

When Darla gets home, her mother is shocked by the change in her appearance, and asks, “Are you okay? Are you on drugs?” Darla manages to reassure the woman, although her mother is clearly not thrilled by this sudden change, nor the news that she’s now working part-time at a new-age bookstore.

The next evening, the three teens get together at the Spiral. It’s a big night; not only are all the students trying to forget that they’re now back in school, but it’s also the last night for the local band, the Dead Beats, as their singer/guitarist is leaving for the army. Cassie, being friends with the band, sings a few songs with them, as well as later between breaks mentioning Vance‘s name as a possible replacement. The three teens note that, despite her saying earlier she would be there, Charity hasn’t shown up. Vance quizzes one of Charity’s friends, who reveals that no one had heard from her since the previous night. Meanwhile, Cassie spots the mystery woman across the club, who quickly disappears upon realizing she’s been spotted. Sometime after that, the music being played triggers one of Cassie’s visions: she sees J.B. leaving the club a few nights ago, encountering a beautiful older woman, and leaving with her. Cassie recognizes the woman as the female vampire who attacked Darla. The three teens leave the club, and head to Vance’s place, where Darla can do a tarot reading to figure out what to do next. She does so, which trigger a vision of her own, one of Charity, Cassie’s friend Charlotte, and another student, Alice, all being tied up captive in an old abandoned warehouse. From the name on the sign in Darla’s vision, Cassie recognizes where they must be, one of the old abandoned fishing warehouses at the town’s Dockside. Readying the stakes that Darla has been making earlier in the day, Vance gets a couple of hunting knives, and (by spending a Drama Point) finds his uncle’s katana, as well. Armed, they then head over to the abandoned warehouse.

Arriving, they notice that the lock on the front double-doors has been broken. Going in, they see the three girls tied up at different stairways, after getting the unconscious Charlotte and Alice, they cautiously approach Charity, seemingly also tied-up, but conscious and struggling. Checking her neck, they see twin scars. Realizing that the charade is over, Charity breaks free easily of her bonds… at which point our heroes notice the other four vampires (including the male vampire who had attacked Darla) show up, flanking them.

(commercial break)

Act IV - Big ’ol fight between our heroes and the vampires. This goes back and forth a bit, as each side takes the measure of the other, both taking and dishing out some damage. At one point, after splashing a vamp with some holy water, Cassie gets knocked through one of the windows by said vamp. To avoid crashing into the dangerous scrap-heap, Cassie spends a Drama Point… and finds herself caught before impact by the mysterious woman in black, who then leaves before Cassie can say anything. Meanwhile, the fight inside continues, with our heroes beginning to get the upper hand. Cassie shows back up just in time to stake one vamp from behind, as Vance and Darla each finish off two of their foes (Darla, in particular, pulls off a nice front-and-back one-two dusting), including Charity. Our heroes get Charlotte and Alice out, just as they’re beginning to wake up, and they make arrangements for the two girls to make it home safely. Mr. Russell congratulates them on a job well done.

(commercial break)

Dénouement - A couple of days later, Charity’s disappearance is the talk of the school. The most prevalent rumor is that she was secretly dating a black man, and when her parents found out, they threatened to cut off her inheritance; in a panic, she kills them, and then flees (ah, the rumor mill of high school).

Later that night, Vance is at the Spiral, where he sees the mystery woman. This time, she doesn’t disappear when he approaches. He thanks her for saving Cassie’s life, and asks her name.

“Rose.”

Rose then points out a vampire across the other side of the club. When Vance turns to ask her how she knows this, Rose is gone. Vance then goes to take care of the vamp.

End game. Roll credits.

"Music for this episode of Potter's Bluff included 'Bluff City Ruckus' by the Porch Ghouls."

***

Overall, I feel pretty good about this first session. It ran a bit long, but that was mainly because everyone was busy establishing their characters, which ate up some time; I kinda figured on this going in, which is why I deliberately kept the plot with the vampires bare-bones simple. They probably spent more Drama Points this time then they will want to in the future; they’ll probably be able to gauge a bit better when to and when not to spend them as they get more comfortable with the system, and they’ll also probably be getting more Drama Points awarded to them in the future as we get into more subplotty stuff.

***

Quotable and fun dialogue:

After being told about the nature of vampires by Mr. Russell, Vance gives him an expectant look:
Mr. Russell: “What?”
Vance: “I’m just waiting for the shoestore to drop.”

After being given the ‘Are you on drugs?’ speech by her mother:
Darla: “Don’t worry, mom. If I do start doing drugs, I’ll be sure to tell you about it.”

After bring told earlier by his mother that he can have a friend come over if he actually gets his room cleaned up, Vance walks out of his room with two attractive females, just as his mother shows up:
Vance: “Mom, my room’s really clean!”

After Charity gets dusted:
Cassie: “Thank god… now there’s no chance of her becoming Valedictorian!”

And this one was out-of-character, but still fun:
Me: People in Dockside don’t usually like outsiders.
ChibiStarJumper: Do they all have that ‘Dockside Look‘?
(what the heck, I’m a sucker for a good Lovecraft reference)

BubbaJoWants

04-02-2005, 06:07 PM

Opening sequence - theme song: “Another Dead Girl”, by the Changelings.

Perry,
Can you provide any links to the sound tracks so we can here them?

Solaris

04-04-2005, 08:13 PM

I think you recapped it pretty well, Perry... and I loved the "quote" lines from us! :)

Perry Holley

04-30-2005, 12:00 PM

(After multiple delays, we finally got to pick back up our Buffy campaign, although ChibiStarJumper couldn’t play this time. I finally got off my butt and wrote up the summary for the game, just in time for tonight’s session. Also, I'm discovering that one of the things I like about writing up these summaries is that it allows me to insert various story aspects that didn't come up in play, but that help to explain some of the story/background.)

***

Teaser - About six weeks have passed since the pilot episode. We open onto a nighttime shot, with Darla walking through a graveyard, using it as a shortcut to get to where she’s going. She stops, as she notices a freshly unearthed grave. Nearby, she sees the newly-risen vampire, who sees her at the same time. He advances, hungry for his first kill. He lunges forward, for what appears to be a terrible battle between the two… Darla neatly sidesteps his lunge, and plunges a stake through the back of his heart in one smooth motion, ending the fight before it begins.

Meanwhile, Vance is with the old shaman, who is preparing him for his spirit journey, so that he may learn what he must gather for his ‘sacred bundle’ (medicine bag). The Eagle spirit tells Vance that he needs to acquire five items: the fur of a werewolf, the scales of “one who was once human, but now lives beneath the waves”, the tooth of a wendigo, the tongue from “one who feasts on the dead and lives underground”, and a piece of cloth from “a nightmare made real on the physical plane”. After the vision is over, Vance talks with the shaman some more, before leaving, and the shaman gives him a sword; it doesn‘t look shiny or fancy, appearing much more basic and utilitarian. As he’s driving away on his cycle, he sees a new flyer posted on one of the telephone poles off the side of the road. Snagging it, he grimaces in disgust at the news:

The carnival is coming to town.

(Opening sequence/commercial break)

Act I - The next morning, Vance checks in with Mr. Russell in his office, finding two strangers there… actually Dawn and Giles from the Buffy show. Now that supernatural activity has become more overt in Potter’s Bluff, Russell has successfully reapplied as an active Watcher. Darla also shows up, thanking Russell with his recent help with her family… her father had scheduled an ‘intervention’, thinking that her daughter was on drugs due to her recent radical change in behavior. After Dawn and Giles leave, Vance produces the flyer, making his dislike for carnies obvious. Russell says that there’s probably nothing sinister about the carnival, but that there should be no harm in Vance and Darla checking it out anyways.

Later that day, Vance gives Darla a lift to the shaman’s house. The shaman is cold to Darla; although he recognizes that she is an ally to Vance, the idea of a spirit inhabiting a re-animated body is anathema to him. Darla then talks to the shaman’s granddaughter Nika, trying to make sure that her bitterness in not being chosen as the Totem Warrior doesn’t make her ‘go to the dark side’. Nika’s response is short and non-committal.

Later that evening, Vance and Darla go to the carnival. It’s a small, seedy thing, with cheap, greasy food, the usual rides and games, blaring music, and the promise of a few hours distraction for the residents of a small town. Upon entering the grounds, Darla feels something, as if something was trying to grab a tine bit of her life force, although Darla seems resistant to it (in actuality, everyone entering the carnival lost a little bit of their life force… the energies taken used to keep the carnival’s owner in power, and to keep the carnies forever young and forever under his control). After wandering a bit Darla finds a tent set up for palm and tarot readings, and on a whim she enters. Paying for a tarot reading, she is not surprised by the dark message it gives. She is however surprised to find out that the woman giving the reading is an authentic gypsy. When Darla presses for information, the gypsy replies, “I can say no more,” and leaves in a hurry.

Meanwhile, Vance, waiting outside the tent, sees a stunning beautiful woman (as played by Neve Campbell) approach. Introducing herself as Donna, she strikes up a conversation with Vance. Vance flirts lightly with her, to which she seems receptive. Vance also notes that she wears a silver one-piece choker, with various symbols engraved on it. He offers to get a cup of “really bad coffee” after the carnival closes for the night, and she agrees.

Meanwhile, away from the circus, we see a scene of a man running fearfully on the woods. For a moment it looks like he has escaped from whatever he flees… and then suddenly he is flanked by two men. As the first man grabs the victim, the second man’s face transforms, revealing him to be a vampire. The vampire bites the victim’s throat, draining him dry. After the vampire finishes feeding, he says to the second man, “your turn.” the second man changes into demonic/animalistic form, and begins to feed on the corpse.

(commercial break)

Act II - Meanwhile, back at the carnival, Vance and Darla try to sneak toward the back of the carnival, where the workers have their cabins. They are caught by an older man with a walking stick, and pretend to be two lovers looking for a place to make out. The man, who introduces himself as the carnival’s owner, Mr. Arwain (as played by David Bowie). He doesn’t seem terribly upset, and while warning them not to intrude onto this private area again, he gives them several free tickets to make up for startling them. Vance and Darla act grateful, leaving the area in question.

After the carnival closes at midnight, Vance gets together with Donna, and they go off on his bike to the local Waffle House. Darla trails behind at a distance, to make sure than nothing unusual happens. Vance and Donna talk for perhaps an hour, with some of her comments seeming vague and unsettling to Vance. In particular, when he mentions wanting a choker like hers, she replies, “you should be very careful what you wish for.” She also warns him to “be careful what sort of deals you make to get to where you want to go.” Eventually they leave, and Vance gives Donna a ride back to the carnival. Before leaving she gives Vance a kiss… a kiss that promises more to come later.

After getting back home, Vance sketches out the symbols he saw on Donna’s choker, and scans them into his computer, then sends a copy of the images to Darla and Mr. Russell. Vance and Darla talk a bit over the phone, where he relates the conversation he had with Donna, and some of his suspicions. Darla then calls Mr. Russell, waking him up, informing him what has happened so far, and asks him to research the symbols, and to see if he can find anything on the carnival. He agrees, and says he will meet them in the morning before school.

Meanwhile, back at the carnival, Most of the lights are dim, and the majority of the carnies are asleep… but we see Mr. Arwain walking the grounds. The two men we saw earlier killing the man in the woods approach. “Any problems?” asks Mr. Arwain. “Nah,” replies the vampire, “the fairy dust you gave us made our footprints look like animal tracks, just like always. No reason the local shouldn’t think it’s anything but an animal attack.” The second man then asks, “What about you? Find any likely candidates to add to the menagerie?” “Oh yes,” responds Arwain, with a smug smile, “in fact, I believe I have found two very interesting potential additions for our traveling show.”

(commercial break)

Continued in next post...

Perry Holley

04-30-2005, 12:02 PM

Act III - The next morning, Vance rises to find his mother in the kitchen, looking haggard. Besides pulling a double shirt at the hospital, she also the remains of last night’s ‘animal attack’. Vance leaves to meet up with Darla and Russell at the local Waffle House before school. Russell informs them that the symbols on Donna’s choker are very powerful magical runes, used to bind supernatural beings to a magician’s service, where the bound one must obey their master in both word and deed. He also reveals that the carnival has been around since the Depression era, and that there have been a number of disappearances that coincide with the carnival’s arrival in different towns over the years. The three then make plans on how to deal with this threat.

Later that evening, Vance and Darla enter the carnival. Once again, Darla notices the same thing as the previous night, but can’t identify exactly what it is. Darla and Vance then stage a loud ‘break-up’ fight, giving them both an excuse to wander the carnival separately. Vance hooks up with Donna, and offers to take her to a secluded spot on the beach (pre-arranged with Darla and Russell, so that they can be there to observe in case there is trouble) after the carnival closes; she agrees. Mr. Russell, arriving a bit later that Darla and Vance, so as not to draw attention, encounters Darla and quietly says that he saw what appears to be ghosts in the Hall Of Mirrors. Darla goes to the Hall Of Mirrors, and sees the same thing (actually, there were ghosts all over the carnival, tied to the carnival and unable to move on; it was just that only in the mirrors that someone with the proper occult training could actually see them).

As the carnival is closing for the night, Darla and Russell leave, and head off to the beach to await Vance and Donna’s arrival. After midnight, Vance and Donna head off on his bike to the beach. With Ravel’s ‘Bolero’ playing on her boom box, Donna enters the ocean for some skinny dipping, with Vance quickly following. Before things can go any further, a dimensional portal opens, and through it walks Mr. Arwain, followed by the two killers from the woods, and two others that Darla recognizes as carny workers. “Donna, you know I normally leave your prey alone,” Arwain says to Donna, “but did you honestly think that I would let this one slip away? Come here, girl.”

With sadness in her eyes, she begins to walk toward the shore, whispering to Vance, “I’m sorry.”

(commercial break)

Act IV - As Donna begins to head toward the shore, Vance pulls her underwater, and snaps the choker in two… the resulting explosion throws him back above the water. As he gets his bearings, he sees one of the carnies already in the water, heading for him. Just then, ‘Donna’ rises from the water, her skin red, her horns now visible, a prehensile tail trailing from her backside, and her bat wings spread wide, her demonic form as a succubus now obvious.

Darla approaches from the trees, trying to strike Arwain from behind with Vance’s sword. He turns around barely in time, pulling up his thin walking stick to defend himself with. Darla is mistakenly thinking that the sword that the shaman gave Vance might be magical; it isn’t, but the fact that it is cold-forged iron serves her well against Arwain and his weapons. The sword cuts the walking staff in half; the magical explosion throws both of them back. From the trees, Russell fires a crossbow bolt at the vampire; the vampire catches the bolt as it enter his chest, just before it can puncture the vampire’s heart. The vampire’s companion, now in full Wendigo form, tries to attack Darla while she is down; Darla defends herself with the sword, and the Wendigo accidentally skewers himself.

Meanwhile, Vance finds himself fighting the carny who approached him, and who seems to move through the water like he was born to it. Despite that, using the broken half of the choker as a dagger, Vance manages to defeat him. ‘Donna’ flies toward and attack the other carny, who has also transformed into a demonic form. Both take some brutal damage from each other, but between her claws and her ability to drain life force by touch, Donna overcomes her foe.

Darla manages to dust the vampire before he can do serious harm to Mr. Russell, which leave only Arwain. He proves a nimble and dangerous foe, with various magics at his command, but eventually our heroes defeat him; Darla drives the sword through him, and his form vanishes in a burst of light. Back at the carnival, the various carnies find themselves free of the geas that Arwain had them under, and the spirits of former carnies and past victims now find themselves free to leave this mortal plane. Back on the beach, ’Donna’ informs them that Arwain was of the sidhe, one of the fey folk. Darla tells her that it is their duty to kill demons… but that she has five seconds to leave before they have to come to blows. ‘Donna’ blows a kiss at Vance, and flies off. Checking each other to make sure none of their injuries are too severe, Vance, Darla, and Russell each then head home.

The next morning, Vance drives by the abandoned drive-in theater lot where the carnival had been. Even though it was scheduled to be there for the rest of the week, the lot is now empty.

A few days pass. Vance gets an envelope from Greece; it contains a picture of Dawn on a beach, saying “wish you were here.” Later that evening, Vance and Darla find themselves on the beach again for a romantic interlude of their own. After the fact, Darla admits to some difficulty, due to the memories of the ’real’ Darla from before she was killed, as she had a traumatic encounter with a fellow student that resulted in a date-rape. They speak for a little bit afterwards, making no promises and telling no lies.

(commercial break)

Dénouement - An attractive blonde woman steps into a bare apartment, with a suitcase and a few boxes in tow. Dropping them off in the living room, she goes to the bathroom, looking at her reflection. The form of the woman changes to that of a succubus, and then to the form of ‘Donna’.

“I think I’ll stick around.”

Cut to a scene underwater, where we see the dead form of the carny who attacked Vance on the beach. As it slowly floats across the screen, a green scaly arm grabs the body, pulling it off-screen. Fade to black.

End game. Roll credits.

***

All in all, I think things went well. I was a little worried that the majority of the game was mostly investigation, with the sole combat coming near the end of the session, but Solaris and BubbaJoWants didn’t seem to mind. I was a little thrown off that the subplot regarding ‘Darla’s past was brought up and dealt with so quickly; that seemed like the sort of thing to play out over time, but that’s probably just a matter of differing expectations from the player and the GM.

Perry Holley

04-30-2005, 12:06 PM

Perry,
Can you provide any links to the sound tracks so we can here them?Haven't found any downloads for "Another Dead Girl," but I'll keep looking.

Solaris

04-30-2005, 06:16 PM

Three points:

1. Darla struck deliberately at Arwain's walking stick, because she had a hunch that it might be a magical item, and very likely something he used to control the others (he took it everywhere). It wasn't the controlling device, but it *was* magical... hence the explosion when she broke it w/the cold iron sword.

2. Darla did some heavy dmg. to the Wendego, but left it unconsious for Vance: once they defeated Arwain, she gave him the sword and he used it to cut out the wendego tooth he needed for his spirit bag... *then* he killed it, as it was coming to.

3. The main reason Darla gave Donna/succubus a count of five to just "leave" rather than "stay and be killed" *wasn't so much that Donna had fought against a common enemy with them; rather, Darla and Vance had taken some pretty hefty damage, and Mr. Russell had also been knocked back... while Donna had been draining enemies for energy (and likely was back at full strength and health), even though she also took some damage during the fight. Basically, Darla figured Donna was up to full strength, while they were all tired and hurt... best to leave that fight for another day. So she bluffed the hell out of Donna, who (thankfully for Darla and the rest) took the chance to flee. (When you've managed to kill six tigers, but your hurt and tired, it's not a good idea to take on the very healthy elephant right then.)

Solaris

04-30-2005, 11:56 PM

Okay, in tonight's game he took my character down to *4* life points! FOUR! Out of a total of 56. And that was *after* I burned off multiple drama points, reducing damage she took.

Can you say "ouch!"?

:D

Perry Holley

05-07-2005, 02:19 PM

(We got half a session out of ChibiStarJumper before she had to leave. This session takes place on the night of Sunday, October 31st, 2004, and is based on the Call Of Cthulhu scenario of the same name, from the Blood Brothers supplement.)

***

Teaser - Scene opens with Cassie alone in the middle of a cornfield, at night. She wanders through the sea of dead corn husks, but can’t seem to get anywhere. Finally, she comes upon a clearing, where she comes across the body of a former classmate by the name of Jeremy Wolfe, tied with arms spread outward to a wooden post. His head suddenly rips from his body, falling to the ground with a wed thud. The head then splits open and a mass of vines and branches shoot out, wrapping around Cassie, dragging her to the ground, crushing her, pulling her into the ground, until she is completely submerged.

Then she wakes up.

Cut to Mr. Russell, answering the phone at his home. We hear the frantic voice of Jeremy, pleading for help, saying “it will kill me.” There is then the sound of something breaking, a scream… and the line goes dead.

(Opening sequence/commercial break)

Act I - Russell calls our young heroes, asking him to meet up with him at Wolfe’s home. When they get there, they all see the front door bashed in. A bit of straw is found at the front door, and the faint trace of burnt pumpkin can be found inside. Also inside is a lot of blood, as well as Jeremy’s head… but not the rest of his body. Cassie hears a faint whimpering coming from the closet, where they find a traumatized Virginia Foster, Jeremy’s fiancé. They calm her down enough for her to say that the last thing she remembers was that Jeremy saw something outside his home that frightened him, at which point the locked her in the closet. She then heard him make a phone call, then the sound of the door being broken, and finally his screams.

Then the police show up, questioning our heroes, whole taking Virginia to the hospital. After being allowed to leave, Cassie overhears from one of the police radios that there are reported break-ins at the Tierney and Langford homes. Cassie remembers that Sybil Langford and Jeff Tierney were very tight friends with Jeremy and Virginia.

Cut to a scene of a car with a young couple (Jeff and Sybil) driving, only to have their car stall out unexpectedly. As Jeff pops open the hood to see what is wrong, we see from behind them a demonic-looking scarecrow appear out of nowhere.

(commercial break)

Act II - Not having a lot to go on at the moment, Vance, Cassie and Darla go to the hospital, Vance to talk to his mother, Cassie and Darla to talk to Virginia. Virginia hesitantly tells them of what happened the previous Halloween; herself, Jeremy, Sybil, and Jeff had snuck onto old man Carrick’s farm, just outside of town, with the intent of getting drunk and fooling around a bit. They came upon Carrick, performing some sort of magical ritual in front of an old oak tree, cumulating with a human sacrifice. They then fled in fear, but not without being noticed; Carrick used his magicks to harass them and keep them from escaping. Finally, they tried taking shelter in Carrick’s own home, as the old man is wreaking terrible weather down from the skies. As Carrick enter his home, Jeremy desperately throws an oil lantern at him, hitting Carrick in the head. This not only knocks the old man unconscious, but also starts a fire in the house. The four escape with their lives, hoping no one finds out about their involvement in Carrick’s death. Darla and Cassie comfort Virginia, and try to arrange extra protection for her while in the hospital.

Meanwhile, Vance’s mom tells him what little she knows, mainly that Jeremy’s body wasn’t cut apart, it was ripped apart. She also tells him of the violence done to Sybil and Jeff’s home (no one at home at Sybil’s, but Jeff’s dog was killed).

Meanwhile, out in the old Carrick farm, the scarecrow hoists two more headless bodies up to a wooden post (there now being three total), and puts jack-o-lanterns where the heads should be…

(commercial break)

Act III - Vance, Darla, and Cassie meet up with Russell to compare notes. After the teenagers have told him everything they’ve learned, Russell informs them that the old oak tree at the farm has a history to it; a man was hung for witchcraft there three centuries earlier, but not before he laid a dying curse on the town.

Vance and Darla make preparations to take care of business, stocking up with axes, gasoline, and a chainsaw. They drive to the farm, taking the truck that Vance borrowed from his uncle; along the way hearing over the police scanner that the head of Sybil and Jeff have been found. They drive straight through the cornfield, up to the old oak tree, the weather getting worse as they approach. As Vance approaches the tree with a chainsaw, it animates, knocking him back with a blow from one of it’s branches. At the same time, the scarecrow appears, and attacks Darla. To make matters worse, a number of corpse (past sacrifices from previous years) rise up from the ground, as well.

(commercial break)

Act IV - Big rumble! Darla in particular takes a hellacious amount of damage from both the scarecrow and the deadites, but doesn’t go down. Vance barely manages to avoid getting hit by lightning that the spirit of Carrick (in the tree, of course) summons down. Although things are touch-and-go for a while, our heroes manage to overcome the scarecrow and the deadites, and use the chainsaw and a lot of gasoline to destroy the tree, tossing the corpses into the fire. Eventually, they leave, convinced that Carrick’s threat is finally ended.

The next afternoon, Vance and Darla investigate the abandoned farm. They discover a hidden doorway in the cellar, leading to an underground passageway. They explore for a little bit, but don’t find anything, except that the passageway branches off multiple times, perhaps indicating that there are a lot of underground tunnels in the area. Not wanting to risk getting lost, they decide to return to the cellar, perhaps to explore it at another time.

(commercial break)

Dénouement - Vance and Darla leave the farm; Darla is particularly happy to do so, as the tunnels remind her of the underground caves she was killed in her previous life.

As they drive away, the POV goes down, into the ground, and back into the tunnels. It’s dark, and we can’t really see much of anything. Finally, we see a pair of glowing eyes in the darkness. No words are spoken, but the soft sounds of meeping and gibbering can be heard. Fade to black…

End game. Roll credits.

***

Another good session, I think. Again, heavy on the investigation, with combat coming only near the end, but so far the players don’t seem to mind.

Perry Holley

05-14-2005, 03:06 PM

(This session is set shortly after Thanksgiving, 2004, and is based on the Teenage Demon Slayers scenario ‘Strength In Numbers’.)

***

Teaser - We start off with Vance getting ready to ride to school. As he is driving along, he sees a police car parked off to the side of the road, as well as another police car and an ambulance slowly driving away. Seeing that the remaining officer is Deputy Roberts, a friend of Cassie’s, who has helped them in the past, Vance pulls over and asks what has happened. Roberts answers tersely that a body was found dead in the ravine, and it has not yet been identified.

As Vance drives off toward school, something Vance sees, but doesn’t really notice, is an odd bit of graffiti on the billboard beside the road… a rather arcane-looking bit of graffiti.

(Opening sequence/commercial break)

Act I - As Vance and Darla arrive at school, they are called in to a school assembly. The vice principal is warning that there is a rise of gang activity in the local area, although he is quite vague on any details, and has few actual answers to Vance’s questions on the subject.

Later that day, Darla arrives at the new-age bookstore that she works part-time at, to find the glass-pane window being replaced; it seems that while Darla was out of town for the holidays, there was a break-in at the store. The robbery was an odd one; besides some petty cash, the only other thing taken was a rare book entitled “The Tome of Drydd”. Mrs. O’Braonain, the store’s owner, tells Darla that she did skim through the book once, and that it was an odd mixture of various dark magics, as well as essays and ramblings on the nature and use of fear.

That evening, Vance sees a news report regarding odd ’animal sighting’ in the Potter’s Bluff area. Vance, Darla, and Mr. Russell compare notes, and decide to investigate. Vance and Darla drive out to one of the reported ‘animal sightings’, near a bait shop on Dockside. Vance sees a bit of graffiti off the side of the building, and recognizes it as the same symbol he saw on the billboard near the murder investigation. They find some odd footprints, and following them into the woods, are surprised by what appears to be a huge orangutan, wearing a loincloth and a headband with various arcane symbols, and brandishing a pair of Bagh Nakh (tiger claws), leaping forward to attack them.

(commercial break)

Act II - Darla and Vance fight the demon in the woods; Vance gets tagged a couple of times by the tiger claws that the demon is using, taking a lot of damage. Eventually, between the two of them, they manage to kill the demon, which dissipates in a cloud of smoke. Darla notes that one of the symbols on the headband is the same as the graffiti on the wall of the bait shop. She then helps him get to Mr. Russell, who bandages his wounds, and then Darla gets Vance home for the night. When Darla gets home, she does a tarot reading, and has a vision of a couple of street punks spray painting the same arcane symbol off the side of a convenience store.

The next morning, Vance (feeling much better, due to his healing factor) and Darla find the convenience store she saw in her vision, before having to go to school. Mr. Russell informs them that what they fought was a Kadarga demon, known servants of a demon known as Ultek, Lord of Dread, and that the symbol they saw is also associated with Ultek… in fact, part of the ritual for summoning Ultek involves displaying the symbol in a place that can be viewed publicly, one symbol per night. Trying to figure out a pattern, they got out a map and marked the known locations of the graffiti and the reported ‘animal sightings’… and deduced that the four locations seemed to line up as being part of a six-sided hexagram (the “seal of seals”, Russell comments), with the two locations remaining being an abandoned farm area just outside of town, and the school that they attend. Later that afternoon, they track down and destroy three more Kadarga demons (I didn’t really feel like running three more combats that would essentially be a repeat of the previous fight, so we fast-forwarded through this part). Figuring that the school would be saved for last, Vance and Darla head out to the fifth location as the sun begins to set.

Meanwhile, we see two guys at an abandoned farm house, getting a can of spray paint ready…

(commercial break)

Act III - Vance and Darla arrive, just as the two punks finish spraying the symbol on the side of the barn. Our young heroes easily defeat the punks, and question them. They learn that the gang’s leader is a guy named Kyle Black, and that the gang doesn’t know what the symbol is actually for, thinking that it’s just some sort of new gang tag.

The next day, our heroes make preparations for that night. Vance spends the afternoon trying to track down Kyle, with little success. As the sun sets, Vance and Darla take position around the school, and eventually see about a dozen or so toughs coming up the back side of the school, one of them carrying a spray can. When they get close, Vance and Darla start to mix it up with the punks, trying to make sure they don’t successfully display the symbol. Kyle manages to get free long enough to rip open his shirt, displaying the tattoo of the symbol on his chest, displaying the final symbol and completing the seal. Kyle’s laughter turns to screams as Ultek materializes inside Kyle, popping the delusional hood like a sour grape.

“Bow to me, or die.”

(commercial break)

Act IV - As the rest of the goons flee in terror, Vance and Darla prepare to mix it up with Ultek. He’s big (9 ft) and ugly (tusks, horns, four eyes, and lots of tentacles in addition to his arms and legs), and wearing some sort of plate mail armor. His very presence emanates fear, but our heroes are made of stern stuff, and manage to overcome their fears. As they fight Ultek, a Kadarga demon sneaks up behind Darla, ready to strike (one Kadarga demon appeared each time the symbol was displayed), but is struck down by a crossbow bolt, fired by Mr. Russell off in the distance.

Eventually, Vance manages to decapitate Ultek, who then explodes in a burst of sulfur and fecal matter, covering our heroes in filth, with the demon’s remains melting into acidic goo. Stinking to high heaven, Vance and Darla meet up with Mr. Russell, and go to try to clean the stench off…

(commercial break)

Dénouement - Despite their best efforts, Vance and Darla can’t quite get the last of the stench off in time for school the next day (they make up a story about stepping into a skunk‘s nest). All the other students give them plenty of room. Somehow, it just doesn’t seem fair…

End game. Roll credits.

***

This went well, I think. A little better mix of investigation and combat this time around.

Perry Holley

07-28-2005, 06:30 PM

Geez, just realized that I had forgotten to post this…

With this scenario, it was pretty much confirmed that, for a variety of reasons, ChibiStarJumper would most likely not be able to attend any further sessions.

On a lighter note, this was the first session we played in the gazebo (yes, a gazebo!) that we had set up a few weeks earlier on the back deck of Solaris’s and BubbaJoWants’s home… and no, I have no idea how many hit points it has.

This scenario is set in mid-December, 2004, and is based (very loosely) on the Over The Edge scenario With a Long Spoon.

***

Teaser - We start out with Vance riding his bike at night, when he sees a man carrying a second, limp figure into the woods. Confronting the man (actually a vampire), he quickly stakes the vamp. Calling on Darla for assistance, they debate on what to do with the second body, which is quite dead, obviously the victim of the vampire. Not knowing for certain whether or not the victim will rise as a vampire, they decide to take no chances; they decapitate the body, disposing of the head at the oceanside after dragging the rest of the body further into the woods, out of sight from the roadside.

Later that night, Darla lays out a spread with her tarot cards, which triggers a vision. Images of Klansmen around a burning cross; a young boy gagged and blindfolded in what appeared to be an abandoned warehouse, surrounded by a half-dozen figures in welder’s uniforms, with the new moon visible through the skylight; the headless corpse in the woods… being dragged off by an unknown figure.

(Opening sequence/commercial break)

Act I - The next day, Darla is working at the bookstore, when Cassie’s friend Charlotte arrives. She asks if Darla and Vance are dating, and when pressed admits that she is attracted to Vance. Darla replies that she and Vance are close, but not serious, and that Charlotte should feel free to date Vance. Right on cue, Vance shows up, and Charlotte hesitantly asks Vance if he would like to go to the film noir run being shown at the second-run theater that weekend. Vance agrees.

After Darla gets off work, she and Vance go to where they left the headless body the night before. It’s a overcast, gloomy afternoon. They find where they left the body, and see signs of it being drug off. Following the trail, they find a hidden cave. At this point, the mystery woman Rose appears; she claims that she’s been trying to find out what are happening to the victims of vampires that are neither turned nor left to be found, but are taken away to not be seen again.

The three enter the cave, and continue to follow the trail, at which point they are attacked by three ghouls. In the middle of the fight, Rose appears to be nearly disemboweled by a ghoul’s clawed hand, but manages to snap her opponent’s neck anyways. In her pain, her facial feature contort… and her true nature as a vampire is revealed.

(commercial break)

Act II - Rose flees, now that her secret is revealed. Vance and Darla manage to defeat the other two ghouls. Vance cuts out the tongue of the ghoul he defeated, gathering another item necessary for the completing of his medicine bag (“one who feasts on the dead and lives underground”). Unfortunately, they then find themselves surrounded by over a dozen ghouls, meeping and gibbering. Through bluff and bravado, our duo manage to talk the Ghouls out of attacking for the moment. They learn that the vampires often leave them the bodies of victims not intended to be turned, so that the ghouls may feed on them, thereby disposing of the bodies. They also learn that the ghouls still observe the above world sometimes, from a distance, and one has seen on occasion young children being kidnapped, to reappear hours later hurt and traumatized.

After leaving the underground tunnels, our heroes do some research, narrowing down abandoned warehouses to the one that matches the scene in Darla’s vision. They also discuss what the revelation about Rose might mean. They then wait until the evening of the new moon the following night, as they prepare to try to stop what Darla had seen.

Cut scene to a young boy, being snatched suddenly off the street, and being taken away in a speeding van…

(commercial break)

Act III - Nighttime, and Vance and Darla are in position outside the warehouse. About a half dozen men show up, and inside the warehouse begin putting on welder’s uniforms, to hide their identities during their upcoming crimes. The young boy is dropped off at the warehouse, and is taken inside, gagged and blindfolded. The men set up a camera, to record what they plan to do to the young boy for their later viewing. After giving a psuedo-mystical spiel justifying their pedophilia, Vance and Darla decide they’ve waited long enough, and show up to kick some scumbag ass. With the cameras still rolling (and our heroes identities hidden by ski masks), Vance and Darla question the leader of this group, and discover the tie-in with the Klan; the leader of the pedophiles is a Klan member, and he targeted certain children at the behest of the local Klan leader, Frank Holt. Holt’s belief is that extreme trauma suffered at an early age may be a factor in triggering latent psychic abilities; Holt himself is a pyrokinetic who suffered sexual abuse as a child.

They then free the captured child, and leave the pedophiles to be captured, after leaving a tip with the FBI, through their watcher Theo’s contacts.

(commercial break)

Act IV - Vance and Darla hook up with Theo, who tracks down the address for Holt. He also looks up a ritual to protect the user against fire. Darla borrows one of Theo’s pistols, as part of a plan.

They drive to the rural farm where Holt lives, just in time as Holt is hastily planning to leave with his young son. As Darla begins the ritual, Vance desperately fights Holt, trying to keep him from getting away, and making sure the child isn’t hurt, getting badly burned himself in the process by Holt’s pyrokinesis. Eventually Darla finishes the ritual; Vance dodges out of the way as Darla brandishes Theo’s pistol. Holt tries to incinerate Darla, but the ritual succeeds, bouncing the effect back onto Holt, burning him from the inside out. After making sure the child is okay, the two make a hasty retreat as the sound of sirens approach…

(commercial break)

Dénouement - The next day, news reports of FBI raids on the households of certain respectable men in town discover large stashes of child porn and other evidence of criminal activity, drawing a lot of unwanted attention to the embarrassed town of Potter’s Bluff.

Meanwhile, Vance is still somewhat tender from being burned, but has healed enough so that it’s at the level of a bad sunburn. He nonetheless goes out on his date with Charlotte, and we fade out on the two kissing…

End game. Roll credits.

***

This was one of the most difficult scenarios I’d ever run, due to the subject matter. I’m glad I did run it, as it turned out well, but I’m just as glad not to run something like this again anytime soon.

On other matters, the mystery Rose deepens, a romantic subplot with a NPC blossoms, and I’m glad that with the vampire/ghoul relationship that I could play with the idea of a demonic ecosystem in the town of Potter’s Bluff.

Perry Holley

10-17-2005, 08:18 PM

After about a three-month hiatus, we jump back into my Buffy campaign. What, you thought it was done with? Ha! You wish!

This scenario is set around December 20-21, 2004.

***

Potter’s Bluff episode 1.06: “Shadows From The Deep”

Teaser - Open to Vance showing up at the new-age bookstore that Darla works at, as she’s getting ready to leave. They talk briefly; among other things, the conversation indicates that Vance’s relationship with Charlotte has gotten, if not more serious, then at least more physical - “She has a tattoo on her butt!” The two eventually leave, with Vance following Darla as she gets ready to drive home. On the way, they both spot a young woman being chased into an alleyway by a seedy-looking guy. They block off the alleyway, and advance in to confront the guy. He shows his vamp face, at which point Darla notices that there are two more vamps who have arrived, blocking Vance and Darla off… just as the ’damsel in distress’ vamps out, as well. Ambush! Fortunately, our two heroes manage to make short work of the four vamps.

When Darla does make it home, she has some small talk with her mom, who shortly goes in to bed. Darla stays up, experimenting with a new Tarot spread that Theo had shown her. As she studies the cards laid out before her, she is assailed by one of her visions; one of her classmates, Alice, is walking along some back alleyways as a shortcut, and when she comes out onto the next street, she is grabbed by a couple of black-clad figures and thrown into the back of a black jeep, dropping her keys in the brief struggle. The jeep speeds off as Darla’s vision ends.

(Opening sequence/commercial break)

Act I - Darla contacts Vance, waking him up. She tells him what she saw, and that the vision seemed very immediate. They meet up in the general area that Darla saw in her vision, and after a bit of searching, Darla finds Alice’s dropped keys. Vance notes that, given the direction the jeep took off in her vision leads to a four-way stop, which means the jeep could have been going almost anywhere.

Not certain what to do next, Vance meditates on the hood of Darla’s car, attempting to enter the spirit plane to speak with his totem guardian. Eventually he does so, and asks the Eagle spirit for whatever aid it may grant. The spirit shows a number of visions to Vance, each of them showing the location of a black jeep; one in an apartment complex, one in a house that he recognizes is near where both Charlotte and Cassie live, one near a fishing shop just off the coast, and one parked with several other cars in a home in the town’s blue-collar area. Vance comes out of the spirit plane abruptly and painfully, and almost falls to the ground before Darla catches him.

They contact Theo for advice, who we find out is a bit tied up at the moment (or more precisely, the young woman with him is tied up at the moment). Theo notes that it is early morning on the day of Yule, a day of magical power, so that whatever the intentions of the kidnappers, they will probably hold off on doing anything to Alice until later that evening, giving Vance and Darla the better part of a day to find out where she is. Theo suggests that they get at least a few hours sleep, and then meet up with him for a breakfast planning session.

Elsewhere, we see Alice being laid onto a stone, slightly concave alter by the black-clad figures. As they leave, a robed-figure with a trident observes the unconscious girl… we focus in on the hand holding the trident, and see that it is grayish-green, webbed, and not at all human.

(commercial break)

Act II - The three meet up at Theo’s, eating and comparing notes. Darla notes that they have Alice’s keys, which might prove useful for a divination spell. Theo admits that he doesn’t have access at the moment to such a spell, but the contacts the Watcher’s council to dig up and fax him such a ritual.

Darla goes to the bookstore, to talk to Mrs. O’Braonain. Without going into full detail, Darla tells her that there may be times when she may not be able to work, because it sometimes falls to her to counter dark forces; she cites the time when she, Vance, and Cassie helped to rescue Charlotte and Alice several months back. Mrs. O’Braonain seems to accept this, albeit guardedly, and she also makes Darla promise that should something ever happen to Charlotte, that Darla will be completely up-front and truthful with her, with no half-truths or misdirections. Darla agrees.

Meanwhile, Vance is peaking with his shaman. The old man admits that there is much about the town’s history that he is not privy to. He also tells Vance that, even if only one of the locations is relevant to rescuing Alice, that the eagle spirit probably intends for Vance and Darla to find all of the jeeps he saw in his vision, for reasons that may not be immediately apparent. The shaman counsels the use of stealth and subterfuge. “I’ll wear my clown suit,” quips Vance.

Vance’s first stop is to the area near the fishing shop. He doesn’t see a black jeep, so he wanders into the shop to see if he can find anything unusual. He makes some small talk with the shop owner, whose appearance disturbs him for reasons he can’t quite explain.

Darla makes her way to the residence of one Ms. Carter, a neighbor of Charlotte and Cassie known locally as ‘the cat lady’, due to the large number of felines in her home. There is indeed a black jeep outside the old house. Knowing that Charlotte would occasionally bring Ms. Carter food as part of a meals-on-wheels program, Darla brings by some of Vance’s spaghetti as an excuse to talk to her. Ms. Carter says that the jeep belongs to her nephew, who drove down from Boston to see her, getting in early that morning. Darla notes that the bookcase has several books written by someone sharing Ms. Carter’s last name; the elderly woman says with pride that they were written by her uncle Randolph, who disappeared shortly before she was born. She also comments that she donated some extra copies to the local library some years earlier. Darla gets ready to leave, but promises to come back by at a later time.

Meanwhile Vance makes his next stop at the house where a black jeep, as well as several other vehicles, are parked. He pulls up behind the house, and knocks on the door, making up a story about how his bike broke down, and can he borrow the phone to call his dad? The man inside agrees, and as Vance walks to the kitchen to use the phone, he hears the sound of both a football game being watched, as well as what sounds like a game of poker being played. It is then that he hears a voice he didn’t expect to; Darla’s dad, who isn’t suppose to be back in town from his job as a long-distance trucker for another day or so.

(commercial break)

To be continued...

Perry Holley

10-17-2005, 08:21 PM

Act III - Vance listens intently while trying not to be noticed by anyone in the other room. It sounds like Darla’s father is losing a fair amount of money on both the football game as well as at the poker table. Vance makes an excuse to leave quickly.

Vance then calls Darla, who is on her way to the library to check out the books written by, and written about, Randolph Carter. The two compare notes; Darla is very surprised to hear that her father is in town. Vance notes that, in retrospect, it seems odd that Darla’s family lives in a fairly poor area of town, given the sort of money that long-distance truckers usually make.

As Darla does some research in the library, Vance continues to track down the location of the last jeep he saw in his vision. There are only two other apartment complexes in town, besides the one that Darla lives in. After going to one, he realizes that this isn’t the place, so he heads to the other. Driving through the parking lot, he sees a black jeep, and notices two things; the parking spot where the jeep is marked with an adjoining apartment number, and that the jeep in question has recently been the subject of several modifications and upgrades.

Knocking on the door of the corresponding apartment, Vance is greeted by an extremely attractive blond woman. Vance pretends to be interested in buying the jeep, and asks who has been working on it. The woman replies that she has, and invites him in, offering a Coke. Inside the apartment is a fair amount of computer gear, as well as various gaming consoles and other assorted electronic equipment and doodads. The two talk cars for a little bit, and eventually Vance makes to leave, extended his hand to shake. “I didn’t even catch your name,” he says.

As she takes his hand, Vance fills something akin to a spark, something he felt once before. The woman smiles, and her features change and shift into an even more attractive brunette, that being the succubus that Vance and encountered a few months earlier when the carnival was in town. “Donna,” she replies.

(commercial break)

Act IV - Vance plays it cool and nonchalant, as if nothing unusual had happened. They talk a little more; Donna notes that Vance seems to be on a mission of some sort, and offers to help, saying that she is grateful for his part in freeing her from the service of the fey Mr. Arwen. Vance declines, not wanting to be in the debt of a demon, and also not certain whether or not Donna has anything to do with the kidnapping. Eventually, he leaves, but not before giving her a peck on the cheek. She merely smiles and winks.

Outside the apartment complex, Vance pulls over, shaking, uncertain just how much danger he was or wasn’t in. He contacts Darla, and they agree to meet up at Theo’s. When they do so, they all compare notes, and Theo lets them know that he now has the divination ritual they need to find Alice. The three of them perform the ritual, and the spot on the map that the spell indicates that she is just off the coast, not far from the fishing shop he had been by earlier. At this point the remembers what it is that disturbs him about the shopkeeper’s appearance; the similarity to the man in Mr. Arwen’s employ who attacked him in the water, with their flattish noses and somewhat bulging eyes. Vance and Darla make their preparations to rescue Alice.

Driving up near an older house right on the edge of the water, Vance spots a black jeep parked behind the house. They sneak up alongside the edge of the house, and overhear two male voices from inside the house, one young, one old. The younger male complains that he isn’t allowed to ‘have some fun’ with the girl ‘down below‘; the older man chastises the youth that this isn’t merely about sex, it’s about continuing the bloodline.

Vance and Darla find a root cellar, and quietly make their way down. Looking around, Vance spots a hidden door, leading to an underground cave below. Making their way carefully down the dark, damp walkway leading down. They come onto the main part of the cave, where they see Alice laying unconscious on the stone alter, with eight robed figures around her in a semi-circle (the one carrying a trident appears to be leading the ritual), and two large statues behind the alter; the statues are non-human, about 15 ft. tall, and appear to be a human cross between a frog and a fish. The figures are chanting in a voice unrecognizable to Vance, but Darla has heard once before, by the cultists her tribe fought in her old life shortly before she was killed. The only words they can make out seem to be ’Dagon’ and ’Hydra’.

As it appears the ritual is about to be completed, Vance and Darla make their move. After tossing a couple of molotov cocktails, they wade in with swords, attacking the disoriented robed figures, whom they see resemble the statues in the cave. Darla, in an almost berserker state, attacks the leader of the creatures, who tries to block her attack with his trident. The force of her blow is so great, however, that it shatters the trident [Righteous Fury + Heroic Feat + a really good roll will do that sort of thing], causing a tremendous magical explosion. The leader and several of the other inhuman creatures are killed, and the remaining creatures, as well as Vance and Darla, are severely injured (Alice, due to the concave form of the alter, is protected from the explosion). Vance finishes off the remaining creatures, just as the cave starts to shake and rumble. Vance quickly grabs up Alice, after slicing off a scale from one of the dead creatures (getting the third component needed for his medicine pouch) and as they leave, Darla can’t help but notice that the eyes of the statues seem to follow them as they leave. They make their way out of the house and off the grounds, just as the house collapses in.

(commercial break)

Dénouement - Back at Theo’s, the Watcher examines Alice, and declares that she appears to have been drugged by a powerful narcotic, but that she should be okay. After getting a description of what they saw, Theo pulls out a book with a drawing of one of the creatures; the book says that what they fought are referred to as Deep Ones, ageless beings who worship elder gods, and also includes a passage about how many were supposedly captured and/or destroyed back in the late 20’s by the government in a small New England town called Innsmouth. After being bandaged, Vance volunteers to get Alice back to her house before she wakes up.

A few days later, a happier scene as seen at Mrs. O’Braonain’s house, as she, Charlotte, Vance, Darla, and Cassie are relaxing on Christmas night, relaxing and enjoying some post-dinner hanging out. It all seems very idyllic…

…cut to the coast, near the collapsed house. A few Deep Ones walk up onto the shore; the leader, wearing an odd-looking tiara says something in an alien tongue, to someone off-camera that we cannot see. The words are unclear, but it (she?) seems to be asking a question. We hear a female voice answer in the same tongue. The Deep Ones seem satisfied by this, and walk back into the ocean.

End game. Roll credits.

***

Lovecraft? You’re swimming in it!

After such a long break, it was good to get back into the thick of it, with plenty of subplots dangling for future sessions.

Perry Holley

10-20-2005, 06:17 PM

Darkblade was down here getting ready for the wedding/handfasting, and as I haven’t gamed with her in ages, I took the opportunity to drag her into the Buffy game, playing her sister Chibi’s character of Cassie.

This session takes place in late January, 2005.

***

Teaser - Open to students getting out of school, doing the usual high school chatter. We overhear, among other things, the bemoaning of the disappearance of three members of the school swim tram over the holidays. “Guess we’re not going to state this year.”

Vance comes home, where he meets his mother, who is obviously excited. “We got the house!” Vance is somewhat nonplussed, as he is fine with living with his uncle, but is willing to go along with whatever makes his mother happy.

We then see them shortly thereafter driving up to inspect the house. It’s a good-sized lot (about an acre) on the coast, with the house maybe 70 yards from the bluff. The house is an older one, two stories tall. “The price was a steal,” his mother says, as they walk through the house. Vance is uneasy about something, but can’t put his finger on what.

As they leave, we see a translucent figure of a middle-aged woman (dressed in clothing appropriate to the WWII era) appear, watching them as they drive off.

(Opening sequence/commercial break)

Act I - Cassie is in her room when she gets a call from Vance, asking if she wouldn’t mind helping them in the process of moving. Cassie agrees, and then Vance drives over to meet with Darla, as she is getting ready to get off work. As he enters the ship, Darla is reading a biography on Randolph Carter, whose work she has been reading over the last few weeks. Vance tells her about the house, and she agrees to go with him to check the place out. They do a walk-through; at one point when Darla is checking out one of the bathrooms, she sees in the mirror a ghostly figure of a young woman dressed in late 60’s ‘hippie’ clothes. When she turns around, there is (of course) no one there.

After Darla relates this, Vance decides to go out to the his shaman mentor to ask a boon. Specifically, he would like the shaman to perform a house blessing, which the old mentor readily agrees to. They agree to meet up early, before the others show up to help with the moving.

The next morning, Cassie gets up early, and goes to her uncle, who works in real estate. She finds out from him that the place has changed owners several times in the past, and has something of a bad reputation, in part because of multiple deaths over the years associated with the house. The problems seem to have started with a small, localized earthquake in the area back in 1931, around which time Mr. Swayne disappeared from the home never to be seen again by his wife and child. Cassie then goes over to the library, to do some research on the house. She finds references to a number of deaths over the years: a mother who died of ‘natural causes’ shortly after both her husband and son died in WWII, a young woman in the late 60’s who the paper implies (but doesn’t directly say) that she died of a drug overdose, and a young boy in more recent years who died of a broken neck after falling down the stairs. She also finds a picture of Mr. Swayne along with a notable figure in the town’s history during the first half of the 20th century, Phillip Ashton Howard. Finally, she notes that while in most cases families who moved out of the house left Potter’s Bluff, one family in more recent years settled for moving across town, and notes down the family name for later referencing.

Meanwhile, Vance and the shaman show up to do the house blessing. Theo is also there (he’s never seen this particular ritual before). At one point when not with the shaman, Vance sees a ghostly figure of a young boy with his neck twisted horribly. “You shouldn’t be here. It will kill you, as well.” As the same time, as the shaman is in the middle of the ritual, something happens, and after what looks like a struggle of wills, the old man collapses on the floor, unconscious.

(commercial break)

Act II - Theo inspect the shaman; his pulse and breathing are weak, but steady. Vance calls the shaman’s granddaughter, Nika, and tells her to come over to get her grandfather to take home. Nika speed toward the house, almost running over both Cassie and Darla, who are each arriving to help with the moving. Theo gives her some medicine to administer, and tells her to watch over him. As she gets ready to leave, Nika shoots Vance a look that says, ‘if my grandfather dies because of this, I will kill you’.

After she leaves, Cassie pulls out her tuning forks, trying to trigger a vision, while outside on the front porch, Darla lays out her tarot cards to see if they offer any guidance. After experimenting with different tones, Cassie suddenly finds herself in a dream-like version of the house, furnished with decor that looks like something from the 20’s or 30’s. He sees Phillip A. Howard come in through the front door, after apparently picking the lock. Howard goes to the heater room/storage closet, and pulls up a door latch that leads below the house. He then goes down the steps, which quickly becomes a natural rock, winding its way down into a cave, that leads out to the ocean. In the cave, we see Swayne in robes, near a small stone alter, holding a rune-covered dagger, in the middle of some magical incantation. The air in the cave seems to shimmer, and a large (15’ wide) crab-like being begins to appear. The two men begin to struggle, and Howard shoots Swayne, and then shoots as the crab-being. The bullet doesn’t seem to hurt the crab-thing, but the bullet ricochets off and hits against the top of the cave roof, which combined with the dimension shifting, is enough to bring the roof down on the crab-being. Howard narrowly escapes, grabbing the dagger as he leaves, while the crab-thing and Swayne are seemingly crushed by the downfall. The vision ends suddenly, as Cassie finds herself back on the kitchen floor, disoriented by the sudden transition.

Meanwhile, Darla is studying the cards as they are laid out. She notes that the card signifying the threat/adversary comes up as ‘The Devil’. She then has a brief vision of her own, finding herself in the cave below, facing the crab-being, and then having the roof collapse onto her.

As Vance calls his mom, telling her that it might not be wise to buy the house (“there are some cracks in the foundation”), Cassie notices something that neither Vance or Darla did; the inside of the house is much drier than outside, unusually so for an older house. The three compare notes, and decide to split up for a little bit; Darla to do a few hourse of work at the bookstore, Cassie to do some more research, and Vance to try to get answers on the spirit plane.

Through contacts from the funeral home that her father works at, Cassie finds out that the boy’s death did in fact seem to be accidental, but that the young woman’s death was actually a suicide. The older deaths she can’t access in such a short period of time. Meanwhile, Vance contacts his spirit totem, who confirms what Theo already pretty much suspected, that the shaman was marked by the demon below, and will not recover fully until that demon is destroyed.

Vance and Cassie hook up, to track down a young man named Isaac, whose family had lived in the house a few years ago. Calling his mother reveals that he often hangs out at a seedy strip joint called the Red Hook. As Vance and Cassie are on their way over there (Vance figuring he can bribe his way in), Vance spots a figure in the shadows of an alleyway watching them. Turning the bike toward the alleyway, they see that it is none other than the vampire, Rose...

(commercial break)

To be continued...

Perry Holley

10-20-2005, 06:20 PM

Act III - This the first time our heroes have seen Rose since they discovered that she is actually a vampire. After a bit of small talk, Vance mentions that they are going over to the Red Hook. Rose, carefully staying in the shadows, mention that the club was fined recently for letting minors in; bribery probably wouldn’t work at the moment. She then asks about their magical studies; do either of them know how to do a Glamour spell? When they reply in the negative, she mentions that it’s a fairly simple ritual, and that if they give her an hour, she can get the components to help them perform it. They agree to meet back at the warehouse where Vance. Darla, and Cassie rescued Charlotte and Alice several months ago from vampires (and where Rose had saved Cassie’s life, as well).

An hour later, Cassie, Vance, and Rose are in the abandoned warehouse. Vance and Cassie have photographs of the people whose image they wish to assume; Vance of his uncle, Cassie of her deceased mother. The ritual is successful, and the Glamour works for both of them. Rose warns that it will probably last not much longer than an hour, so they should work quickly. The two head off to the Red Hook.

Arriving there, the two enter with no trouble (Vance is disappointed to find out that there are no nude dancers at this early hour). They find Isaac easily enough, and after some small talk find him more than ready to talk to anyone willing to believe him regarding what he saw in that house while growing up. He had bad nightmares, and saw multiple ghosts over the years… but his parents didn’t, so he was never believed. Sometimes the ghosts talked to him, telling him dark secrets; the mother who lost her husband and son to WWII actually had killed herself by putting a pistol to her head. Vance and Cassie eventually leave, shortly before the Glamour wears off.

They then meet up with Darla and Theo, to compare notes. Theo found a reference in his books to a G’tahku (which in the Atlantean tongue translate roughly to ‘big crab demon’). Besides being a big nasty demon, it can subsist on the misery of others, as well as subsist of nearby ambient humidity and moisture. Vance, Cassie, and Darla arm themselves to face the G’tahku.

Arriving back at the house, Vance pulls up the wood paneling that covers the trapdoor in the heater room. Steeling themselves to what they may face, the three youths descend into the darkness…

(commercial break)

Act IV - Making their way down into the cave area, they come into the cave area, to see the G’tahku before them. Apparently not strong enough to escape through where the roof had collapsed, it was nonetheless powerful enough to free itself from the downfall. Our heroes attack, Vance with two swords, Darla with sword and fishing spear, and Cassie with crossbow bolts whose tips have been soaked in holy water. All three score major hits on the G‘tahku. The demon attacks both physically and mentally. Vance finds himself facing a phantasm of his deceased abusive father, which sends Vance in a berserker rage. Darla finds herself mentally being crushed by the collapsing roof, but she has faced this fear before, and overcomes it. Finally, as the wounded demon tries to swallow Vance, Cassie throws a vial of holy water into the demon’s mouth, causing it to explode.

Vance calls Nika, to find out that the shaman has just awoken “you have done well”). Cassie and Darla find a old foot locker in the corner of the cave. Opening it, they find a number of older books and texts, including such cheerful tomes as Al Azif, The Book of Eibon, The King in Yellow, and The Book of Dzyan.

Theo arrives, and after a cursory examination of the books (it’s obvious he’s gonna be spending a lot of time later with these tomes), he begins a purification ritual on the alter. After he does so, Vance shatters the alter with a sledgehammer. The various spirits show up, and then depart, now free to go to wherever they are meant to go.

(commercial break)

Dénouement - The next day, Vance and his mom are at the house, examining the cave and the structural suitability of the house. They decide to seal off the part of the cave that had collapsed, and shore up the rest of the cave, as well as noting some other fixes and improvements that the house will need…

Later, Vance and the shaman go through the house re-doing the house cleansing/blessing ritual. Vance seems content; it wasn’t what he wanted, but he figures he and his mom can live here now.

End game. Roll credits.

***

It was a blast getting to play with Deeb again. Because none of us wanted to be up real late, the basic plot was fairly simple, with only a few subplots along the way.

Perry Holley

01-10-2006, 03:05 PM

Geez, am I ever late in getting this posted…

One of the main plot points of the adventure was ripped off… err, borrowed from the Alan Moore Swamp Thing story, “The Curse”.

This session takes place in mid-February, 2005.

***

Potter’s Bluff episode 1.08: “Love Stinks”

Teaser - Open to Vance and Darla at the local Waffle House, talking about recent events. Darla has tried shadowing her father; she’s seen him in town when he wasn’t supposed to be, but hasn’t been able to get photographic proof. Vance has tried some surfing lately along the coastline, and has a few gigs lined up for the next few days at the Spiral on Friday and Saturday, cumulating with a Valentine’s day dance on Monday night.

As they get ready to leave, Vance sees the result of Darla’s practical joke played with the help of the Waffle House staff; a giant heart-shaped valentine across the back of his bike, with the words “I Love Me” on it. Vance loves it, and hams it up for pictures that the staff start taking. Eventually they leave, heading to a local ‘lookout point’ for some sword fighting practice.

Cut to the back yard of a house, in the pre-dawn hours, with a man in his bathrobe standing under the starlight. He hears something in the nearby distance, and as he turns, he sees a wolf-like figure leaping toward him…

(Opening sequence/commercial break)

Act I - The next morning at school, Vance overhears two kids talking about a local student’s father being killed by some sort of animal attack. Vance passes this along to Theo and Darla; from what they are able to gather, it appears that the man was killed by some sort of wolf, but wolves are not native to this area. The three theorize about what might have been really responsible; werewolves come up as a natural possibility, but it’s noted that the next full moon won’t be for another two weeks. Ghouls and wendigos are also mentioned, but neither seem to match what is known about the attack.

After school, Vance and Darla pick up some food, under the theory that the surviving family members might not be in much of a mood to cook for the next day or so. They go to the house in question, and are met by Russ, who is one of their classmates, as well as the son of the victim. Russ is the quiet, introverted type, too smart for his own good with a painful lack of social skills and Misfit qualities]; his only real social interaction with others is as the photographer for the school yearbook. Darla also remembers that he has also occasionally been in the magic shop that Darla works at. Russ is thankful for the food, and seems genuinely touched by Vance’s and Darla’s thoughtfulness, but is (understandably) also somewhat quiet and taciturn. He mentions that his mother is upstairs, asleep, after the shock of what happened and the long day of dealing with the police. Vance and Darla let him know that if he needs to talk about anything not to hesitate about calling them. Russ nods, but indicates that he mainly just needs some time alone to deal with everything that has happened.

Later that evening, Vance is playing with the band at the Spiral, with both Cassie [sometimes a PC, more often these days a NPC] and Darla in the audience. The funeral home where Cassie’s father works at will be getting the body of Russ’s father later that evening, and that she can probably access the coroner’s report. Near the end of the band’s set, Cassie is rocked by one of her visions, and stumbles out into the side alleyway. Darla sees this, and follows her. Out in the alleyway, Darla finds Cassie leaning against the wall, her head in her hands. “What did you see?” asks Darla. Cassie points down the alleyway, where a vampire stands over a body, spitting out blood with a grimace. “That,” she responds.

(commercial break)

Act II - Darla and the vamp square off. Darla quips on the vamp not finding the victim to their taste. The vamp says that something’s wrong with the man’s blood, like he was poisoned. After a few blows, Darla easily dusts the vamp.

Darla gets Cassie’s and Vance’s help to stuff the corpse into some garbage bags; they’re not certain whether or not the victim will return as a vampire. They then stuff the body in Darla’s station wagon, and head out to meet up with Theo. Theo gets a blood sample for later study. They then head to the funeral home where Cassie’s father works. Cassie bribes the night worker/janitor into leaving for a while, and then they proceed to prepare the body for cremation. Before doing so, Cassie pulls out her tuning forks, to try to trigger another vision regarding the victim. After a few moments, Cassie sees the last moments of the man’s life; an alcoholic, wandering through the back alleys of the town, he encounters a short, shadowy figure (whom Cassie cannot see), who gives the man a bottle of alcohol. The man drinks from the bottle, then a few minutes later, begins coughing, staggering, and finally collapsing, shortly before being discovered by the earlier-seen vampire, who decided to sample a bit of blood, before finding it not to his taste.

Meanwhile, Darla has her tarot cards out, to try to trigger a vision of her own. After a bit of study, she sees essentially what was seen during the teaser segment, with Russ’s father standing on his back porch, before being attacked by what appears to be a wolf. The wolf eventually leaves, with the sounds of the family dog barking from inside the house as her vision fades. AS Cassie finishes up the cremation of the body, Vance and Darla meet back up with Theo; they talk a bit more about various types of werewolves, and Theo gives them some blessed silver daggers. The two head home, and Vance talks a bit with his mother when she gets in form work. He finds out that she has long suspected that Russ’s father had physically abused his wife, based on various injuries she had suffered through the years.

The next morning, Vance and his mom meet up with his uncle, from whom he finds out that there’s been another ‘animal attack’, this one near the bar/strip club known as the Red Hook. Vance uses the Glamour spell he learned last episode from Rose, and goes to the bar in the guise of his uncle. Vance runs into Isaac, whom he met during the previous episode. After some small talk, Vance finds out that Isaac didn’t hold Jeremiah Twain (the victim) in high regard; among other things, he may have been a drug dealer. There was also a stash of porn of a rather violent sort that was found in his car, and Isaac says that the Jeremiah bragged about having a girlfriend ’under his thumb’. Vance thanks him for the info, and leaves the bar.

Meanwhile, Darla has been working at the new age bookstore, and talks a bit to Mrs. O’Braonain. She makes up a story about doing a school paper on domestic abuse; Mrs. O’Braonain recommends talking to a woman named Mia, who helps run a local shelter for abused and battered women. The older woman comments that Mia herself was the victim of domestic abuse, before eventually divorcing her husband. Meanwhile, Vance hears from Theo, who did some digging and found out that Jeremiah had been arrested once on drug possession; he was bailed out by a woman named Sally Whitman, and the case was later thrown out on a technicality. Vance suspects that Sally may be the girlfriend that Isaac had alluded to, and asks Theo to try to find an address for her.

As Darla is wrapping up her work day, she contacts Mia by phone, and says that she would like to talk to her. Mia is somewhat evasive, but eventually agrees. At about the same time, Cassie and Vance are backstage at the Spiral, as Vance is getting ready for the night’s show. Cassie notes that there was talk in the front area about one of the local girls, Wanda Swayne, not showing up, despite the fact that she had promised to be at the show. An offhand comment by Cassie inspires Vance to try to contact his animal totem via the spirit plane. Taking a few minutes to meditate, he finds himself on the spirit plane, but instead of encountering the Eagle Spirit, he finds himself on what appears to be the local coastline, but at a time before white men settled there. He finds himself drawn to a hut outside the tribal boundaries; the hut is built on stilts, so that it does not touch the ground. Inside the hut are various women, naked, standing or kneeling, apparently not allowed to lay down on the floor of the hut. They are being fed and attended to by older women of the tribe, who refuse to touch the younger women. The women have a dejected, bitter, and shamed air to them. As Vance takes this in, one of the women in the hut looks directly at him and says, “You do not belong here.” With that, Vance is thrown violently out of the spirit plane.

(commercial break)

to be continued...

Perry Holley

01-10-2006, 03:07 PM

Act III - Cassie helps Vance up off the floor, as he mutters about what he has seen. He calls his mentor, the shaman, who hesitantly admits to a shameful part of the tribal history of his people; when the women of the tribe were on their menstrual cycle, they were though of as ‘unclean’, and sent off to the ‘red lodge’, where they were kept separated from the rest of the tribe. The shaman says that a spirit angry enough from the shame suffered because of this practice could possibly possess someone, transforming them into a being of power (possibly a werewolf) to enact revenge. Vance then calls Theo, and tells him about the vision, and what the shaman told him. Theo notes that there are instance of female werewolves whose lycanthropy is triggered not by the cycles of the moon, but rather by their menstrual cycle. Vance makes a plan to get out of tonight’s gig; when Theo calls Vance (whose phone will be on vibrate), Vance will pretend to take ill, and have Cassie take over playing for him.

As Darla is getting ready to leave work, Mrs. O’Braonain mentions to her that Russ had been on Friday, to pick up some supplies for a magic ritual. The more Mrs. O’Braonain thought about it, the more it bothered her - clearly, he was in no state of mind to being trying any sort of ritual or spell. Darla thanks her for the information, and says she’ll check in on Russ. Darla calls Mia, asking to reschedule their meeting for another time, which Mia readily agrees to. Darla then drives over to see Russ. Meanwhile, over at the Spiral, Vance is playing along with the rest of the band, although he is faking not looking too well. When he gets the signal from Theo, he mimics losing his voice, and has Cassie take over for him as he leaves the stage. As he’s getting on his bike, he calls Theo and finds out that Theo and the shaman have met outside of the apartment of Mia’s ex-husband, as they suspect that she may be the werewolf. Also, Theo had tried to call Darla to warn her about their suspicions regarding Mia, but couldn’t get through to her. Vance then tries to call Darla, but also can’t get a connection through.

Speaking of Darla, we see here as she approaches Russ’s house. As she does so, she feels something odd, something that she can’t define, almost as if something was trying to overcome her, as she feels her movements become slightly sluggish and jerky. She’s not certain what it is, but it seems to be coming from the direction of the house. Finding the front door locked, she breaks the lock and steps in.

When Vance calls Theo back, he hears sounds of violence on the other end, and Vance speeds toward the direction of where Theo and the shaman are. At the same time, Darla encounters Russ’s dog inside the house; the dog’s movements are somewhat stiff and clumsy, and its eyes have a glassy look. She also encounters both Russ’s mom and Wanda, who both exhibit similar the clumsy motions and glassy eyes similar to the dog. “I’m sorry, Darla,” Wanda says, “he wants us to kill you… we have to do what he wants.” Looking up, Darla sees Russ at the top of the stairwell, holding a book with various eldritch symbols in one hand, and a pistol in the other. “I wish it wasn’t you Darla,” he says. “You were actually nice to me. I’m going to hate to have to kill you.”

Cut back to Vance, who arrives on the scene outside of the apartment complex where Mia’s ex-husband lives. He sees both the shaman and Theo on the ground, the latter bleeding, with a werewolf standing in the parking lot, threatening all nearby.

(commercial break)

Act IV - Vance revs the engine on his bike, ramming it into the werewolf as he leaps off. The impact knocks the werewolf back, but doesn’t seem to greatly injure the creature. Vance rolls and picks himself up, just in time to duck out of the way as the creature picks up and throws the bike at Vance; it narrowly misses him and smashes against the outside of the apartment complex. As the creature advances, Vance slashes it with one of the silver daggers; part of the creature’s fur gets sliced off, landing on the nearby ground. The werewolf decides to flee, and Vance takes off after the creature.

Back at Russ’s house, Darla is ticked off as she realizes that Russ has the two women and the dog under his control as zombies. “You bastard!” She leaps over the zombies, and approaches Russ near the top of the stairwell. He fires a (silenced) shot at Darla, which narrowly misses. Angry, and in no mood to take chances, Darla runs her sword through him. Slumped over, Russ mutters, “All I wanted was a date for Valentine’s Day,” as he dies. His control over them gone, Wanda, Russ’s mom, and the dog stop attacking. The mother still doesn’t seem to entirely realize what has happened (“I think I’ll go and fix us some tea…”). Wanda tells Darla that Russ had managed to get some incriminating photos of her; Wanda had come over to see what Russ wanted in exchange for the photos. It seems that the death of Russ’s father unhinged Russ, causing him to speed up plans he already had. He poisoned Wanda, as he already had done to his mother and his dog. He then resurrected them using a necromantic ritual. Taking all this in, Darla notices that she has two missed calls on her cell phone (the necromantic ritual had the side effect of affecting communication in and out of the sphere of effect). Darla tells Wanda for them to stay at the house, while she tries to find Vance and Theo, and hopefully figure out what to do next.

Running through the woods, Vance has managed to track down the werewolf, catching up with the creature on the edge of the coastal bluff. The two figures resume their fight, with Vance getting the best of it, slashing the creature three times. Bloody and weakened, the creature reverts to human form, revealed to indeed be Mia. “Even now, I can’t win…” she says, as she stumbles backwards, stumbling and falling off the cliff edge before Vance can catch her. Peering over, he sees her dead body on the rocks below.

Vance makes it back to the apartment complex about the same time that Darla arrives. They make sure that Theo and the shaman will be okay, as they’re taken off to the hospital. Vance retrieves the bit of werewolf fur that came off during the fight (the fourth of five requirements for the making of his medicine bag). After hearing some of the wild stories already circulating about the incident, he gives the most plausible one to the police in his statement regarding his involvement. Meanwhile, Darla is with Theo at the hospital, and tells him what happened at Russ’s. He tells her to go to his apartment, and get some of his books, so as to prepare a ritual to help the spirits of Wanda and Russ’s mother move on.

Cut to Russ’s house, where Wanda has just finished spreading some gasoline throughout the house, then starting a fire with a match. As the dog begins to bark, Wanda pets him, saying. “It’s okay, boy. It’ll all be over soon.” She holds the dog gently as the flames begin to rise.

Grimly, Darla is driving over to Theo’s place when she sees the fire trucks heading in the direction of Russ’s house. Following, she sees the house engulfed in flames. After saying a prayer, she leaves, knowing that she won’t be needing Theo’s books tonight after all.

(commercial break)

Dénouement - It’s Monday night (Valentine’s Day) at the Spiral; the mood from both the band and the crowd is subdued despite themselves, due to the news of the various recent deaths.

The next day, Vance accompanies the shaman along with an old tribal medicine woman, who perform a cleansing ritual on the house where Mia lived. Vance realizes that the house is located on the same spot of land that he had seen the red lodge located at in his vision.

Our final scene involves a young woman at the front desk of the local women’s health clinic. She has a bruise under her left eye, and also has a ‘strung-out’ look to her. “Name?” asks the receptionist behind the counter. “Sally Whitman,” the young woman answers, as we fade to black...

End game. Roll credits.

***

Game didn’t go entirely like I had hoped; I was originally shooting for dual lines of investigation, but the werewolf subplot overshadowed the necromancy angle for most of the game. Oh well, live and learn…

Perry Holley

01-22-2006, 10:15 AM

Yet another long-delayed write-up…

This episode takes place in early March, 2005... Well, at least the beginning and the ending does.

***

Teaser - Spring is approaching, and our two heroes have only had minimal monster-fighting since our least episode. Darla has in her spare time managed to get photographic evidence of her father being in town gambling when he was supposed to be on the road, but has yet to use it. Vance has bought a used bike to replace the one he lost fighting the werewolf a few weeks earlier, and is busy tweaking and modifying it.

One evening, they are called for a meeting with Theo. When they arrive, Theo first hands them each a card with a phone number on it; he explains that it is for contacting the new Watcher’s Council, should something happen to Theo. After the scars he now bears from the encounter with the werewolf, he’s all the more aware of his own mortality. He then picks up a book, one that is quite old, judging from its appearance. Theo says that this is one of the books that they found over a month earlier in the secret underground cave beneath Vance’s new home. He says that Vance and Darla may find what he has discovered in the book to be useful. Theo then begins to read from the book; “April 29, 1782...”

[At this point I told Troy and Chris to put down their character sheets, because they wouldn’t be needing them. I then handed them their new character sheets for the evening, completely with short history, and picked up the game from there.]

The scene changes from Theo’s apartment to the date in question. We see two figures, wearing colonial-era clothing, riding slowly on horseback: a young, blonde girl, and an older, stern-faced man. They approach a fork in the road, and look at a nearby sign (which from the camera POV we can’t read yet). After looking at the sign, the both wordlessly turn left. As they ride on, and the camera angle shifts, we can now see what the sign says:

POTTER’S BLUFF - 12 MILES

(Opening sequence/commercial break) Instead of the normal opening sequence, we instead see the opening sequence for “Abigail the Vampire Slayer”, which includes footage of Abigail (played by Kate Bosworth) and her Watcher, Ezekiel Stone (played by Jason Isaacs) fighting vampires and various demons during colonial times.

Act I - Open to Ezekiel and Abigail riding into the town of Potter’s Bluff. They find their way to the Hanged Man Inn, where they order a meal, and rest from their travels for a bit. There’s no small amount of tension in the town, due to the constant nearby battles of the ongoing Revolutionary War. Ezekiel asks about the whereabouts of one Jacob Archer, and is given directions. Ezekiel and Abigail leave the inn, and as the sun begins to set, they find themselves at Jacob’s home, who readily invites them in.

After Jacob dismisses his daughter Mary to her room, he then tells Ezekiel and Abigail about a series of killings in the small town. The third such killing was only two nights earlier. All three victims suffered from what appeared to be some sort of animal attack, ripping their throats out. Ezekiel asks about any other strangeness in the town, and Jacob responds that there are rumors of devil worshippers just outside of town in the marshy area known as Dagon’s Moor, but he doesn’t know if the two are connected or not.

The three then make there way to the local church, to inspect the body of the third victim, Owen Appleton, who is scheduled to be buried the next day. Along the way, they fail to notice that they are being trailed by a shadowy figure. At the church, Ezekiel pretends to be a doctor, and convinces the local preacher that they believe that the animal responsible for the man’s death may be carrying a highly contagious disease. After the preacher has left, they open the coffin, and see the familiar neck punctures of a vampire bite. Before they can react any further, Owen’s features change, as he ‘wakes up’ in vampiric form.

(commercial break)

Act II - Before the vampire can escape the coffin, Ezekiel holds a large cross to the creature’s face, pinning it down. Abigail easily drives a stake through the vampire’s heart, dusting it. They then load down the now-empty coffin with bricks, and tell the preacher not to open the coffin during the funeral service so as not to “spread the contagion further.”

The three return to Jacob’s house, where Ezekiel and Abigail can sleep for the night. On the way back, they again fail to notice that they are being followed [lots of failed Notice rolls this session]. The next morning, the three go to the local cemetery, to study the graves of the previous two victims. Jacob informs them that the woman Tabitha was buried in the cemetery proper, but that old man Cyrus was buried outside of the consecrated grounds, due to his misanthropic ways in life. Tabitha’s grave has obviously been recently disturbed, as if she broke through the coffin and crawled out, although some effort was made to smooth over the dirt to make it less obvious. A study of Cyrus’s grave reveals a similar condition, although in this case no effort was made to disguise the grave being disturbed.

From there, Ezekiel tries a different tact. He hires a local trapper, Stephens, to take them into the Dagon’s Moor, supposedly to track down the ’rabid’ creature responsible for attacking and killing the three townsfolk. While in the Moor, Ezekiel notices human footprints, and sees them seeming dead-end near a tree hollow. He says nothing, but pretends to study some animal spoor, while the trapper looks on. Finally, they decide to leave the Moor, paying Stephens for guiding them. They then plan to return to the Moor, after getting some provisions from Jacob’s house.

Cut back to the Moor, near the tree hollow that Ezekiel had earlier observed. We see Jacob’s daughter Mary (who has been following the her father and the two strangers since they arrived in town). She studies the tracks leading up to the hollow, so intently that she fails to notice the robe-wearing man behind her. He raises a dagger, and strikes her on the head with the butt of the dagger, striking her unconscious.

(commercial break)

to be continued...

Perry Holley

01-22-2006, 10:15 AM

Act III -

Jacob, Ezekiel, and Abigail are back at Jacob’s house, getting some provisions and equipment for a return trip to the Moor. Jacob pays little heed to Mary not being at the house (“she’s probably at the funeral.”) They then return to the Moor, to the tree hollow Ezekiel observed earlier. Looking inside the hollow, they find a stairwell going down into the earth. Descending, they discover the stairs open into a large cave area [actually, the same cave seen being used by the Deep Ones a few episodes earlier]. After quietly disabling a couple of guards, they see in the main area of the cave the remaining cultists, along with a naked Mary stretched out unconscious on an alter.

The three burst in before anything can be done to Mary. Using sword, dagger, and pistol, they quickly dispatch the cultists. Getting Mary, the three quickly exit the cave. With the sun setting, as they approach the town they hear the sounds of fighting; British and American soldiers clashing for control of the town. Jacob has family in a nearby town, and suggests they retreat there for the duration. Abigail makes an excuse to hang back a bit, and goes off to harass some of the British soldiers. Suspicious, Ezekiel goes back after her.

From atop the roof of one of the local buildings, Abigail spots two vampires (Tabitha and Cyrus) sneaking feeding on a pair of British soldiers. She attacks the two vamps, and is on the offensive until she is attacked from behind. Stunned, Abigail picks herself off the ground to see the third vampire, a beautiful redheaded woman.

The lead vamp dismisses the other two vampires. “This one is mine.”

(commercial break)

Act IV - Abigail and the redheaded vampire duel back and forth a bit with their swords, with the vampire getting first blood. The vamp licks Abigail’s blood from her blade. “I always was attracted to young, blonde girls.” Meanwhile, Ezekiel shows up, and engages the other two vampires. Seeing this, Abigail breaks off from the head vamp to try to finish off the other two vampires. Conversely, Ezekiel places himself between Abigail and the lead vamp, protecting the slayer’s back. As Abigail dusts Tabitha, Ezekiel finds himself severely outclassed by the redheaded vampire. A fluke occurrence of a bullet fired by a British soldier knocking the sword out of the lead vamp’s hand buys him a little breathing room.

Abigail returns her attention to the redheaded vampire, as Ezekiel goes after Cyrus, who in turn is going after the British soldier. As Ezekiel manages to dust Cyrus, Abigail and the redhead return to their fight, a flurry of sword attacks against each other. Both wounded, Abigail makes a lunge, attempting a killing blow; she wounds the vamp, but not critically, while the vampire’s return sword blow is more successful, leaving Abigail dying on the ground.

Enraged, Ezekiel does his best to slay the vampire, but is out of his league. The vampire knocks the sword out of the Watcher’s hand, and prepares to finish him off, when Ezekiel draws out his cross, forcing her back. “I’ll spare your life, Watcher,” the vampires taunts, “to let you live with the knowledge of your failure.” The vampire the disappears amidst the smoke and confusion of the battle surrounding them. Ezekiel then cradles Abigail’s body, hearing her dying words. When she passes away, he takes her body, preparing to take her back to her home to be buried.

(commercial break)

[I]Dénouement - We’re back in the modern day, as Theo finishes reading what we now know to be the diary of Jacob Archer, as he related what he saw, and what Ezekiel told him after the fact while he recovered from his wounds. Theo notes that ’Dagon’s Moor’ is now the stretch of land along the coast known as ‘Daggermoor’, and that Jacob Archer went on to re-marry, and was the ancestor of Vance and Darla’s friend Alice Archer.

Vance asks what is known of the vampire who killed Abigail. Theo responds that the Watcher’s Council never learned the name of the vampire responsible for Abigail’s death, but that Jacob, although never seeing her as a vampire, recognized the description Ezekiel gave of her as a woman he had seen a few nights previous to Abigail’s death, and had drawn a likeness of her in the diary. Theo hands the book to Vance; the picture means nothing to him. Vance hands the book to Darla.

The image does mean something to Darla (or more precisely, the young gypsy Svetlana Borska who now inhabits the body of the slain Darla); she realizes with a shock that the real Darla had indeed seen this woman before, right before her demise.

“That’s her. That’s the one who killed Darla.”

End game. Roll credits.

***

A continuity-heavy session, with lots of references to previous sessions, bringing lots of prior plot elements together.

I’ve always wanted to do a ‘flashback’ episode in different campaigns I’ve run in the past, but for various reasons never got around to it. I wouldn’t have tried this with just any players, but fortunately my current group pretty much trusts me implicitly, and don’t mind it when I veer off on a tangent like this.

Perry Holley

02-03-2006, 02:12 PM

This episode takes place in late March, 2005, and is the sequel to the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode 1.10 “Nightmares”.

***

Teaser - Things have been a bit slow for a while, and our two heroes have been getting on with their lives. Vance has worked up a demo CD that he is trying to sell, while Darla has been working on various craft-related gewgaws to sell through the magic shop.

As a school day ends, Theo pulls Vance aside and asks for a favor; Cassie had left some her medical paperwork at his office, and could he drop it off at her house? He agrees, and knocks on her door, but gets no answer. He tries a few of Cassie’s normal haunts, with no luck. He calls Cassie’s friend Charlotte, she distractedly tells him to try her house again, as she’s sometimes bad about not locking the door. He asks what’s wrong, and she says that someone who graduated a couple of years ago, William Palmer, has went missing.

Going back to Cassie’s house, he finds that the door is in fact open. When he enters, he calls out, but gets no response. Thinking that she might have her headphones on, he goes upstairs and knocks on her bedroom door. Still getting no answer. He opens the door slowly, and sees Cassie on her bed, curled up in a fetal position. Still not responding to his words, she jumps in a startled manner when he touches her lightly on the shoulder. “What’s wrong?” he asks. “What?” she answers, her face full of tears. “I can’t hear you, Vance. I can’t hear anything.”

“I’m deaf.”

(Opening sequence/commercial break)

Act I - Vance quickly contacts Theo and Darla about what has happened, and they arrange to meet up at Theo‘s. When everyone arrive, Theo examines Cassie, but finds nothing wrong. They get Cassie to tell them about what happened. She says that everything was normal until she got to her room to practice on the violin, but discovered that she couldn’t hear anything. The only unusual thing she noticed was seeing a young boy (around twelve or so) that she didn’t recognize, who passed her as she entered her front yard. At Vance’s urging, she begins to draw a sketch of the boy.

As this is going on, Darla has pulled out her tarot cards to do a reading, to see if she can divine any insight. When the cards are laid out, she realizes to her horror that, while she can read the words on the cards and see the images there clearly enough, none of it means anything to her, that it’s all a meaningless jumble, even though she has worked with the tarot since she was a little girl. Vance at this point mentions the disappearance of William Palmer, and wonders if it might somehow be related to Cassie’s and Darla’s predicaments.

As Cassie finishes the sketch of the boy, Theo goes to his closet and digs out one of the old school yearbooks, from about 7 years ago. He finds a picture that matches Cassie’s sketch; the name for that picture is ‘Billy Palmer’. Theo remembers that William Palmer had moved from the west coast about 8 years ago, and that in recent years he was a star baseball player for the school, leading the team in his senior year to state semi-finals. His dreams of a college scholarship was destroyed when his car was hit by a drunk driver; the injury to his right ankle never fully healed. They theorize what all this could mean for a while. Vance tries to contact his shaman mentor, but gets no response. They decide to split up, with Vance going out to see the shaman, and Darla and Theo going over to talk to William’s mother.

Darla and Theo find Mrs. Palmer distraught, but willing to talk. It seems that William was coaching one of the local little league baseball teams, and after yesterday’s game he struck up a conversation with an young (early 20’s) attractive black woman, one whom no one could recall seeing around these parts before. They left together, and his car was later found at a local motel, but no sight had been seen of William since they left the baseball field together. Mrs. Palmer mentions that the last time something really bad happened to William was when they were still living in Sunnydale, when William’s little league coach beat him so badly it put him in a coma.

Meanwhile, Vance (taking Darla’s car) is driving to the shaman’s house. As he gets close, it suddenly becomes dark outside, and he sees that his watch is now a few hours ahead. He arrives at the shaman’s house, but finds no sign of him there. Inside the kitchen, there’s a note on the fridge from him (to his granddaughter Nika) that he’ll be gone for a day or two, to meet up with some of his buddies from WWII. As Vance passes by the TV in the living room, he sees that it is showing an episode of the old Twilight Zone show. Annoyed, he changes the channel, only to find it running on all channels. As he is about to leave in disgust, one of the character’s on the TV says to him, “You need to go upstairs.” He does so, and hears some slight movement from Nika’s bedroom. Peering through the slightly ajar door, he sees Nika, kneeling on the floor with her back to him, with a stake in both hands, ready to drive through her own heart. “Nika?” She turns to him, her face contorted in vampiric form.

(commercial break)

Act II - As Theo and Darla are driving away from Mrs. Palmer’s house, they discuss what it all might mean. They both know that Sunnydale was once a hellmouth, before the earthquake a couple of years ago. On the way back to his apartment, they see some new scenery that wasn’t there earlier. “What’s that cemetery doing there?” Investigating, they split up to cover more ground. A few minutes later, Darla hears Theo scream “Nooooo!” Running to where he was, she sees Theo and a black woman (mid- to late- 30’s), fighting a demon. Before Darla can do anything, the demon strikes a mortal blow to the woman. Darla leaps at the demon, and after a few blows manages to kill it. Darla then sees Theo cradling the woman’s body in his arms, crying. Darla tries to shake him out of it, telling him if they can reverse what is happening, then the woman will hopefully come back to life. “She isn’t coming back,” Theo answers. “This is the second time I’ve seen that demon kill Amanda.”

“She was my wife.”

Darla, taken aback, wanders off to explore the rest of the graveyard, and to give Theo a few minutes alone to grieve. She comes across an open grave, the gravestone bears Darla’s true name, Svetlana Borska. The rest of the graveyard seems far away at this point. “I dug it just for you,” says a voice from behind her. Turning, she sees what looks like almost a mirror image of herself, except that it more precisely resembles the original Darla, from before she was killed and possessed by another spirit. “You took my life away from me,” says ‘Darla’, “and I want it back.”

Meanwhile, Vance is trying to convince Nika not to kill herself. “I can’t live like this,” she says. Vance manages to convince her that if they can somehow reverse what is happening in the town, her condition will be reversed, as well. She tells him that she was in the woods when it suddenly became dark, an