Dr Sutcliffe is Harrowed, which is something both Hatch and Murphy seem to have accepted surprisingly quickly. They've gone out to get him meat and new clothing as if he was your perfectly ordinary convalescing OAP.
Not that any of us still have any sort of clues as to what has happened to the lady we're trying to find. Instead, we decided to have a closer look at Hexaco. We thought maybe we could sneak in, decided against it and tried to think of new lucrative business ideas to branch out to - like extortion and kidnapping. Then we ended up going to see one of the Hexaco people mentioned in an article about the "sabotage" in the swamps.
For some reason (i.e. money), we ended up accepting his offer of ridding the swamp of the swamp monster before the end of the week (in-game, it was Thursday) for a $200 return. Just to see if we could learn more about the swamp monster, we went to where the Voodoo people hang out, and spoke to Trevor ("call me Trevor - you can't pronounce my real name"), who gave us a spell type thing to use in order to make the spirit come into the mortal world and thus be killed.
Next session has DOOOOOOOOOOM written all over it.
Son of a gun, we'll have some MORTAL PERIL on the Bayou
So there we were, party of three stranded in the middle of a swamp on an oil drilling platform, where we after much deliberation decided to spend the night. In the morning, after shooting an alligator right between the eyes, we started heading back to Manchac ... this time without a guide.
We came across some redneck trappers, who were apparently both hairy and Cajun (they still exist!), and who later decided to kill us. They caught Sutcliffe and Murphy in beaver traps, and we had a hard time getting out of there.
Fortunately, Sutcliffe made them pay for the ambush. Unfortunately, he left the battle with a hole where his chest used to be. Seeing as how he's Harrowed (YES, HATCH AND MURPHY FINALLY REALISED!), it meant he didn't stay dead. As the trappers so rudely tried to get rid of us, we looted their bodies before continuing back to the town. Murphy passed out from exhaustion, as we hadn't thought to pack any food. Fortunately, she woke up and could take the train with Hatch, while Sutcliffe (bundled up in beaver pelts) had to pay double for his ticket.
Back in New Orleans, Sutcliffe came back from the dead the next day, and he finally had some 'splainin' to do!
We came across some redneck trappers, who were apparently both hairy and Cajun (they still exist!), and who later decided to kill us. They caught Sutcliffe and Murphy in beaver traps, and we had a hard time getting out of there.
Fortunately, Sutcliffe made them pay for the ambush. Unfortunately, he left the battle with a hole where his chest used to be. Seeing as how he's Harrowed (YES, HATCH AND MURPHY FINALLY REALISED!), it meant he didn't stay dead. As the trappers so rudely tried to get rid of us, we looted their bodies before continuing back to the town. Murphy passed out from exhaustion, as we hadn't thought to pack any food. Fortunately, she woke up and could take the train with Hatch, while Sutcliffe (bundled up in beaver pelts) had to pay double for his ticket.
Back in New Orleans, Sutcliffe came back from the dead the next day, and he finally had some 'splainin' to do!
Method acting on the Jeremy Kyle show
After rescuing the family, who were so kind to let us stay over, from their burning house (only one casualty), we were informed by Sutcliffe that he'd seen the car we were looking for - and had been asking about around town the day before - and we all shook our fists and blamed evil petroleum company Hexaco for the arson.
Because little do we know it was actually Sutcliffe's Manitou that was responsible ...
We decided to go to the oil derrick that the singer's brother allegedly (read: according to Hexaco) sabotaged, and found a bloke willing to take us through the swamp on his bateau. Three hours later, we found the deserted derrick and investigated.
And then the bateau guy was sliced in half by some kind of invisible spirit creature that we tried fighting. We survived, but only because it decided to dissolve into thin air after Sutcliffe managed to hurt it with magics. We then had to fix the bateau so we could get out of there, as the spirit thing might have seen us as Hexaco people returning to keep mutilating the precious eco system of the swamp - which is probably what caused the destruction of the derrick in the first place.
But now it's dark, and we're three hours away from being out of the swamp ... and there are alligators nearby ...
Because little do we know it was actually Sutcliffe's Manitou that was responsible ...
We decided to go to the oil derrick that the singer's brother allegedly (read: according to Hexaco) sabotaged, and found a bloke willing to take us through the swamp on his bateau. Three hours later, we found the deserted derrick and investigated.
And then the bateau guy was sliced in half by some kind of invisible spirit creature that we tried fighting. We survived, but only because it decided to dissolve into thin air after Sutcliffe managed to hurt it with magics. We then had to fix the bateau so we could get out of there, as the spirit thing might have seen us as Hexaco people returning to keep mutilating the precious eco system of the swamp - which is probably what caused the destruction of the derrick in the first place.
But now it's dark, and we're three hours away from being out of the swamp ... and there are alligators nearby ...
Some of these things make more sense than others
As the next place we needed to get to was about an hour or so away by car, we had to weigh our options very carefully. How could we get to the singer's home town, Manchac, and still have money left to pay rent at the end of the month? In the end, we decided to go to Fat Dan at the Absinthe House (a.k.a. the client) and ask if he had a car we could perhaps borrow, because we really needed to get somewhere.
He did. And he also got one of his guys to drive us up there.
We found out the family lived about four miles north of the town, which meant we had to say goodbye to the driver and walk. At the end, Morgan Freeman and his family were very hospitable and served up a tasty seafood gumbo, and then we went to bed.
Doesn't sound like a lot happened, perhaps, but just as we were finishing off the session, the GM asked Sutcliffe for a Spirit roll. After having spent his final Bennie on a re-roll, he botched ... It's Manitou time!
He did. And he also got one of his guys to drive us up there.
We found out the family lived about four miles north of the town, which meant we had to say goodbye to the driver and walk. At the end, Morgan Freeman and his family were very hospitable and served up a tasty seafood gumbo, and then we went to bed.
Doesn't sound like a lot happened, perhaps, but just as we were finishing off the session, the GM asked Sutcliffe for a Spirit roll. After having spent his final Bennie on a re-roll, he botched ... It's Manitou time!
Welcome to Louisiana Fried Rat, can I take your money?
Exciting times ahead! Hatch and Murphy are still blissfully clueless their new accomplice is long dead, because he's still doing things like moving around and talking. Ohhh the hilarity that will ensue when they finally succeed on those Notice checks!
In other news, the team decided to find out where the singing dame's fanboy/stalker lived by tracking down his place of work (a bank), pretending they wanted to interview him for a newspaper article. He hadn't come in to work, as it happened, but by promising to do a favourable article on the bank manager - and later do him a favour pro-bono (it's difficult even typing those words!) - by discreetly investigating why the guy wasn't at work, the trio finally found their way to his apartment.
Sadly, it seemed to mostly be a dead end. And there wasn't even any money in it. Hey GM, we've all got rent to pay, you know!
In other news, the team decided to find out where the singing dame's fanboy/stalker lived by tracking down his place of work (a bank), pretending they wanted to interview him for a newspaper article. He hadn't come in to work, as it happened, but by promising to do a favourable article on the bank manager - and later do him a favour pro-bono (it's difficult even typing those words!) - by discreetly investigating why the guy wasn't at work, the trio finally found their way to his apartment.
Sadly, it seemed to mostly be a dead end. And there wasn't even any money in it. Hey GM, we've all got rent to pay, you know!
We’ll make a dick of you yet, doctor
We're back in the bayou! Or at least, we're back in New Orelans in 1935, where detectives Hatch and Murphy have decided to pool their resources together and therefore both are now living in the office. One morning, Hatch woke up to find a very old gentleman asleep in the doorway: Doctor James Sutcliffe. Well, if he wasn't a doctor originally, he is one now, because he can actually fix people, and he has a black bag. And introduced himself as a doctor.
What neither of the two dicks know is that he's a Grifter (they don't have Hucksters anymore) ... and whenever either of them finally manage to make a good enough Notice roll to smell anything other than tobacco smoke, they'll notice he's actually been dead for quite some time. That's right, he's Harrowed. Because that worked out so well last time!
The party of three then came across a new case - a singer didn't show up for her performance yesterday. Has an obsessed fan kidnapped her, or does it have anything to do with all the voodoo paraphernalia the party later discovered in her snazzy house?
What neither of the two dicks know is that he's a Grifter (they don't have Hucksters anymore) ... and whenever either of them finally manage to make a good enough Notice roll to smell anything other than tobacco smoke, they'll notice he's actually been dead for quite some time. That's right, he's Harrowed. Because that worked out so well last time!
The party of three then came across a new case - a singer didn't show up for her performance yesterday. Has an obsessed fan kidnapped her, or does it have anything to do with all the voodoo paraphernalia the party later discovered in her snazzy house?
Roleplayers invent new measurement
This week's post is the conclusion of our Arkham Horror the boardgame adventure started a couple of weeks ago. We have a new member of the group, which proved very, very useful for winning the game. Well, that and reading the actual winning conditions in the manual ...
As a bonus, some twaddle from a gaming day at a friend's house - where we got through both Relic, Articulate and The Good, the Bad and the Munchkin.
As a bonus, some twaddle from a gaming day at a friend's house - where we got through both Relic, Articulate and The Good, the Bad and the Munchkin.
Midwinter Murders is not IKEA
As we didn't have a session last week, here's something we played earlier. In fact, this session was the Blogkeeper's first ever go as a tabletop GM. Using a bastardised version of the Mortal character sheet from Exalted, the group of tired ChimeraCon players decided to delve into the world of fiction.
The setting is from Jasper Fforde's BookWorld or Thursday Next series, so it takes place within the world of fiction. The characters are taken from classical fiction and are playing Jurisfiction agents, basically the police of the BookWorld, and they have been sent to investigate a string of gory murders ...
Starring:
...And one of the roleplayers even decided to play himself as an Outlander. What could possibly go wrong?
The setting is from Jasper Fforde's BookWorld or Thursday Next series, so it takes place within the world of fiction. The characters are taken from classical fiction and are playing Jurisfiction agents, basically the police of the BookWorld, and they have been sent to investigate a string of gory murders ...
Starring:
- Alice from Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
- Arthur Hastings from random Agatha Christie Poirot novel
- Frankenstein's Monster from Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, nicknamed "George"
- Gabriel Betteredge from Wilkie Collins's The Moonstone
- Hari Seldon from Isaac Asimov's Foundation series
...And one of the roleplayers even decided to play himself as an Outlander. What could possibly go wrong?
It's always Nyarlathotep
The Delta Green GM had brought in Arkham Horror the boardgame, so we played that all session. We were doing quite well, despite it only being the three of us, but we eventually ran out of time and had to start packing up. It was fun playing, though. :)
What's that coming out of the ground, is it a monster?
In the adventures of Mulligan and Cully, shizzle really hit the fan. Not only were the ATF storming the cult's compound, all guns blazing, because the person put in charge of them had body-swapped with a Japanese member of the mother cult, the rogue body-swapper was also trying to Do Something.
Mulligan jumped into a helicopter and tried to figure out how to smoke him out of the building by dropping something through the roof, and Cully went with an FBI team around the back. As soon as there was an earthquake and the building started to sink into the ground, she turn and ran, while Mulligan frantically called to Dieter the helicopter pilot to climb, because we had seen this sort of thing happen before.
True to form, a big tentacled monster came out of the ground, waved its tentacles around, ate the body-swapper and then decided to slink back into its cave. A broken stone/egg type thing might have had something to do with it, we're not sure.
Either way, the mission was a great success. Sort of. As long as Mulligan can rest up in a hospital for a month and Cully doesn't lose any more Sanity.
Mulligan jumped into a helicopter and tried to figure out how to smoke him out of the building by dropping something through the roof, and Cully went with an FBI team around the back. As soon as there was an earthquake and the building started to sink into the ground, she turn and ran, while Mulligan frantically called to Dieter the helicopter pilot to climb, because we had seen this sort of thing happen before.
True to form, a big tentacled monster came out of the ground, waved its tentacles around, ate the body-swapper and then decided to slink back into its cave. A broken stone/egg type thing might have had something to do with it, we're not sure.
Either way, the mission was a great success. Sort of. As long as Mulligan can rest up in a hospital for a month and Cully doesn't lose any more Sanity.
In Cthulhu, it’s death or nothing
We got the translation of the manuscript in Japanese, the place featured on the photo the insane guy had on him when we had him sectioned was found, and Special Agents Mulligan and Cully went out there to have a look.
This was widely regarded as a bad move.
They found a barn with a hole in the ground. In the shadows, a green jelly monster. Down the hole in the ground, we dug up a piece of rock that was probably hollw inside. And then there was a big, black, tentacled monster.
Throwing all caution to the wind, Mulligan lowered a box of dynamite down the hole and set it on fire with a flare gun - and then legged it. He was one point away from death ... when he finally made a successful Jump roll, landing him face first on the bonnet of an FBI car. At least he lived to tell the tale.
Now we just hope the monster is an ex monster.
This was widely regarded as a bad move.
They found a barn with a hole in the ground. In the shadows, a green jelly monster. Down the hole in the ground, we dug up a piece of rock that was probably hollw inside. And then there was a big, black, tentacled monster.
Throwing all caution to the wind, Mulligan lowered a box of dynamite down the hole and set it on fire with a flare gun - and then legged it. He was one point away from death ... when he finally made a successful Jump roll, landing him face first on the bonnet of an FBI car. At least he lived to tell the tale.
Now we just hope the monster is an ex monster.
Must be talking to the tinfoil hat
Because Mulligan had an epic dice roll for whether or not people in a restaurant had a camera, it turned out a photography convention was being held at that hotel ... The photo in question was taken of a couple of Japanese fellas standing outside with a black Mercedes. We've been joined by the original offshoot of the Aum cult!
And we have reasons to believe we're going to need tinfoil hats going forward. In fact, the plan is to make stetsons with a Faraday cage inside, because we're all sophisticated, like. After all, isn't the tinfoil really meant to ward off things like radio waves? Then a Faraday cage is what you want! Simples!
Our journalist pal took us to see her father, who managed to translate enough of the old scroll we had in our possession to realise it wasn't the lyrics to a Eurythmics song. But we definitely agree that there are shenanigans afoot in Texas.
And we have reasons to believe we're going to need tinfoil hats going forward. In fact, the plan is to make stetsons with a Faraday cage inside, because we're all sophisticated, like. After all, isn't the tinfoil really meant to ward off things like radio waves? Then a Faraday cage is what you want! Simples!
Our journalist pal took us to see her father, who managed to translate enough of the old scroll we had in our possession to realise it wasn't the lyrics to a Eurythmics song. But we definitely agree that there are shenanigans afoot in Texas.
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