Tweet
11th Session
I'm going to be away for a week after this, so there will be a short gap between now and the next write up.
Cast List
Aaron Gibson: Punk Hacker
Lydia: Moon Witch
Joe Hanson: Noir Detective
Helen Walter: Hermetic Spy
Notable Npcs:
Keepers:
Boris: High Priest
Mica: Technowitch
Technocrats:
Lance Armstrong: R&E Scientist
Dennis Howard: NSC Cyborg
Edwin Phillips: Our Marauder
Violet Dubois: Euthanatos Assassin from afar
---CHAPTER 11: THE ALLEYS OF MADNESS---
It was 10 in the morning when Hanson woke up. He had fallen asleep watching over Helen. Someone had obviously come to tend to him during the night because all his wounds were gone. Helen too seemed to be in better shape. He decided to return to his room and prepare his morning coffee and smoke. While sitting by the window and watching the shadows cast behind the mid-morning sun, he started to think intently about the problem at hand. He managed to find Edwin, but now he wanted to know, how could he help him... As he thought, he slipped into dream, the smoke forming images as it mixed with the air. He saw a woman's face, he could make it out very clearly as Sarah's. But then it shifted into another's, Violets... As he stared at the smoke he became more confused, and could not tell exactly which woman he saw...
Lydia wakes up at around noon. She's had a long night of confusion. She's concerned about Alfred as he seems to think he did something terrible, perhaps even killed or at least seriously harmed one of the progenitors last night. In need of something to clear her mind, she makes her way down to the node, Boris opening the door for her. She rests there for a moment, breathing in the air and letting her avatar be one with the potent spiritual forces of the node. She feels a presence trying yet again to enter her mind. Unsettled by this, she shrugs it off, and harmless quintessence with that familiar Alive resonance fills her system. She feels rejuvenated immediately. With this newfound state of calm, she begins to clear her head and focus on her avatar.
Lydia: Luna?
Luna: Hello?
Lydia: Hey. I'm worried about Alfred.
Luna: Yes?
Lydia: I think he might have killed someone. Or at least thinks he has.
Luna: and?
Lydia: Well, we're Verbena, we should be about life! Killing isn't something we should be promoting, is it?
Luna: Death and life are inherently linked.
Lydia: Well, yes. But it's still not good to kill, is it?
Luna: Do you think he is in danger of being Fallen?
Lydia: No, I don't.
Luna: Then what harm is there? Sometimes killing is part of the narrative of survival. Does the wolf not kill in order to avoid being hunted.
Lydia: But we're the ones doing the hunting this time...
Luna: The wolf too hunts to survive. Yes, killing is better to avoid, but not if the story then turns to self destruction.
Lydia: Why does everyone seem to think killing is ok? Is there not a better way, a better solution?
Luna: Perhaps there is...
Lydia: What is it then?
Luna: A very good question.
Lydia: Aren't you going to help me!?
Hanson left the room and found Boris downstairs and learned that he was having trouble finding the key to his office.
Hanson: Where did you have it last?
Boris: Before my injury. Vivian had it after this.
Hanson: Perhaps I should go investigate...
He took Hanson to the bedroom, he took a quick look and then asked for fingerprint powder. Boris had no idea what this was, but said he'd speak to Kael about it and see what they could do.
Helen woke up and made his was down to the Node room as well. She was hoping she'd be able to sneak into Boris's study before anyone notices, but was a bit shocked to find Boris himself open the door for her. He let her know that Vivian was not in at the moment as she was repaying a debt to spirits on the other side of the umbra. She walked cautiously to the node and acted as though she was only going to meditate there. Just as Lydia had done before, she gained this very Alive energy within her and rejected the feel of this entity trying to search her mind. She noticed Lydia was quietly meditating by the node as well, and watched for a bit until she opened her eyes and shouted "Well screw you Luna!". They talked for a bit, with Lydia catching Helen up a bit on what had happened at the Heath, though unable to explain in detail what Alfred actually did. Helen made her way to Boris's room interested in sneaking in but with Lydia watching her, it was going to be impossible to do this secretly. Lydia started questioning her about what she had been up to the previous night, doing the Ring of Truth effect in order to assess her answers. Helen just told her about spirit attack and her paradox induced unconsciousness.
Hanson arrived and started confirming a few things. Hanson was concerned for Helen and was glad to see she was ok. Hanson almost didn't recognise Lydia's Life changed hair and face. Boris entered and started to talk to them all, informing them about a few things.
Boris: I'm grateful that you fended off the progenitors last night, though they may return soon enough. We should keep an eye of the Heath and be prepared for anything.
Lydia: Yes. We should also keep contact with the Chorus.
Boris: The Chorus?
Lydia: There were some Choristors who were helping us defend the node, in their way...
This was discussed a bit, Boris not exactly trusting of these Choristers, before moving on to what Hanson had been up to.
Boris: You say you were at a hotel last night.
Hanson: Yes, on a case. Ended up getting trapped in some strange world and then fighting a few spirits.
Boris: That's quite concerning... We've been looking at the tears in the gauntlet from the other side and it looks as thought the gauntlet itself was pulled out of shape by something. It might be worth having a look.
Hanson: Could be, yeah...
Boris: Did you notice anything, or anyone, that might have caused these tears?
Hanson: I have suspicions...
Boris: I see. Well, the gauntlet seems to be getting weaker further south of where you were, closer to the river...
Hanson decided to return to the hotel, taking Lydia and Helen with him in case there was some way to trace where Edwin had gone.
Aaron awakens to the smell of rat droppings. This is getting problematic... Unwilling to remove the non-human mind ban, he got up and went to the store to get cleaning supplies and rat poison. He was going to deal with this properly and permanently. While waiting in the queue he got a text from Rubrix saying he had a job for him. After getting home and lacing some cheese with poison, he got to his computer and responded.
Aaron: What is it?
Rubrix: Place in Wandworth, there's a list of passwords on their mainframe, need you to get in there and retrieve them.
Aaron: Sure, whats the address?
Rubrix describes the place, an office tower in Wandsworth, the 8th floor. Aaron gets ready by putting on a high-vis jacket and a clipboard. The idea being he'd try to look like some kind of worker and just waltz right in. When he got to the place he started looking around but was approached by security.
Guard: What are you here for?
Aaron: Just checking things out is all, I've got a lot of things to check off here (gesturing to the clipboard)
Guard: Can I have a look.
Aaron: sure
Aaron shows the clipboard. It's at this point that I should point out that Aaron botched the roll to disguise himself.
Guard: This here's a petition...
Aaron: ((oh no...))
Thinking on his feet, he quickly came up with this.
Aaron: Damn, must have the wrong forms. Listen, this was supposed to be a pretty quick job. They really aren't paying me enough to do this and they don't even give me the right forms to do it. If you could just let me in so I could get things done and finished, you know how it is, just want to get the job done with.
[ST NOTE: I was planning for this to be a bit more challenging, but Aaron's player didn't seem to be in the mood to deal with this at the time, so I just let it go. Sometimes challenge for challenge sake isn't worth it if it annoys the player so much that they just stop caring.]
His appeal seemed so genuine the guard was somewhat overcome by it, and let him in into the back entrance. Aaron was now in the stairwell climbing up to the 8th floor. On his way up he heard a man talking angrily about Hampstead Heath. Though he couldn't quite make out what was being said due to the echo in the stairwell, he could tell he was talking about unexpected setbacks, and that making him wait was not acceptable. Aaron quickly walked past him as he climbed, not wanting to get any attention.
He got onto the floor, a room filled with large machines processing things throughout the building. a few computer modules sat in the middle, and Aaron got to work searching through the directories for the passwords. As he worked, he heard a hum coming from behind him. He looked back and saw an open console. Looking further he saw it was an email page with the title "Searching for the Esther File" as the subject. Trying to interact with the computer didn't seem to change anything. It became apparent that this was some kind of monitoring software giving a live stream of another computer's display.
Aaron returned to searching through the directories and found a number of encrypted names and passwords. This looked like what Rubrix wanted. There were too many to printscreen, so copying them all to a flash drive seemed the best choice. It was going to take several minutes though.
Again, he heard the hum, the other computer's screen started to change, someone was typing out an e-mail with the subject "RE: Searching for Esther". The door began to open, and Aaron quickly jumped back to the other machine, and moved the screen. A man came in and sat at the over module paying him no attention. The moment the files finished transferring he got of the page, and walked the hell out of there.
On his way down, he heard that same hum coming on one of the floors on the way down. He checked the floor and peered into an office. An open computer sat with that same email, he saw the address as: [email protected] Vogon.com
Not wanting to stay too long, he skimmed over the contents.
The thug you hired wasn't able to complete the transfer, so no we don't currently know the whereabouts of the file. We're still looking.
Not wanting to take any more chances, he left and tried headed north, crossing the river in an attempt to obscure his route from possible tails. While walking by an alleyway, he notices that twig symbol he's seen before. Edwin must have been here. He looks down the alleyway which seems to turn into some kind of cavern. Cautiously he made his way down, sneaking ever closer and closer to what he thought was the sound of reciting. A voice he only barely recognised.
Hanson guided the others towards the hotel, then recalled that they never actually checked out and so brought up the chaotic winds of his perception filter around the three of them to avoid this awkward conversation. Lydia focused her senses through small chants, trying to feel out the strength of the gauntlet, letting the others know when and where it warped. As Hanson guides them closer to the hotel room, Lydia's sense of weakening gets larger, while Hanson's danger sense starts to lift. From beyond the door to the hotel room Lydia could hear some spirits speak. They sounded like Stormcrows. "I hear there's a big event going by the river" "Oh yeah? Right then!" "Better get to it, perhaps we can burst it!"
Hanson and Helen could also hear voices, human voices.
Voice1: It's here, the Dimensional Barrier is definetly weak.
Technocrats...
Voice1: The breach is in the bathroom. And it might be a recent one too.
Voice2: Hmm... What about this?
Voice1: Looks like some kind of... symbol... does it look like the others they found?
Voice2: ....Yes.
Voice1: Maybe this has the same cause!
The start to move towards the door and Hanson backs the three of them against the wall, hoping his perception filter keeps them out of danger. Lance and Hector opened the door and walked right by them, towards a different corridor. Hanson lead the others down and out of the hotel as quickly as possible. The storm crows seemed to talk about another area of weak gauntlet, somewhere close to the river just as Boris had described. This was where they decided to head towards. After an hour or so of searching, Lydia brought her mind in sync with the spirit world and saw a large gathering of Stormcrows in the area. She lead Hanson and Helen to them.
(note, it's not always the same crow speaking here)
Lydia: Right everyone, hide your necklaces, these guys will take anything shiny...
Lydia: (to the crows) hello?
Crow: Yeah?
Lydia: What are you all gathering here?
Crow: What's it to you?
Lydia: (digging in her pockets) I could give you a shiny coin if you tell me.
Crow: Oh will you?
Lydia: Yes, so what are you all doing here?
Crow: We're going to...have a ball.
Lydia: Oh, do crows normally have balls?
Crow: Not normally. This is a special ball.
Crow: We're going to be having one on the other side.
Lydia: Oh, the other side, is it nicer?
Crow: It's new. That's good enough.
One of the crows gets a bit impatient and tries to grab the coin out of Lydia's hand, but she snatches it away. The other crows laugh at this.
Lydia: Here. (throwing the coin at one of them, the rest scurry towards it) can you tell me anything else about this ball of yours?
Crow: Yeah... it's gonna be fun.
Lydia: What do you plan on doing then?
Crow: Having fun. Yeah..
Lydia: Can you not say anything more than that?
Crow: Nah!
Lydia: I do have better things to do, you know!
Crow: Then go do 'em.
While Lydia was having her crow conversation, Hanson and Helen drew their eyes towards the symbol on the side of the alleyway. Hanson peered inside, his danger sense rising, along with Helen's bracelet's temperature. Hanson listens out as he slowly creeps in. There is something coming from around the corner. Hanson is hit, a great beast with lots of eyes and mouths, countless formless limbs and tentacles, it lashes and and smacks Hanson down. Helen recognises it as the same sort of thing Lydia had turned into and immediately tries to calm it with mind magic. Lydia tears herself away from the crows and looks in. Hanson gets up and tries to brush himself off. With the creature subdued, at least for the moment, he tries to create a mental link with it but only hears a rally of confusion and desperation partially tamed by an artificial sense of calm.
Lydia: Oh, it's a monster like I was! Maybe it's human.
Hanson: Not sure about that... It's not thinking like a human.
Helen: Maybe it's an animal?
Lydia tries to sense its life pattern, it seems like that she'd expect from a dog, but it's horribly perverted by something.
Aaron gets his phone out and quickly tries to draw up some night vision as he crawls deeper into the cavern. He can see the man with the open book. Afraid of alerting him and scaring him off, he tries to form a mental link with him. But something's gone wrong, the effect botches and a heavy amount of paradox rains down on him (total = 15). He does everything he can to try and hold on to it and suppress it. "Who's there!?" the man calls out. Aaron hesitates, staying perfectly still.
Hanson, Helen, and Lydia make their way further down the alleyway-turned-cave cavern getting close and closer to the end.
Aaron decides to try his luck.
Aaron: Hello?
Edwin: Who's there!?
Aaron: Do you recognise me?
Edwin: I... maybe.... Who...
Aaron: Calm down.
A strange creature shambles forward, another mass of tentacles an teeth. Edwin stared at it and started chanting something out of his book. A rip in space opened up and thrust the monster through it, banishing it from this realm.
Aaron: what was that?
Edwin: Did you see that creature ten?
Aaron: yes... You know what it is?
Edwin: That thing, that horrible thing. It was a Shoggoth!
Aaron: A shoggoth... Right... I think you might need to-
Aaron stops, a look of terror stretched across Edwin's face. A strong smell of fish fills the air. Aaron turns behind him to see a great monster with bulging eyes, swollen lips, and inhuman skin. Edwin grab's Aaron's hand and runs.
Hanson watches them run and stops himself from calling out. Helen tries to explain to Lydia the transformation and quickly sends a text to Aaron explaining the same.
Aaron in the mean time is in no mood for texting.
Aaron: What just happened!
Edwin: It's one of the creatures from Innsmouth. They've been chasing me ever since I escaped that wretched town. It is not a place for tourists.
Aaron: Innsmouth? You mean like the story? Shadow Over Innsmouth?
Edwin: You've been there to?
Aaron: No, it doesn't exist. It's just a story. H.P. Lovecraft, you know the guy?
Edwin: We cannot stay here, these caverns hold great evils.
Aaron: Listen to me! It's ok. I can get you to someone who can help.
Edwin: Who?
Aaron: I know a number of mages, they can give you help. Here, take this. (taking of his necklace)
Edwin: What trinket is this?
Aaron: It's a key, go to the Keepers of the Wyck. They can help you.
Edwin: I will not deal with cultists!
Aaron: They aren't cultists.
Aaron suddenly feels a rift open in space, something has just entered the area, the two of them look around and they see a great monster, a strange biped with a large tentacle like limb in place of its hear, without a face. It holds a knife and moves with uncertainty, eventually writhing on the floor as it approaches. Edwin makes to run and Aaron follows. There is no way he wants to be near this thing.
Hanson's feels his body shift. Though he hasn't fully reverted, he is now able to speak at least. He recognises both the rending resonance and the knife in the creature just ahead and stops the others from doing anything. As Edwin runs further away, the thing starts to shift back, it's face forming into that of Violet's.
Violet: What the...
Hanson: Violet, don't be alarmed.
Violet: Hanson? What happened to you?
Hanson: Same thing that happened to you it seems.
Violet: That man, he the one you were searching for? This is Edwin?
Hanson: The one that ran off? Yeah.
Violet: Right... He seems to be able to transform the world around him...
Hanson: I don't think he's doing it on purpose.
Violet: And he transformed you when you got near him?
Hanson: Yes.
Violet: Then I think I know what we're dealing with... This Edwin, your missing person. He's a Marauder.
Hanson: ...((God Dammit!))
[ST NOTE: At this point in the game most of them had pretty much already figured this out, so it didn't really come off as a surprise reveal, but more of a confirmation of theories. I'd always imagined there were three sides to this particular chronicle. Searching for, the Mystery of , and Dealing with Edwin. While the Searching is an ongoing thing, I thought 11 sessions was plenty enough Mystery, so why not kick start the third and arguably the most interesting side of it all]
Violet: Who are you?
Lydia: Me? Lydia.
Violet: Another one of your associates?
Hanson: Sort of...
Lydia: You're a mage then?
Violet: I am.
Lydia: Which tradition?
Violet: Euthanatos,
Hanson: Death cults.
Violet: Hardly, though I'm sure there are no guesses about what I was here to do.
Lydia: Why do you follow Hanson around?
Violet: Simply put, he killed one of my colleagues.
Hanson: I'd like to point out that this colleague of yours had murdered a bunch of people.
Lydia: If you think he's a dangerous killer, isn't it dangerous for you to keep so close to him?
Violet: Oh, he knows exactly what would happen if he tried anything ...rash.
Aaron and Edwin managed to run back out of the cavern and on to the streets.
Aaron: Ok... I think... I think we got away from that.
Edwin: Yes... But we can't stay here... there might be more...
Aaron: You've been chased for a while?
Edwin: Yes... I've been looking for a way home for...how long now...
Aaron: Listen, you need help. I know who can help you. Trust me. Speak to the keepers.
Edwin: What are you talking about.
Aaron: They're mages, they can help you.
Edwin: You mean cultists? I wouldn't deal with them! They might-
Aaron: Shut up! You have stumbled on to something, and have awoken to a truth much greater than you know. You need to understand it.
Edwin: What are you?
Aaron; I'm a Mage!!
Edwin: You... You're one of them....
Aaron feels his clothes start to change form, turning into long black robes. Without meaning to he started to speak in a bizarre language with impossible syllables. Edwin backed away as Aaron's voice lifted to a crescendo, causing him to run away yet again. Aaron's clothes began to shift back to what they were as we left.
Aaron: No! Wait! Come back!
Suddenly, the wait of all this paradox started to weight heavily on Aaron, but little came of it. A single point backlashed, and with it a lone thought entered his mind: "You blew it".
A flurry of noise was heard from the alleyway, and suddenly a great murder of Stormcrows erupted from further down, all of whom began flying out towards the street.
Lydia: Well, I guess they're going to have their ball now.
The commotion brought the attention of two men in suits, one with a bowler hat. Lance and Hector were walking towards the alley. Spying this Aaron took the petition he had and quickly walked in front of them.
Aaron: Excuse me! Would you be able to sign this petition? We're trying to stop any and all construction being done on Hampstead Heath.
Hector: Out of the way!
Aaron: It's a very important cause! Keep the Heath Green!
Violet noticed the pair of them being held off, and started swirling her dagger in the air concentrating hard on getting them out. Hanson, Helen, and Lydia stayed close while she performed her magic, cut a whole through space and brought them away from the alley. Hanson had just enough time to smirk at Hector as Hector's face changed to loathing.
Hector: You seem quite far from the Heath for this...
Aaron: Well yes, you have to spread the word somehow
Lance: Did you just arrive here?
Aaron: Oh no, I've been drumming up interest for a while. If you don't wish to add your names, then I won't take up too much of your time.
Hector: Hold on a moment... What was your name?
Aaron: Rusty.... [This guy makes up so many alias, I keep forgetting which one was for what.]
Both Lance and Hector were trying to look this guy up on V-DAS. Lance wasn't having much luck though Hector managed to get his real name.
Lance: Come on Hector, I don't think this guy is connected with this.
Aaron: Right, well I'll be on my way then.
Hector: See you around. Aaron....
Aaron froze for a bit though pretended not to notice. They knew his name, they'd probably know his address too. Looks like he's going to have to stay with the Keepers for a bit just in case.
Helen, Lydia, and Hanson looked around. They stood in a room adorned with paintings of various things. Hanson noticed in particular one which looked like himself holding a gun to a man he hadn't seen for years.
Helen: Wow, that's a lot of paintings.
Hanson: This is how she does her magic... Of course.
Violet: Creation is on the same coin as destruction, both may influence the wheel in turn, so of course both acts hold a great deal of power.
Helen and Lydia start looking around for other paintings to see if they are in them, though they only find two. One depicts Hanson and Helen being attacked by the Kalus, the other depicts a scene not unlike that which they had seen just a moment ago, with all three of them watching Edwin.
Lydia: Can you predict the future?
Violet: Not quite. I can see events sometimes, fragments of fate and possibility. However, I did not bring you here to admire the gallery. This Marauder...
Hanson: He doesn't seem to be aware of what he's doing.
Violet: Aware or not, he is dangerous, and so he must be dealt with.
Lydia: How do you mean, dealt with?
Violet: I mean dealt with... problem is that I can't get near him without changing... I'm going to need some help. If you have anything that belongs to him, something or someone who he holds dear, I might be able to reach him through that. Do you know of anything?
Helen remembers the page from the book he held, she keeps quiet about it, unwilling to draw anyone's attention to this.
Hanson: Perhaps he can be helped. Maybe we can get someone to see to him.
Violet: Help a marauder? You obviously have no idea what you're dealing with.
Hanson: There may be a chance, please.
Violet: I'll give you until the end of the week. But the moment more trouble starts...
The group leave to return to the Keepers, all of them are more or less in agreement that killing or allowing Edwin to be killed doesn't sit right with them.
Despite what everyone else keeps telling her, she cannot accept that killing is the correct course of action for anything. She doesn't see this man as a threat, but as someone in need of help, unable to properly help himself.
Hanson seems to be in agreement with these sentiments. He hasn't done anything wrong except lose his mind. In a world like this, that's a pretty easy thing to do.
Helen is in two minds on the subject. While she agrees that he's not at fault, she also is aware of the danger he poses. Though unable to definitively chose a side, she leans more towards what the others have said.
When they return, Aaron speaks with them and everyone gets caught up. Aaron's opinion is basically "She's a Euthanatos, killing's their answer to everything. So screw 'em!" He got very close to being able to speak with him until he started getting scared, so there's obviously some way to get through to him...
Aaron sat in his room, his high level of paradox had a strange effect on the computer screen, discolouring it as though they were magnetic. Brushing this aside, he sent the encrypted files of to Rubrix.
Rubrix: This is going to take some work.
Aaron: Yeah. By the way, ran into some Technocrats on the way here, they seemed to know my name.
Rubrix: Ah. You got hit up by their V-DAS then...
Aaron: Seems like it. Well, I am pretty heavily Doxed and they know my name, so I'm going to try and lay low for a while.
Rubrix: Staying with your Witch Girlfriend/
Aaron: She's not my girlfriend.
Rubrix: Whatever, I'm not going to judge your relationship status.
Aaron: Seriously?
Rubrix: Send pix tho.
Aaron: You disgust me...
Rubrix: good.
Aaron: Also, there was this file I found. The Esther File, know anything about that?
Rubrix: Esther File...
Aaron: Yeah, there was this guy, Jason Stavero
::Rubrix has signed off::
Aaron: oh...
Mica sees Hanson and hands him a pot of recently transformed print powder (or its nearest equivalent). He started dusting and collecting the prints in Vivian's room to help determine what happened to the key, finding a lot of prints under the bed which matched the cabinet, the last known whereabouts of the key. Helen noticed this and decided she needed to explain something to Hanson.
Helen: You're helping Boris, aren't you?
Hanson: Yeah...
Helen: I need to tell you something.
Hanson: What?
Helen: When I was younger, something terrible happened... my parents were killed, their killers left me running away for my life.
Hanson: Oh... I'm sorry.
Helen: I don't know yet, but I think Boris might be involved with my parents death.
She shows him the letter she found in the study, the one signed by Beranabus.
Hanson: I see... Don't worry, I'll keep your secret.
Helen: Thank you...
Most people went to sleep at this point, and another day was ended.
---SEEKING---
Aaron's Avatar is Dynamic and has noticed how often he has been relying on his Mentor for guidance and instruction. His Avatar isn't too happy with this as he think this constant crutch is holding him back from achieving his true potential.
The Seeking is constructed as follows.
Aaron wakes up and finds himself in a dark room, the walls are black but the corners are a bright glowing green. A single laptop sits in front of him with a clear line of communication to Rubrix. Each room ahead is some kind of puzzle, either it's simply knowing which direction to go, having a combination of buttons to press, shapes that need fitting into slots, or colour matching puzzles. Any solution or decision made by Aaron and Aaron alone will be the correct one. But any time he consults Rubrix and follows his advise, the floor beneath him will start to open up.
Aaron carries the laptop with him, walking around this strange neon maze. Some rooms have blue corners, others have red, some have yellow. Sometimes they were just long endless corridors. Either way, when presented with the puzzle ahead, he would face it with confusion until the ever present "Need Help?" message came from the laptop. After several escapes from opening floors, Aaron began to cotton on, concluding that he needed to do the opposite of what Rubrix told him to do in order to progress. This was a step in the right direction, but it still had him relying on his Mentor for assistance, so the Avatar started throwing less binary situations. He now had a row of doors to try and navigate, or a branching path with three different directions. He would sometimes ignore his Mentors instructions outright, but never let go of the laptop or stopped detailing the layout of the room to him.
After a bit more of this, Aaron's Avatar decided to present him with the final task. Rubrix told him that he had a job for him. There was a golden egg somewhere in the maze and he had to find it for him. Aaron entered a room with a map in it. He could see the pathway to the egg clearly, but in the complete opposite direction was a path out of the maze, he had to choose which way to go. Aaron agonised over this decision. It was quite obvious that this was a seeking of some kind, and he really didn't want to fail it. He was aware that virtually everything Rubrix had told him was causing him problems, but he just couldn't leave empty handed. He chose to go for the egg, which sat at the end of a long corridor. On picking it up the floor started to open up. He tried to make a run for it but the corridor was too long, in desperation he threw the egg down into the void, falling along with it.
Around Aaron was nothing but darkness, nothing but void. He looked at the screen of the laptop and saw Rubrix's final message: "oops"
The seeking had been failed.
---NOTES---
This was a rather laboured session. Not a bad one by any means, but there was something in the air that day which made things a bit trying. Aaron's player might have just been having a rough few days, but he was just not in the mood. He seemed to perk up by the time he found Edwin though. But failing his seeking certainly didn't improve things. Lydia's player was also having somewhat of an off day too. She had a hard time staying focused on the game and would often drift off mid conversation and need everyone repeat what they were telling her, adding a few levels of frustration around the table. That and she seemed to have forgotten a few key details about the mechanics of sphere magic, but this game is complex so that's forgivable. Helen's character too was not doing to great. From the start she wanted to have a chance to use the key and enter Boris's study, hoping to find more evidence or information, but she never got a good chance. This frustrated her a great deal, and by the end of the night this had almost reached a critical point.
Hanson's character was mostly getting frustrated by the above.
It's difficult to cope with players who just aren't in the mood one day, it can be quite tempting also to just say "nah, we're obviously not feeling it today, let's go home". But I don't like doing that. It was a really slow start but once the Edwin stuff started happening, everyone seemed engaged with the story again. I even had a number of interesting conversations with the players about how they viewed the whole Edwin situation now they knew more about him.
To make this clear, I don't make my players spend another Arete worth of Exp just to do another seeking. That is monstrously cruel. There will be another Seeking for Aaron in the future. Since it's a Dynamic Avatar, it will probably be very different from this one. I'm thinking this time the laptop will be chained to the wall and the advice will much more like a walkthrough, but he'll have to keep coming back to the laptop in order to escape better. This might change if I get a better idea later down the line.
Otherwise, let me know what you think of these Seekings.
Just in case you were wondering, Violet was transformed into the Faceless form of Nyarlathotep. It's a pretty terrifying form which no doubt inspired a couple of Silent Hill monsters.
Oh, and Lydia has become the first player to level up a Sphere. She now has Life 3. Welcome to your new life as Team Healer.
See you all in a few weeks!
I'm going to be away for a week after this, so there will be a short gap between now and the next write up.
Cast List
Aaron Gibson: Punk Hacker
Lydia: Moon Witch
Joe Hanson: Noir Detective
Helen Walter: Hermetic Spy
Notable Npcs:
Keepers:
Boris: High Priest
Mica: Technowitch
Technocrats:
Lance Armstrong: R&E Scientist
Dennis Howard: NSC Cyborg
Edwin Phillips: Our Marauder
Violet Dubois: Euthanatos Assassin from afar
---CHAPTER 11: THE ALLEYS OF MADNESS---
It was 10 in the morning when Hanson woke up. He had fallen asleep watching over Helen. Someone had obviously come to tend to him during the night because all his wounds were gone. Helen too seemed to be in better shape. He decided to return to his room and prepare his morning coffee and smoke. While sitting by the window and watching the shadows cast behind the mid-morning sun, he started to think intently about the problem at hand. He managed to find Edwin, but now he wanted to know, how could he help him... As he thought, he slipped into dream, the smoke forming images as it mixed with the air. He saw a woman's face, he could make it out very clearly as Sarah's. But then it shifted into another's, Violets... As he stared at the smoke he became more confused, and could not tell exactly which woman he saw...
Lydia wakes up at around noon. She's had a long night of confusion. She's concerned about Alfred as he seems to think he did something terrible, perhaps even killed or at least seriously harmed one of the progenitors last night. In need of something to clear her mind, she makes her way down to the node, Boris opening the door for her. She rests there for a moment, breathing in the air and letting her avatar be one with the potent spiritual forces of the node. She feels a presence trying yet again to enter her mind. Unsettled by this, she shrugs it off, and harmless quintessence with that familiar Alive resonance fills her system. She feels rejuvenated immediately. With this newfound state of calm, she begins to clear her head and focus on her avatar.
Lydia: Luna?
Luna: Hello?
Lydia: Hey. I'm worried about Alfred.
Luna: Yes?
Lydia: I think he might have killed someone. Or at least thinks he has.
Luna: and?
Lydia: Well, we're Verbena, we should be about life! Killing isn't something we should be promoting, is it?
Luna: Death and life are inherently linked.
Lydia: Well, yes. But it's still not good to kill, is it?
Luna: Do you think he is in danger of being Fallen?
Lydia: No, I don't.
Luna: Then what harm is there? Sometimes killing is part of the narrative of survival. Does the wolf not kill in order to avoid being hunted.
Lydia: But we're the ones doing the hunting this time...
Luna: The wolf too hunts to survive. Yes, killing is better to avoid, but not if the story then turns to self destruction.
Lydia: Why does everyone seem to think killing is ok? Is there not a better way, a better solution?
Luna: Perhaps there is...
Lydia: What is it then?
Luna: A very good question.
Lydia: Aren't you going to help me!?
Hanson left the room and found Boris downstairs and learned that he was having trouble finding the key to his office.
Hanson: Where did you have it last?
Boris: Before my injury. Vivian had it after this.
Hanson: Perhaps I should go investigate...
He took Hanson to the bedroom, he took a quick look and then asked for fingerprint powder. Boris had no idea what this was, but said he'd speak to Kael about it and see what they could do.
Helen woke up and made his was down to the Node room as well. She was hoping she'd be able to sneak into Boris's study before anyone notices, but was a bit shocked to find Boris himself open the door for her. He let her know that Vivian was not in at the moment as she was repaying a debt to spirits on the other side of the umbra. She walked cautiously to the node and acted as though she was only going to meditate there. Just as Lydia had done before, she gained this very Alive energy within her and rejected the feel of this entity trying to search her mind. She noticed Lydia was quietly meditating by the node as well, and watched for a bit until she opened her eyes and shouted "Well screw you Luna!". They talked for a bit, with Lydia catching Helen up a bit on what had happened at the Heath, though unable to explain in detail what Alfred actually did. Helen made her way to Boris's room interested in sneaking in but with Lydia watching her, it was going to be impossible to do this secretly. Lydia started questioning her about what she had been up to the previous night, doing the Ring of Truth effect in order to assess her answers. Helen just told her about spirit attack and her paradox induced unconsciousness.
Hanson arrived and started confirming a few things. Hanson was concerned for Helen and was glad to see she was ok. Hanson almost didn't recognise Lydia's Life changed hair and face. Boris entered and started to talk to them all, informing them about a few things.
Boris: I'm grateful that you fended off the progenitors last night, though they may return soon enough. We should keep an eye of the Heath and be prepared for anything.
Lydia: Yes. We should also keep contact with the Chorus.
Boris: The Chorus?
Lydia: There were some Choristors who were helping us defend the node, in their way...
This was discussed a bit, Boris not exactly trusting of these Choristers, before moving on to what Hanson had been up to.
Boris: You say you were at a hotel last night.
Hanson: Yes, on a case. Ended up getting trapped in some strange world and then fighting a few spirits.
Boris: That's quite concerning... We've been looking at the tears in the gauntlet from the other side and it looks as thought the gauntlet itself was pulled out of shape by something. It might be worth having a look.
Hanson: Could be, yeah...
Boris: Did you notice anything, or anyone, that might have caused these tears?
Hanson: I have suspicions...
Boris: I see. Well, the gauntlet seems to be getting weaker further south of where you were, closer to the river...
Hanson decided to return to the hotel, taking Lydia and Helen with him in case there was some way to trace where Edwin had gone.
Aaron awakens to the smell of rat droppings. This is getting problematic... Unwilling to remove the non-human mind ban, he got up and went to the store to get cleaning supplies and rat poison. He was going to deal with this properly and permanently. While waiting in the queue he got a text from Rubrix saying he had a job for him. After getting home and lacing some cheese with poison, he got to his computer and responded.
Aaron: What is it?
Rubrix: Place in Wandworth, there's a list of passwords on their mainframe, need you to get in there and retrieve them.
Aaron: Sure, whats the address?
Rubrix describes the place, an office tower in Wandsworth, the 8th floor. Aaron gets ready by putting on a high-vis jacket and a clipboard. The idea being he'd try to look like some kind of worker and just waltz right in. When he got to the place he started looking around but was approached by security.
Guard: What are you here for?
Aaron: Just checking things out is all, I've got a lot of things to check off here (gesturing to the clipboard)
Guard: Can I have a look.
Aaron: sure
Aaron shows the clipboard. It's at this point that I should point out that Aaron botched the roll to disguise himself.
Guard: This here's a petition...
Aaron: ((oh no...))
Thinking on his feet, he quickly came up with this.
Aaron: Damn, must have the wrong forms. Listen, this was supposed to be a pretty quick job. They really aren't paying me enough to do this and they don't even give me the right forms to do it. If you could just let me in so I could get things done and finished, you know how it is, just want to get the job done with.
[ST NOTE: I was planning for this to be a bit more challenging, but Aaron's player didn't seem to be in the mood to deal with this at the time, so I just let it go. Sometimes challenge for challenge sake isn't worth it if it annoys the player so much that they just stop caring.]
His appeal seemed so genuine the guard was somewhat overcome by it, and let him in into the back entrance. Aaron was now in the stairwell climbing up to the 8th floor. On his way up he heard a man talking angrily about Hampstead Heath. Though he couldn't quite make out what was being said due to the echo in the stairwell, he could tell he was talking about unexpected setbacks, and that making him wait was not acceptable. Aaron quickly walked past him as he climbed, not wanting to get any attention.
He got onto the floor, a room filled with large machines processing things throughout the building. a few computer modules sat in the middle, and Aaron got to work searching through the directories for the passwords. As he worked, he heard a hum coming from behind him. He looked back and saw an open console. Looking further he saw it was an email page with the title "Searching for the Esther File" as the subject. Trying to interact with the computer didn't seem to change anything. It became apparent that this was some kind of monitoring software giving a live stream of another computer's display.
Aaron returned to searching through the directories and found a number of encrypted names and passwords. This looked like what Rubrix wanted. There were too many to printscreen, so copying them all to a flash drive seemed the best choice. It was going to take several minutes though.
Again, he heard the hum, the other computer's screen started to change, someone was typing out an e-mail with the subject "RE: Searching for Esther". The door began to open, and Aaron quickly jumped back to the other machine, and moved the screen. A man came in and sat at the over module paying him no attention. The moment the files finished transferring he got of the page, and walked the hell out of there.
On his way down, he heard that same hum coming on one of the floors on the way down. He checked the floor and peered into an office. An open computer sat with that same email, he saw the address as: [email protected] Vogon.com
Not wanting to stay too long, he skimmed over the contents.
The thug you hired wasn't able to complete the transfer, so no we don't currently know the whereabouts of the file. We're still looking.
Not wanting to take any more chances, he left and tried headed north, crossing the river in an attempt to obscure his route from possible tails. While walking by an alleyway, he notices that twig symbol he's seen before. Edwin must have been here. He looks down the alleyway which seems to turn into some kind of cavern. Cautiously he made his way down, sneaking ever closer and closer to what he thought was the sound of reciting. A voice he only barely recognised.
Hanson guided the others towards the hotel, then recalled that they never actually checked out and so brought up the chaotic winds of his perception filter around the three of them to avoid this awkward conversation. Lydia focused her senses through small chants, trying to feel out the strength of the gauntlet, letting the others know when and where it warped. As Hanson guides them closer to the hotel room, Lydia's sense of weakening gets larger, while Hanson's danger sense starts to lift. From beyond the door to the hotel room Lydia could hear some spirits speak. They sounded like Stormcrows. "I hear there's a big event going by the river" "Oh yeah? Right then!" "Better get to it, perhaps we can burst it!"
Hanson and Helen could also hear voices, human voices.
Voice1: It's here, the Dimensional Barrier is definetly weak.
Technocrats...
Voice1: The breach is in the bathroom. And it might be a recent one too.
Voice2: Hmm... What about this?
Voice1: Looks like some kind of... symbol... does it look like the others they found?
Voice2: ....Yes.
Voice1: Maybe this has the same cause!
The start to move towards the door and Hanson backs the three of them against the wall, hoping his perception filter keeps them out of danger. Lance and Hector opened the door and walked right by them, towards a different corridor. Hanson lead the others down and out of the hotel as quickly as possible. The storm crows seemed to talk about another area of weak gauntlet, somewhere close to the river just as Boris had described. This was where they decided to head towards. After an hour or so of searching, Lydia brought her mind in sync with the spirit world and saw a large gathering of Stormcrows in the area. She lead Hanson and Helen to them.
(note, it's not always the same crow speaking here)
Lydia: Right everyone, hide your necklaces, these guys will take anything shiny...
Lydia: (to the crows) hello?
Crow: Yeah?
Lydia: What are you all gathering here?
Crow: What's it to you?
Lydia: (digging in her pockets) I could give you a shiny coin if you tell me.
Crow: Oh will you?
Lydia: Yes, so what are you all doing here?
Crow: We're going to...have a ball.
Lydia: Oh, do crows normally have balls?
Crow: Not normally. This is a special ball.
Crow: We're going to be having one on the other side.
Lydia: Oh, the other side, is it nicer?
Crow: It's new. That's good enough.
One of the crows gets a bit impatient and tries to grab the coin out of Lydia's hand, but she snatches it away. The other crows laugh at this.
Lydia: Here. (throwing the coin at one of them, the rest scurry towards it) can you tell me anything else about this ball of yours?
Crow: Yeah... it's gonna be fun.
Lydia: What do you plan on doing then?
Crow: Having fun. Yeah..
Lydia: Can you not say anything more than that?
Crow: Nah!
Lydia: I do have better things to do, you know!
Crow: Then go do 'em.
While Lydia was having her crow conversation, Hanson and Helen drew their eyes towards the symbol on the side of the alleyway. Hanson peered inside, his danger sense rising, along with Helen's bracelet's temperature. Hanson listens out as he slowly creeps in. There is something coming from around the corner. Hanson is hit, a great beast with lots of eyes and mouths, countless formless limbs and tentacles, it lashes and and smacks Hanson down. Helen recognises it as the same sort of thing Lydia had turned into and immediately tries to calm it with mind magic. Lydia tears herself away from the crows and looks in. Hanson gets up and tries to brush himself off. With the creature subdued, at least for the moment, he tries to create a mental link with it but only hears a rally of confusion and desperation partially tamed by an artificial sense of calm.
Lydia: Oh, it's a monster like I was! Maybe it's human.
Hanson: Not sure about that... It's not thinking like a human.
Helen: Maybe it's an animal?
Lydia tries to sense its life pattern, it seems like that she'd expect from a dog, but it's horribly perverted by something.
Aaron gets his phone out and quickly tries to draw up some night vision as he crawls deeper into the cavern. He can see the man with the open book. Afraid of alerting him and scaring him off, he tries to form a mental link with him. But something's gone wrong, the effect botches and a heavy amount of paradox rains down on him (total = 15). He does everything he can to try and hold on to it and suppress it. "Who's there!?" the man calls out. Aaron hesitates, staying perfectly still.
Hanson, Helen, and Lydia make their way further down the alleyway-turned-cave cavern getting close and closer to the end.
Aaron decides to try his luck.
Aaron: Hello?
Edwin: Who's there!?
Aaron: Do you recognise me?
Edwin: I... maybe.... Who...
Aaron: Calm down.
A strange creature shambles forward, another mass of tentacles an teeth. Edwin stared at it and started chanting something out of his book. A rip in space opened up and thrust the monster through it, banishing it from this realm.
Aaron: what was that?
Edwin: Did you see that creature ten?
Aaron: yes... You know what it is?
Edwin: That thing, that horrible thing. It was a Shoggoth!
Aaron: A shoggoth... Right... I think you might need to-
Aaron stops, a look of terror stretched across Edwin's face. A strong smell of fish fills the air. Aaron turns behind him to see a great monster with bulging eyes, swollen lips, and inhuman skin. Edwin grab's Aaron's hand and runs.
Hanson watches them run and stops himself from calling out. Helen tries to explain to Lydia the transformation and quickly sends a text to Aaron explaining the same.
Aaron in the mean time is in no mood for texting.
Aaron: What just happened!
Edwin: It's one of the creatures from Innsmouth. They've been chasing me ever since I escaped that wretched town. It is not a place for tourists.
Aaron: Innsmouth? You mean like the story? Shadow Over Innsmouth?
Edwin: You've been there to?
Aaron: No, it doesn't exist. It's just a story. H.P. Lovecraft, you know the guy?
Edwin: We cannot stay here, these caverns hold great evils.
Aaron: Listen to me! It's ok. I can get you to someone who can help.
Edwin: Who?
Aaron: I know a number of mages, they can give you help. Here, take this. (taking of his necklace)
Edwin: What trinket is this?
Aaron: It's a key, go to the Keepers of the Wyck. They can help you.
Edwin: I will not deal with cultists!
Aaron: They aren't cultists.
Aaron suddenly feels a rift open in space, something has just entered the area, the two of them look around and they see a great monster, a strange biped with a large tentacle like limb in place of its hear, without a face. It holds a knife and moves with uncertainty, eventually writhing on the floor as it approaches. Edwin makes to run and Aaron follows. There is no way he wants to be near this thing.
Hanson's feels his body shift. Though he hasn't fully reverted, he is now able to speak at least. He recognises both the rending resonance and the knife in the creature just ahead and stops the others from doing anything. As Edwin runs further away, the thing starts to shift back, it's face forming into that of Violet's.
Violet: What the...
Hanson: Violet, don't be alarmed.
Violet: Hanson? What happened to you?
Hanson: Same thing that happened to you it seems.
Violet: That man, he the one you were searching for? This is Edwin?
Hanson: The one that ran off? Yeah.
Violet: Right... He seems to be able to transform the world around him...
Hanson: I don't think he's doing it on purpose.
Violet: And he transformed you when you got near him?
Hanson: Yes.
Violet: Then I think I know what we're dealing with... This Edwin, your missing person. He's a Marauder.
Hanson: ...((God Dammit!))
[ST NOTE: At this point in the game most of them had pretty much already figured this out, so it didn't really come off as a surprise reveal, but more of a confirmation of theories. I'd always imagined there were three sides to this particular chronicle. Searching for, the Mystery of , and Dealing with Edwin. While the Searching is an ongoing thing, I thought 11 sessions was plenty enough Mystery, so why not kick start the third and arguably the most interesting side of it all]
Violet: Who are you?
Lydia: Me? Lydia.
Violet: Another one of your associates?
Hanson: Sort of...
Lydia: You're a mage then?
Violet: I am.
Lydia: Which tradition?
Violet: Euthanatos,
Hanson: Death cults.
Violet: Hardly, though I'm sure there are no guesses about what I was here to do.
Lydia: Why do you follow Hanson around?
Violet: Simply put, he killed one of my colleagues.
Hanson: I'd like to point out that this colleague of yours had murdered a bunch of people.
Lydia: If you think he's a dangerous killer, isn't it dangerous for you to keep so close to him?
Violet: Oh, he knows exactly what would happen if he tried anything ...rash.
Aaron and Edwin managed to run back out of the cavern and on to the streets.
Aaron: Ok... I think... I think we got away from that.
Edwin: Yes... But we can't stay here... there might be more...
Aaron: You've been chased for a while?
Edwin: Yes... I've been looking for a way home for...how long now...
Aaron: Listen, you need help. I know who can help you. Trust me. Speak to the keepers.
Edwin: What are you talking about.
Aaron: They're mages, they can help you.
Edwin: You mean cultists? I wouldn't deal with them! They might-
Aaron: Shut up! You have stumbled on to something, and have awoken to a truth much greater than you know. You need to understand it.
Edwin: What are you?
Aaron; I'm a Mage!!
Edwin: You... You're one of them....
Aaron feels his clothes start to change form, turning into long black robes. Without meaning to he started to speak in a bizarre language with impossible syllables. Edwin backed away as Aaron's voice lifted to a crescendo, causing him to run away yet again. Aaron's clothes began to shift back to what they were as we left.
Aaron: No! Wait! Come back!
Suddenly, the wait of all this paradox started to weight heavily on Aaron, but little came of it. A single point backlashed, and with it a lone thought entered his mind: "You blew it".
A flurry of noise was heard from the alleyway, and suddenly a great murder of Stormcrows erupted from further down, all of whom began flying out towards the street.
Lydia: Well, I guess they're going to have their ball now.
The commotion brought the attention of two men in suits, one with a bowler hat. Lance and Hector were walking towards the alley. Spying this Aaron took the petition he had and quickly walked in front of them.
Aaron: Excuse me! Would you be able to sign this petition? We're trying to stop any and all construction being done on Hampstead Heath.
Hector: Out of the way!
Aaron: It's a very important cause! Keep the Heath Green!
Violet noticed the pair of them being held off, and started swirling her dagger in the air concentrating hard on getting them out. Hanson, Helen, and Lydia stayed close while she performed her magic, cut a whole through space and brought them away from the alley. Hanson had just enough time to smirk at Hector as Hector's face changed to loathing.
Hector: You seem quite far from the Heath for this...
Aaron: Well yes, you have to spread the word somehow
Lance: Did you just arrive here?
Aaron: Oh no, I've been drumming up interest for a while. If you don't wish to add your names, then I won't take up too much of your time.
Hector: Hold on a moment... What was your name?
Aaron: Rusty.... [This guy makes up so many alias, I keep forgetting which one was for what.]
Both Lance and Hector were trying to look this guy up on V-DAS. Lance wasn't having much luck though Hector managed to get his real name.
Lance: Come on Hector, I don't think this guy is connected with this.
Aaron: Right, well I'll be on my way then.
Hector: See you around. Aaron....
Aaron froze for a bit though pretended not to notice. They knew his name, they'd probably know his address too. Looks like he's going to have to stay with the Keepers for a bit just in case.
Helen, Lydia, and Hanson looked around. They stood in a room adorned with paintings of various things. Hanson noticed in particular one which looked like himself holding a gun to a man he hadn't seen for years.
Helen: Wow, that's a lot of paintings.
Hanson: This is how she does her magic... Of course.
Violet: Creation is on the same coin as destruction, both may influence the wheel in turn, so of course both acts hold a great deal of power.
Helen and Lydia start looking around for other paintings to see if they are in them, though they only find two. One depicts Hanson and Helen being attacked by the Kalus, the other depicts a scene not unlike that which they had seen just a moment ago, with all three of them watching Edwin.
Lydia: Can you predict the future?
Violet: Not quite. I can see events sometimes, fragments of fate and possibility. However, I did not bring you here to admire the gallery. This Marauder...
Hanson: He doesn't seem to be aware of what he's doing.
Violet: Aware or not, he is dangerous, and so he must be dealt with.
Lydia: How do you mean, dealt with?
Violet: I mean dealt with... problem is that I can't get near him without changing... I'm going to need some help. If you have anything that belongs to him, something or someone who he holds dear, I might be able to reach him through that. Do you know of anything?
Helen remembers the page from the book he held, she keeps quiet about it, unwilling to draw anyone's attention to this.
Hanson: Perhaps he can be helped. Maybe we can get someone to see to him.
Violet: Help a marauder? You obviously have no idea what you're dealing with.
Hanson: There may be a chance, please.
Violet: I'll give you until the end of the week. But the moment more trouble starts...
The group leave to return to the Keepers, all of them are more or less in agreement that killing or allowing Edwin to be killed doesn't sit right with them.
Despite what everyone else keeps telling her, she cannot accept that killing is the correct course of action for anything. She doesn't see this man as a threat, but as someone in need of help, unable to properly help himself.
Hanson seems to be in agreement with these sentiments. He hasn't done anything wrong except lose his mind. In a world like this, that's a pretty easy thing to do.
Helen is in two minds on the subject. While she agrees that he's not at fault, she also is aware of the danger he poses. Though unable to definitively chose a side, she leans more towards what the others have said.
When they return, Aaron speaks with them and everyone gets caught up. Aaron's opinion is basically "She's a Euthanatos, killing's their answer to everything. So screw 'em!" He got very close to being able to speak with him until he started getting scared, so there's obviously some way to get through to him...
Aaron sat in his room, his high level of paradox had a strange effect on the computer screen, discolouring it as though they were magnetic. Brushing this aside, he sent the encrypted files of to Rubrix.
Rubrix: This is going to take some work.
Aaron: Yeah. By the way, ran into some Technocrats on the way here, they seemed to know my name.
Rubrix: Ah. You got hit up by their V-DAS then...
Aaron: Seems like it. Well, I am pretty heavily Doxed and they know my name, so I'm going to try and lay low for a while.
Rubrix: Staying with your Witch Girlfriend/
Aaron: She's not my girlfriend.
Rubrix: Whatever, I'm not going to judge your relationship status.
Aaron: Seriously?
Rubrix: Send pix tho.
Aaron: You disgust me...
Rubrix: good.
Aaron: Also, there was this file I found. The Esther File, know anything about that?
Rubrix: Esther File...
Aaron: Yeah, there was this guy, Jason Stavero
::Rubrix has signed off::
Aaron: oh...
Mica sees Hanson and hands him a pot of recently transformed print powder (or its nearest equivalent). He started dusting and collecting the prints in Vivian's room to help determine what happened to the key, finding a lot of prints under the bed which matched the cabinet, the last known whereabouts of the key. Helen noticed this and decided she needed to explain something to Hanson.
Helen: You're helping Boris, aren't you?
Hanson: Yeah...
Helen: I need to tell you something.
Hanson: What?
Helen: When I was younger, something terrible happened... my parents were killed, their killers left me running away for my life.
Hanson: Oh... I'm sorry.
Helen: I don't know yet, but I think Boris might be involved with my parents death.
She shows him the letter she found in the study, the one signed by Beranabus.
Hanson: I see... Don't worry, I'll keep your secret.
Helen: Thank you...
Most people went to sleep at this point, and another day was ended.
---SEEKING---
Aaron's Avatar is Dynamic and has noticed how often he has been relying on his Mentor for guidance and instruction. His Avatar isn't too happy with this as he think this constant crutch is holding him back from achieving his true potential.
The Seeking is constructed as follows.
Aaron wakes up and finds himself in a dark room, the walls are black but the corners are a bright glowing green. A single laptop sits in front of him with a clear line of communication to Rubrix. Each room ahead is some kind of puzzle, either it's simply knowing which direction to go, having a combination of buttons to press, shapes that need fitting into slots, or colour matching puzzles. Any solution or decision made by Aaron and Aaron alone will be the correct one. But any time he consults Rubrix and follows his advise, the floor beneath him will start to open up.
Aaron carries the laptop with him, walking around this strange neon maze. Some rooms have blue corners, others have red, some have yellow. Sometimes they were just long endless corridors. Either way, when presented with the puzzle ahead, he would face it with confusion until the ever present "Need Help?" message came from the laptop. After several escapes from opening floors, Aaron began to cotton on, concluding that he needed to do the opposite of what Rubrix told him to do in order to progress. This was a step in the right direction, but it still had him relying on his Mentor for assistance, so the Avatar started throwing less binary situations. He now had a row of doors to try and navigate, or a branching path with three different directions. He would sometimes ignore his Mentors instructions outright, but never let go of the laptop or stopped detailing the layout of the room to him.
After a bit more of this, Aaron's Avatar decided to present him with the final task. Rubrix told him that he had a job for him. There was a golden egg somewhere in the maze and he had to find it for him. Aaron entered a room with a map in it. He could see the pathway to the egg clearly, but in the complete opposite direction was a path out of the maze, he had to choose which way to go. Aaron agonised over this decision. It was quite obvious that this was a seeking of some kind, and he really didn't want to fail it. He was aware that virtually everything Rubrix had told him was causing him problems, but he just couldn't leave empty handed. He chose to go for the egg, which sat at the end of a long corridor. On picking it up the floor started to open up. He tried to make a run for it but the corridor was too long, in desperation he threw the egg down into the void, falling along with it.
Around Aaron was nothing but darkness, nothing but void. He looked at the screen of the laptop and saw Rubrix's final message: "oops"
The seeking had been failed.
---NOTES---
This was a rather laboured session. Not a bad one by any means, but there was something in the air that day which made things a bit trying. Aaron's player might have just been having a rough few days, but he was just not in the mood. He seemed to perk up by the time he found Edwin though. But failing his seeking certainly didn't improve things. Lydia's player was also having somewhat of an off day too. She had a hard time staying focused on the game and would often drift off mid conversation and need everyone repeat what they were telling her, adding a few levels of frustration around the table. That and she seemed to have forgotten a few key details about the mechanics of sphere magic, but this game is complex so that's forgivable. Helen's character too was not doing to great. From the start she wanted to have a chance to use the key and enter Boris's study, hoping to find more evidence or information, but she never got a good chance. This frustrated her a great deal, and by the end of the night this had almost reached a critical point.
Hanson's character was mostly getting frustrated by the above.
It's difficult to cope with players who just aren't in the mood one day, it can be quite tempting also to just say "nah, we're obviously not feeling it today, let's go home". But I don't like doing that. It was a really slow start but once the Edwin stuff started happening, everyone seemed engaged with the story again. I even had a number of interesting conversations with the players about how they viewed the whole Edwin situation now they knew more about him.
To make this clear, I don't make my players spend another Arete worth of Exp just to do another seeking. That is monstrously cruel. There will be another Seeking for Aaron in the future. Since it's a Dynamic Avatar, it will probably be very different from this one. I'm thinking this time the laptop will be chained to the wall and the advice will much more like a walkthrough, but he'll have to keep coming back to the laptop in order to escape better. This might change if I get a better idea later down the line.
Otherwise, let me know what you think of these Seekings.
Just in case you were wondering, Violet was transformed into the Faceless form of Nyarlathotep. It's a pretty terrifying form which no doubt inspired a couple of Silent Hill monsters.
Oh, and Lydia has become the first player to level up a Sphere. She now has Life 3. Welcome to your new life as Team Healer.
See you all in a few weeks!
Comment