Lost Luggage
I was scheduled for a 10 am game of Victoriana, "Lost Luggage". Due to a snafu with location information, I wasn't sure exactly where the game was supposed to be. Fortunately, I'd met the GM in the dealer's room. He was pretty sure that the game was in the Union Station hotel, and he assured me that he would not start without me.
Union Station is beautiful. It used to be a train station, and it still looks like one. I should have brought a camera.
The players all showed up before the gm, even one or two who'd gone to the wrong hotel first, as folks there directed them to the correct location. A GenCon staff person asked if we had a no show GM, and I said I'd talked to the GM yesterday, and he certainly seemed to have every intention of showing. Then, someone else from the Cubicle 7 booth arrived to assure all that the GM was en route.
Meanwhile, Patrick Smith found me. We'd met at a GenCon some years ago and kept in at least sporadic contact ever since. He'd actually sent email that he'd be at the con, but I'd been checking my -other- email account. I need to consolidate.
Then, the GM arrived, costumed and apologetic. The delay was due to a stop in a copy shop where the staff kept misunderstanding what he wanted, but kept assuring him that it would just take a minute to redo the work.
GM: Andrew Peregrine Players / PCs: Nathaniel Havering Lady Susanna Havering Jonathan Havering Selina Tamworth (me) Tobin (charter, gnome) Patterson Briggs Arthur Markham (ogre) (Timothy Breman (sp?)
Comment on Arthur, the ogre investigator, and Tobin, the gnome guild mage: Brains and Brawn. You know, I think there's a spin off series here.
Overheard from another table: You kill it! It goes "Squish"!
On returning from a trip abroad, the group had its luggage stolen. Jonathan shot at the thieves, killing one and wounding another, probably fatally. The police arrived. They were understandably somewhat appalled to hear the group's indignation over mere stolen luggage when Jonathan had killed one or two of the thieves.
One of the pieces of luggage had fallen off the stolen carriage. Inside were a few intact vials of a strange green liquid, several broken vials, and much of the liquid sloshing around. None of the group recognized the liquid, and one or two successfully palmed a vial while the police were distracted with the complexity of the situation, mostly dealing with Lady Susanna.
The police asked the group to come to the station to answer questions. They agreed, although it did take some time for Nathaniel to convince Susanna to walk the vast distance of a hundred yards to the station. After all, she wasn't wearing the right shoes for this!
Once everyone was in the station, the sargeant asked the group to please wait. Inside a cell. Everyone except Susanna grumbled, but agreed. Susanna just flat out refused. The sargeant agreed she could stay in the office where the only other cop currently in the station was working. She got this cop to agree to make her a cup of tea. She even managed to pretend that it was passable tea.
Meanwhile, time passed. Lots of time. Jonathan called the sargeant and pointed out that he knew that the supposed paperwork would not take so long. The sargeant, well aware that Jonathan was correct and not at all comfortable about keeping the group locked up, beat a hasty retreat, still insisting that he really was doing paperwork. Eventually, our heroes got out of the cell, lured him back, and captured him. The other cop was captured when he came to see what was going on. He was surprised to learn that his sargeant had accepted a 10 pound bribe to keep the pcs on ice.
Somehow, the group learned that a high ranking noble was involved, and that this all had something to do with the horse races. To gather some of the information, Jonathan told Selina that they'd be going to a seedy tavern.
Selina: Okay.
Jonathan: I love my fiance.
A little bit of confusion here. My character sheet said that Selina, who had a seedy background, had no intention of marrying Jonathan, lest she be thought a gold digger. I never found out how much Jonathan's player knew about that.
The two had met at an opium den. Jonathan's player noted that Jonathan had been an opium addict at the time and that Selina had gotten him off opium.
Me: You were an opium addict? I didn't know that!
GM (joking): Now it all comes out.
What Jonathan didn't know was that Susanna had asked Selina to get him out of there. Selina was keeping this a secret, fearing Jonathan wouldn't love her if he knew.
Trouble is, Susanna's sheet had none of this. I handed Selina's sheet to the player. It explained that the two women had known each other for months before Susanna asked Selina to help Jonathan, and that Selina had worked for one of the Triads and still owed it a favor for letting her leave.
I talked with the gm about this, after the game. He hadn't wanted to overload the character sheets, but agreed that cross checking for consistency was a good idea.
Meanwhile, Susanna's player quickly grasped the important point: So, you -can- get me opium!
Indeed, Selina carried a small amount.
Regardless, the group went to the races. They kept a ratman and his accomplice from drugging a horse to win the race. It was a hard fight, despite having an ogre, which most groups lacked. Nevertheless, the group prevailed.
Despite that, the horse won. The situation was complex. A noblewoman openly performed a little ritual -- openly for a very select circle -- in which she predicted the winner. Her husband, dreading the social repercussions should she name the wrong one, was behind the drugging. Part of the supply of drug was in a case that accidentally got mixed with the group's luggage.
The drug, however, was completely unnecessary. As the sensitive Lady Susanna realized, to her shock, the woman's magic involved dealing with a demon of greed.
And there matters rested. The gm might write a sequel adventure about the group trying to decide their next move against the Very Prestigious -- as in ear of the monarch -- noble couple. The Haverings had nowhere near their prestige.
