DoctorCthulhupunk - User contributions [en]

Queers in the Dark

2021-08-19T03:22:12Z

Lisa: Created page with "5 November 2016: 7pm: Queers in the Dark: The Skovlan Refugees * GM: James Stuart * Eli Eaton: Wester * Gavin White: Candra * Me: Grell The GM explained that the idea for th..."

5 November 2016: 7pm: Queers in the Dark: The Skovlan Refugees

* GM: James Stuart
* Eli Eaton: Wester
* Gavin White: Candra
* Me: Grell

The GM explained that the idea for this hack of the (at the time not yet released) RPG Blades in the Dark came after running somewhere around 50-100 sessions of the game at conventions. He and the game's creator, John Harper, sat down and compared demographics for all of the sessions they'd run. With something like 2 exceptions, every single player was white and male, and the two exceptions were girlfriends of players.

There were two sessions of Queers in the Dark on offer at this Metatopia:

*The Coven of Cyphers, inspired by the Bletchley Park codebreakers
*The Skovlan Refugees, about a group of people coming from a Scandinavian-like place to the default setting, the city of Doskvol

The idea was to focus on:

* Family of choice
* Super gay
* love

Goals of this playtest were:

* Make something in pitch session which attracts non-dudes
* Mess with pattern
**trong, queer relations
** Makes these part of the game
* Break zero sum of power
* Does this make a good _one shot_ (not demo) game?

Doskvol is a fantasy city ringed with lightning towers. Ghosts possessed people, which meant that when someone died, the body was cremated. Not cremating a body was punishable by death -- unless one was really rich.

Ghosts were bought and sold on the black market, of course. The lightning towers of the city were powered by demon whales (I think) and kept ghosts at bay. Magic was powered by ghosts. The city was a trading hub, and my notes say something about how classes must be separated by distance. I'm not sure what I meant by that, beyond the obvious.

The PCs would be Skovlans, who were similar to the Vikings, according to my notes. They had come to the port city of Doskvol, landing on the docks as refugees from their homeland. My notes mention rails, but I'm not sure why.

At this point, I asked the GM if he'd heard of Ellen Kushner's Riverside tales and learned that he was her cousin (I think), which is to say yes, he was familiar with them. I thought Riverside would work well with the system.

We did not simply create three PCs. We created a dozen characters from two generations, making a complex relationship map, and only then picked which PCs we were going to be.

IIRC, in Doskvol, homosexuality was more or less tolerated most of the time, except when it wasn't, but I may be getting that wrong. In Skovlan, it was not tolerated.

As near as I can decipher my notes, before the flight to and arrival in Doskvol:

We started with a father and a mother, Una. The father was a rancher, the mother a warrior.

The father's best friend was a miner and had a male lover. It may have been a trio relationship between the three men, but I'm not sure after over two years.

The mother and the mayor's wife (Carill) were lovers. The mayor's wife had a kid, and the mother had two, but as far as I can tell, none of those were whom we played.

Candra was an outcast, pursued, and forced to live outside of town, and I think took they/them/their pronouns.

Grell was the woodcutter's child and an orphan. My notes say that Grell identified as a girl, but was confused, as teenagers often are.

Wester was the trapper's kid, also an orphan, and identified as a boy.

Grell chopped wood for the mayor's wife in return for food.

I think the following applied to Candra and Candra's mother, who I think was Una, or perhaps to the mother of Candra's lover:

Subtle interaction before to establish bond?
Left back door open unlocked so I could visit her child illicitly.
Emotional tenor of mother when reunited?
A moment of relief and joy and hope and gladness.

It's possible that this applied to Wester, who would have been visiting Lauria, if I read my notes correctly. If so, I think Lauria was the child of the mayor's wife. I think Adlin and Candra were Una's children.

Candra's mother helped Candra survive, for when the villagers threw stones at Candra, she deliberately threw flint, making sure Candra would have something necessary to survival. See back door business above.

My notes say something Wester who either was or was with someone who was a kid of a witchy wife. My notes say:

<pre>
lovers + wichy stuff
c. 1 year
Ancestors
</pre>

We now had a fair number of people, but the GM explained that 5 were not with us. Only 4 others came to Doskvol with the PCs. We looked at our relationship map to decide who was with us and what might have happened to the others.

I think we decided that the father had turned Candra in, perhaps because the mayor's daughter was about to rise, though I'm not sure what that meant.

Candra's lover, Lintia, stayed behind. My notes say:

<pre>
cold feet
never got to stay behind
</pre>

I'm not clear on whether that was a question about whether Lintia got cold feet and we decided Lintia had gotten killed or whether Lintia got cold feet, but someone else didn't get the choice.

The father's best friend's lover was hunted down by a mob and killed. The father's best friend stayed behind, heartbroken.

I'm not entirely sure, but I think the living Skovlan refugees in Doskvol were Candra, Grell, Wester, Una, Lauria, Adlin, and Carill.

A series of questions came next.

What did they miss most about their homeland?
* Candra missed Candra's first love.
* Grell missed the smell of nature.
* Webster missed that one could trust people to at least be honest (even if that meant honestly trying to murder one).

What were they currently doing in Doskvol?
* Webster was hooking up.
* Candra was in a house full of riches.
* Grell was breaking illegal cargo.

What 5 problems existed? Of these, "1 doesn't", which I think meant that it didn't currently exist or was currently under control or in any case, wasn't one we needed to look at this session.

1 was "going to be" a problem, but right now, none of the PCs knew how to deal with it. They did, however, feel responsible for the other 3.

Candra: There's not enough food to get fed regularly

Wester: We have no turf

Grell: There's an attempt to unionize the brewery (where Grell worked)

And then, there were the gangs. No one had any idea what to do about those. This just hadn't been a thing back in Skovlan, not as such.

Wester couldn't bear to lose Lauria. I think Lauria may have been dead -- certainly, someone was, and the Skovlans were not about to cremate them, regardless of the laws. So yes, we had a fourth problem we decided to inflict upon ourselves.

Candra couldn't let Adlin know that Candra loved Adlin. Adlin blamed Candra for everything. Adlin was naive and vengeful. My notes say "(Hunger!)" which may simply add to the description of Adlin or may be a technical term. I've not yet read the rules, so I don't actually know.

Grell would do anything for Wester.

Carill had been withdrawn since the death of (presumably) Lauria. How were the Skovlans hiding the body? Probably in one of the beer kegs. My notes ask "Killed by Sagles?" I'm not sure who or what that is, but in any case, the Skovlans didn't know.

I added a connection between Adlin and Grell, and what I thought was sort of feeling my way Gavin said made complete sense and explained how things looked from Adlin's point of view.

When everyone was hanging out in the woods (likely in hiding before getting on a boat to Doskvol), Adlin made a move on Grell. Specifically, Adlin kissed Grell. This confused Grell, who fled.

Since then, Grell kept trying to talk to Adlin about what had happened, but the words wouldn't come. Grell was shy and confused.

From Adlin's point of view, however, Grell had rejected Adlin and the start and stop attempts at conversation were Grell rubbing it in Adlin's face.

Eventually, Adlin took a swing at Grell, who didn't hit back. Adlin thought that this was Grell mocking Adlin for being small.

Each of us now came up with one thing that their PC thought made them beautiful. The other two came up with what their PCs thought made the other PC beautiful -- information that PC didn't have.

In other words, Wester thought it was their smile that made them beautiful, unaware that Grell thought it was their loyalty and Candra that it was their big heart.

Candra thought they had beautiful eyes. Wester thought Candra had deep wisdom, while I said that Grell thought Candra had beautiful hands. This was my feeling my way, wanting to pick something physical here because I hadn't picked something physical for Wester. Again, one of the other players noted that this fit perfectly.

Eli: Yeah we have calloused hands.

This had not occurred to me, at least not consciously, but it made sense. Grell was a woodcutter, Wester a trapper. Both lived in the woods doing manual labor. Candra hadn't, and would logically have smooth hands.

Grell thought their profile was beautiful. Wester was drawn to Grell's androgyny, while Candra considered Grell buff.

My notes next say:

<pre>
Start with blank sheets for this + fill stuff in as it comes up.
Questions -- on papers.
Family and not a traditional family
Cards
</pre>

I'm not sure if that summed up what we did or described what we were about to do.

The idea was to have some establishing scenes with problems. We would then figure out what we would _do_, hopefully pushing towards a Heist, as Blades in the Dark is very much a Heist game, if I understand correctly.

This cycle would be repeated 2-3 times (or at least, it would if we'd had more time. We had a 3 hour slot). After that, the problem which we didn't pick and the extra problem we added, the ghosts-in-training, would explode if it had not been dealt with.

Given the time constraints, the GM told us to think of this as A Small Taste of Blades.

Mechanically, he said, the entire game is one is 1 Powered by the Apocalypse move: Act Under Fire. But instead of a 2D6 roll for the move, we'd roll a variable number of dice, generally 1-3, and look not at the total, but at each individual die. For each die:

* 6 success
* 4-5 success with complications
* 1-3 fail

I think the idea was to look at the highest die? Again, I'm a little vague on the details.

If we had to roll in a situation where we had 0 dice, we would roll 2 dice and take the lower one.

There were 12 skills, divided into 3 groups of 4 stats each:

* Insight: Hunt, Study, Survey, Tinker
* Prowess: Finesse, Prowl, Skirmish, Wreck
* Resolve: Attune, Command, Consort, Sway

We had 8 dots to put into the skills, but could put no more than 2 into any one skill. IIRC, we had no free dots, so default for a skill was 0.

Wester's skills: Hunt, Prowl, Skirmish, Wreck, Consort, Sway

Candra's skills: Hunt, Prowl, _Sway_, Skirmish or Wreck, _Tinker_, _Study_ (I don't know what the underlining meant, or which of Skirmish or Wreck Candra wound up having.)

Grell's skills: Hunt, Study, Prowl (2 dots), Skirmish, Wreck (2 dots), Command

In addition, I noted my Load as 4. A large weapon took 2 boxes. A light load was 3. A medium was 4 and might draw suspicion. I'd crossed out 2 for a light load and 3 for a medium one, and crossed out a line about a heavy load being 5 and making it look like one was a thief stealing stuff. I don't know if this was me correcting something or if Grell could carry a heavier load than usual or if it meant something else altogether.

Grell's Vice is listed as Weird. Apparently, one's Vice is how one blows off stress.

There's a row of 9 stress boxes I drew, with Xs through 3 of them, possibly because I was only supposed to have 6? I'm not sure. The bottom of the page says "6 -- highest stress die" and somewhat higher is a crossed out note saying "Level 2 harm" above uncrossed out "-1d", which may have resulted from some damage Grell took later in the session.

I've no idea what relation all of the above has to current actual character creation, as this game was a) before Blades in the Dark was completely finalized and b) a hack of the usual Blades rules that existed at the time.

Wester thought about tackling the problem of a place to live and the ghost problem. Wester decided to try to suss out a good person to go to.

GM: The night market where you can get anything -- and they're not going to ask what that anything is -- it never helps to ask.

The night market is apparently so named because it is always night there. Wester caught a pickpocket and threw the culprit into a roll of something softish. My notes say:

<pre>
Controlled
Risky
Desperate
</pre>

I don't know if that referred to Wester or the pickpocket, but I think to Wester.

Wester searched the market to find someone who could help with the ghosts. 1 dot meant Wester got 1 die. Taking 2 stress earned another die.

It's also possible to get an extra die with a Devil's Bargain. In this case, that would mean Wester would have to be explicit and say outright that they had a body.

The player rolled 2 dice, but the result was fail badly.

Misunderstanding what Wester wanted, a vendor offered charms for loved ones.

Wester: I'm actually asking for someone who's passed away.

Vender: I'm so sorry -- things to take memories away...

She pulled the vial she'd been offering back.

Wester: I'm thinking of something that will let me keep memories of deceased with me.

Vendor: Speak more clearly.

Wester (mild): I'm looking for something that would keep the essence of her memory.

Vendor (shocked): I am not the right person to ask -- why would you even ask me?

Stymied, Wester returned to the family. They were in the slums, using a tattered canvas left behind by some previous group, wedging a tarp into the window to keep the draft out. And of course, there was the barrel.

The GM asked how Wester looked, and I think this was grimmer than usual. Carill looked up at Wester, and the two, I think, pointedly didn't look at or discuss the barrel and its contents.

Meanwhile, Candra was looking to make more money. Stealing was a possibility. And of course, rich diplomats always had need for those who could carry messages or run errands discretely.

Candra was dirty.

GM: Still dirty? Even working in a fancy house?

Candra: Sh*t! Yes -- yes -- the coal bin.

Candra was approached by the head of the servants, Mr. Dalmore.

Mr. Dalmore: Candra, right?

Candra: Yes, Mr. Dalmore?

Mr. Dalmore: How's the work going?

Candra: It's dirty... and therefore rewarding?

Mr. Dalmore: "Therefore rewarding, sir."

Candra: Therefore rewarding, sir!

I don't think Candra was being at all coy or ironic. I'm pretty sure that, for whatever reason, Candra sought out the dirty work.

The coal bin was outside the house. Mr. Dalmore brought Candra inside the house for the first time -- through the servants' entrance, down to wine cellar.

Mr. Dalmore: Please wait here. Please don't disturb anything.

He left. Candra dutifully sat on the floor, and while awaiting Mr. Dalmore's return, studied the room.

Mr. Dalmore returned with the lady of the house. She was dressed in a flowing white and blue gown with what my notes call "Crisscrossege" around her body. This may mean a fancy corset or simply criss-crossing ribbons. She also had super black hair one could get lost in.

Lady: This is the coal bin servant?

Mr. Dalmore nodded.

Lady: Good. You may leave us.

He did.

Candra: My lady.

Lady: Your voice catches. Be at ease.

She explained that she had need of someone discreet to help with something.

Lady: Us diplomat wives need to do something to pass the time.

Candra: Anything. So long as I don't have to clean up.

Lady: I am pleased to find you so dedicated to my service and you will be rewarded for it. There is a man who filed a claim against our family, a trumped up accusation of improper dealing with my father's estate. He needs to be dealt with and it needs to look like something else.

I'm not sure who said, "I know some of the inspectors." It seems an odd thing for Candra to have said, but not impossible.

Lady: Do you happen to know anyone who might happen to deal with the situation?

Meanwhile, Grell was very confused about the talk of unions and unionizing. The foreman explained that people trying to unionize were just troublemakers. Now, if Grell might happen to make the most annoying of those troublemakers disappear, things would be much better. And hey, there would be an empty house Grell and the rest of Grell's family could move into. The foreman told Grell where it was, urging Grell to just take a look at the house and think about it.

At this point, my notes say

<pre>
1/6 plans
Assault
Deception
*Stealth (-

Occult
Social
Transport
</pre>

I think this meant that we were trying to figure out what to do, had one of 6 possible plans, and were trying to figure out which skills to focus on. If so, stealth seemed to be a preferred option.

The ghost was the most important problem to deal with, but also the hardest (and we looked at just how much time was left in the slot at this point).

Someone: And we have 2 murders to plan!

After not too much thought or dithering, we settled on helping Candra's patron. After all, this was a kind, older woman whose family was being "persecuted by some older dude"!

And thinking about the relationship map we'd woven, it makes perfect sense that the three would see things that way. Candra's mother had been not entirely unlike the lady. Wester wanted to help Carill, the mayor's wife, and Grell was clearly used to working for older woman at whatever physical labor they might need.

We made a simple outline of our plan:

* Fine an entry point for infiltration and get in
* Make sure the quarry is in his home
* Secure all exits
* Burn the sh*t down

For the entry, they chose to go through the sewer. There was a standard lock on the sewer grates. My notes say something about 1 die at this point.

For the engagement roll, we got a 2, indicating a Bad Outcome: the opposition turned the tables on the intruders.

The light flickered on. 2 guards, lean strong types, were waiting and attacked.

If I recall correctly, I got an extra die from taking 2 stress, and perhaps one more for a Devil's Bargain, likely involving someone yelling out a warning. I got a 4, meaning a success with a complication.

Grell buried an axe in one of the guard's shoulders, which my notes call "level 2 harm". But one of the guards plunged a sword into Grell, doing 3 harm. Grell could use Prowess here to resist. I think I tried that, but got a 3, a failure.

Wester attacked with a "badass knife". My notes say that one box + stress was involved.

Guard (not entirely believing the attackers are that dumb): You do not want to mess with the Red Sashes.

The guards were Red Sashes, and whatever that meant -- well, the trio of intruders didn't actually know what it meant. After all, they didn't really understand the gangs of Doskvol.

My notes say that Wester could ask for help and that this was 2 stress. That I more or less understand, but I'm not sure what "1 stress + expose to cause harm" meant.

Regardless, Candra helped, distract the guard by chucking the lock at them. That involved 2 dice, one of which came up a 6 for a success.

Someone (likely Wester?) You're a show off.

Wester tried to go under and up with the knife, aiming for the throat. The guard shifted enough to take the blow on a shoulder.

I think the guard tried to parley at this point.

Candra: No. Anyone who sees us _has_ to die.

This involved Candra using Prowl to try to ambush from behind, using a hunting knife one handed, the same knife with which Candra had left their Skovlan town.

Candra was taking a risk, trying to do things fast, but was being cautious in the actual blow, if I understand my notes. I think this had to do with what mechanical bonuses and penalties were in play.

A push was involved, i.e., taking 2 stress, which narratively meant throwing dirt from the floor at the guard. The player declined to take a Devil's Bargain.

Either Wester or Candra got a 6, a success. Whoever it was described killing the guard as "Like I'm killing a deer that I've just cut down."

The 2 guards were dead and the intruders started sneaking, looking for a way up. There was a six segment time clock, which meant that if all six segments were filled, the target would escape.

They reached the main floor, which had _so much STUFF_! This included a music box showing 7 sisters around a tower under glass. It was beautiful. (I don't recall if I noted this because one of the PCs took it or if it was something the lady had told Candra she's like to have back.)

The intruders ran up the stairs to the third floor, where the bedroom was locked. I used Grell's Wreck skill to break down the door, getting a 6 for sweet success.

Inside the room was an obviously well to do guy. There were tattoos across his arm, but not in any design that the PCs recognized. I think he had a night gun, whatever that is.

The man turned to the intruders and said, "She wants me dead. Don't try to lie to me."

He was trying to leave and seemed poised to dash out the window. The intruders indicated they might be willing to allow that, so long as they got whatever paperwork they needed. Or at least, some of the intruders did.

Wester: I have a better option for you.

This may have involved a roll using Sway. 2 dice were involved, and perhaps Help and a Devil's Bargain. Someone, again probably Wester, I think threw the man his weapons. Tinkering tools were perhaps involved as well? In any case, a die came up 6, a success.

Candra: After he picks up the stuff, I kill the sh*t out of him.

And a 6 made that happen. And here, of course, is the dark side of this close knit family's loyalty. They'd committed to Candra's patron. Candra had said no one who saw them on this job could survive.

Now, the next step: Burn the place down and GTFO (Get The Heck Out). This involved an oil flask and possibly alchemical ingredients. Whoever made the Wreck roll got a 6, so the fire was set as planned.

And there we broke, as we were out of time, and at least one of us had a 10pm game.

Me: I would watch the f*ck out of this.

That was the general consensus. The three PCs were not nice or good. They were hot, and they were loyal, and sometimes that's enough for a mesmerizing show.

From a gaming point of view, before the heist even began, we knew these characters. We knew where they were from, and we were rooting for them. We were fans even when they did awful things. It was about which things they chose to do and why.

Admittedly, it didn't hurt that no one in the session was morally better than the PCs. It's possible that I could accept killing an innocent from this group after spending more time on their adventures, but for this one shot, killing foes who would have surrendered, who were in genuine fear for their lives, and who were, at best, morally grey, was quite far enough.

And even there, I could totally see other people refusing to watch the hypothetical show and not wanting to play this kind of game. It rested entirely on the emotional connections we'd built earlier, which is something I am going to have to ponder.

Musica Universalis Part Two

2021-08-19T03:21:36Z

Lisa:

Part One covered general things we learned about the type of larp into which Musica Universalis falls and the various characters I played, ending in the middle of the mod where a group of players met three archangels played by those of us who'd signed on to play NPCs. In this scene, I was playing Cassiel, the archangel of Sorrow. Cassiel, like the rest of the archangels in play, had a token which they could bestow on someone, and the PCs wanted it for a ritual on Sunday in which they would try to retune the universe.

My job was to make them work to get it. After all, a lot of people would die in the retuning, which would be sad, and Cassiel was an archangel with a history of being unwilling to make hard decisions, having sat out the War in Heaven because they loved all their fellow angels on both sides and felt that both sides had a point but were not completely right. I also made it clear that Cassiel would not decide until after dinner, as I didn't want to make anyone spend more time than they wanted to working towards a goal that wouldn't be fulfilled for a few hours.

That said, there were a surprising number of people willing to do the work by sitting, talking, and emoting with Cassiel, starting with Irene Bellanger, who told Cassiel her story.

Cassiel told Irene the story of the War in Heaven (okay, technically, the second one). Samael, who was Imagination in the same way that Cassiel was Sorrow, had asked their fellow angels and archangels, "What would you do if you had free will and didn't have to do as God decreed?" This resulted in a lot of thinking and quiet talking, at first.

And then Samael asked Camael, the Wrath of God. And Camael thought about this and then turned around and punched their boss, Michael, in the face.

Irene (kind of caught between laughter and tears, as it really is simultaneously sad and hilarious): Are you saying the War in Heaven was a glorified _bar brawl_?

Cassiel: Nothing so dignified.

Irene: Nothing so _dignified_ as a bar brawl?

Well, no. As Cassiel explained when a couple more folks came over, a bar brawl, well, usually afterwards, someone buys someone else a drink, no hard feelings. Usually.

A couple of folks nodded and said that sometimes, it was just a matter of tossing folks into a jail cell to cool down overnight, which often meant folks on opposite sides shared a cell, and that did often help.

Cassiel was telling this story to drive home the point that while they believed all of the archangels were telling the truth as they saw it, and all believed most sincerely in whatever course of action they were advocating, well... they hoped it was clear by now that none of the archangels were infallible or incapable of making a mistake.

One of the folks who'd joined Cassiel was Harold Lewis, who, Cassiel was told, was probably the human who would most understand Cassiel's position. I'm a little vague on Harold's story, but I gather he'd been in a war (probably WWI?) and he certainly seemed to empathize with Cassiel.

There was a fair amount of crying going on, and a surprising amount of understanding for the archangel's position. Cassiel promised to think very carefully and wanted the humans to do the same, making sure they truly wanted Cassiel's token, and reiterated their promise to make a decision after dinner by the flagpole.

And one of the people there, Etta, talked about how important sorrow, and, by extension, Cassiel was, and how without sorrow, one doesn't understand joy. And she thanked Cassiel for, well, existing. And she invited the Archangel of Sorrow to dinner.

My original plan had been to go back to Monster Camp for supper, but... honestly, how could I refuse an invitation like that? And I knew that Gaylord had supplied some of the food that the players would be eating, and that I'd be paying for some of that, so it would be all right on that front.

I did, however, need to attend to certain biological functions first, ones angels and archangels perhaps do not need to. The player of Morgan, the woman who'd introduced Cassiel to Harold, went with me to show me where the nearest bathroom was and to help me get the wings off. They were small, sure, but I wasn't about to try to maneuver in a stall with them.

On the way, she noted, in character, that Cassiel would be giving their token (presuming they chose to give it, of course, but I knew by then that, unless no one showed up at the flagpole, I'd almost certainly be handing it over, and I suspect she did as well) to an individual, and that it should be someone Cassiel trusted to act as they would wish to act. She thought that Harold would be the ideal person to give it to. I had it narrowed down to her, Harold, and Etta, and with her pushing for Harold, that narrowed it down to two, as Cassiel wasn't about to inflict their token on someone who didn't want it.

Out of character, the player complimented me on the sustained roleplaying I'd been doing. I also learned that there were lofts in some of the buildings, and that getting down from those could be a bit too interesting. There are trap doors involved, and the door had come down rather hard on her nose that day. Ouch.

We also talked about faith and belief, and she told Cassiel that she had faith in them. And then, we went to the tavern for dinner.

A general dinner call was announced, and a few minutes later, one of the players handed me a covered plate which I think Gaylord had set aside. I / Cassiel did doublecheck to make sure that the players / humans had enough to eat, but I was assured that they'd all heard the call to dinner, that there was no line, and that there really was enough food to go around.

After I ate, I returned to Monster Camp and the NPC cabin to catch my breath, recharge my electronics, spray myself with more tick repellent, read a bit, and generally chill. A bit after 8, I put on my wings and took a flashlight and some cloth, in case I wanted to sit on the ground, and headed out.

I'd already located the flagpole, and there was no one there yet. This didn't worry me, but I heard the sound of a lot of folks singing Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah", so I went to the building where the sound was coming from.

I discovered that Cassiel had just walked into the House of the Rising Sun, where Lilith had set up her own market. This was slightly embarrassing, but only because Cassiel hadn't realized. They had nothing against Lilith, and I joined in the song, and then went to the flagpole.

I later learned that Hallelujah was the closing song for the House of the Rising Sun mod, the opening one being, of course, "House of the Rising Sun". Lilith's player assured me that Cassiel dropping in wasn't a problem. Just about every archangel and devil visited at some point during the mod.

I went to the flagpole and shook out the cloth. As I was putting it on the ground, Harold and Morgan joined Cassiel. This pretty much settled the question of who'd be getting the token.

I'm not sure if the staff had a specific timing of the emotional beats in mind, but as far as I was concerned, the only question remaining was whether the humans still wanted Cassiel's token. Folks had listened. Folks had spoken of themselves and their sorrows. Folks had cried, and folks had understood. Folks had _gotten_ where Cassiel was coming from, and said that it was a valid and important part of the fabric of the universe. We had a regular Inside Out moment, and I do wonder whether Cassiel would have been in the game without that movie.

Sure, I didn't have a huge crowd at the flagpole, but Cassiel could only give their token to one person, so that wasn't necessary. And yes, Harold still wanted the token.

That is, he wished he didn't have to ask this of Cassiel, and Cassiel wished they didn't have to give it to him, but yes, he did still want it. Cassiel gave it to him. And there was more crying, as the three of us discussed how being alone wasn't quite so bad when one was with other people, how Harold and Morgan had just gotten married, how sorrow may make for greater appreciation of joy, but losing people really doesn't make one happy, and things of that nature.

And after something they said, Harold asked Cassiel if Cassiel wanted to change their nature.

I gave this some thought and decided that Cassiel probably didn't. They'd just been told by several humans how important and valuable they were--how loved they were for being what they were. If that's not enough to restore an archangel's faith in themselves, I don't know what is.

So, no, Cassiel knew that sorrow was important, and that they were important as they were. But, they said, perhaps it would be no bad thing if there were somewhat less sorrow in the world.

After much hugging, crying, and philosophizing, Cassiel and the other two parted. I returned to Monster Camp with a vague plan of attaching myself to Josh for the two late slots, both because I wanted to know what would happen in the one he was scheduled for and the one he'd planned to attach himself to, and because that way, I'd know where he was when it got late enough I wanted to crash for the night.

But we were still in the 8-10 slot, and that meant that Josh and others were going to go to a combat mod involving La Llorona and a battle with rivers. The encounter at the flagpole hadn't taken long, and the House of the Rising Sun mod needed tear down, and the staffer on duty at Monster Camp said that Lilith's player shouldn't have to do that all on her own.

I went over, and I think Alden was already helping out with tear down, and with two of us there, things went faster. While I was doing that, I discovered that the Angel of Death's player was preparing to appear with the Lost Brigade, which currently consisted of three people. I was invited to be a fourth and accepted. This involved filling a room with fog and then opening the door so that we all stepped out of the fog and marched to the tavern singing a song about the Angel of Death which was in the songbook. And, as the staff had assured us, by now, the players, who'd all received the songbook in advance, were well enough trained to start singing along.

I'm not sure the fog machine added anything, as no one was right outside, and I don't know if the fog was even visible from the tavern. I also learned that the player of the Angel of Death had asthma and would happily have forgone the fog machine. I have put on my list of things I learned from this larp "If you're using a fog machine, find out who has asthma or other breathing issues and keep them as far from the machine as possible--and do you really need that fog machine?"

It's not top of my list, though. No, the top item is "Be ready for players to try to go far more deeply into the world than you've contemplated." In the scenes with Cassiel, I was asked several variants of "Okay, you are the Archangel of Sorrow. What does that mean?" and when I did my best to answer that, "Okay, and what does _that_ mean?" Folks were willing to go as deeply into the metaphysics as I'd take them, and my main limits were a) keep things progressing, not circling and b) don't contradict what the writers have established, which would have been just a little easier if I had remembered all of what they established. Even then, though, making up something risks contradicting stuff that I don't know exists.

In any case, we marched behind Death, sang, and took up positions holding tiny electric candles. Death was scheduled to be out there for up to three hours, but returned to Monster Camp after half an hour, when things seemed to have reached a logical point for that to happen.

Death had been driven insane by Static--the difference between what the divine plan was and what reality was, and the whole reason the universe needed retuning--possibly because of a combination of WWI and the pandemic flu. She cackled and made speeches about how people had to be more careful, but she was their friend, and--I can't reproduce that combination of scary and pitiful that the player achieved.

Someone gave her a five minute cure for the Static, and in those five minutes, the players got her to give someone her token. But, they also brought a skull to her and asked her to let the soul of the dead person whose skull it was find peace.

Death: Do you have this person's soul?

Players: ...er, no...

Death's player was a bit bemused, as the request was way off whatever script the staff had expected, but, as she said back at Monster Camp, she was certainly willing to go out and cackle at the PCs again. Hopefully, they had more than one five minute Static cure.

I'm not really clear on just what plot arc that skull was from. At that point, I was waiting for folks to come back from La Llorona so they could do the Trial of the Rivers.

By now, Gaylord's serial killer plot had run its course. He'd arranged with another NPC player to have her go off with his preacher, and they made sure to pass a lot of players. The preacher returned alone. When the NPC body was found, he said, "Oh, how terrible! If only I hadn't left her alone! Well, you should know that she repented having stolen from you, so I'm sure she's in Heaven now."

The PCs put two and two together, and set a trap for the preacher, someone who wanted to confess to him. When he tried to kill her, about half a dozen PCs ambushed him and captured him. It sounded like this was satisfactory and cathartic all around.

Gaylord was now playing the Mississippi River, aka Old Man River. Following the events of La Llorona, the Rivers were supposed to meet to discuss what to do about one of their number who'd joined La Llorona, and some humans wanted to talk to them, particularly the Mississippi. Gaylord asked who I was going to be if I were coming along.

I said I could be Gwen from the circus, but I'd also thought about being a little brook. Gaylord said they already had one of those -- Wolf Creek, who'd been with the Lost Brigade earlier. Now, the Mississippi was an old, powerful, grumpy river who really didn't care about humans. Gaylord thought it might be a good touch to make this old river react to Wolf Creek like a human grandfather reacts to a toddler.

Mississippi: Well, look at you! Who's a burbling creek? You are!

He checked with the NPC player of Wolf Creek who said a) thanks for the heads up, b) yes, that would be great c) so long as it was ONLY the Mississippi River who did that--if all the rivers did it, she'd be tempted to go homicidal.

So, there was the Mississippi and Wolf Creek. There were the Colorado, Republican, Red, Platt, and Canadian rivers. And there was La Llorona. As I understand it:

Wolf Creek: Had liked the people who lived alongside it, but they either died or left, which made the creek sad. So, when some soldiers came along, it went with them, because it was better to have some people. When someone--Zadkiel, I think?--grabbed the Lost Brigade, Wolf Creek was lost as well. But now, the Creek was back. The idea of the creek as a child was actually relevant to the PCs, as a debate with / about the rivers had included the idea that rivers weren't people because they couldn't have children, and that this somehow meant it was fine to make them do what the humans wanted. Or at least, some humans thought this, though I doubt the ones coming to talk with the rivers were among them.

Colorado: Not present. This river was being turned into a dike by the humans who were creating Hoover Dam. Some of the PCs wanted to free the Colorado River. In fact, when I was being Gwen and wandering, they spoke with another NPC, the Market Broker, aka MB, who was willing to sell them a) passage to Hoover Dam and, for any who survived, passage back and b) information on the three different options they had and what each option would entail and cost. In return, he wanted either a soul or a number of items adding up to at least that in value. Le Raconteur offered to sell a story, something he'd never done before, and have it wiped from his memory. This, MB said, would get them there and back. Sam, who was changing into something inhuman, offered to sell his last remaining human memories, so that he'd remember he'd once been human, but nothing else. This, MB said, would get a bit less than halfway to what was left. That was where I left folks, but I was fairly sure they'd finished finding enough other things to make the deal by now, possibly having checked with Seamus, who played MB. The main problem was that the easiest way to free the Colorado was to blow the dam, but that would kill thousands of people, including the human workers that the PCs wanted to save (as the creation of the dam involved a lot of evil icky blood magic).

Mississippi: Had a token, which the PCs would want. Gaylord thought at first that Mississippi would give it in return for a promise to blow the dam, but later made a decision that worked better.

Red River: A friendly-to-humans river.

Canadian River: Not actually in Canada, I learned. Had recently been under the control of La Llorona.

Republican River: A hostile-to-humans river, let's kill all the humans, come on and join me in killing all the humans! She'd been working willingly with La Llorona and had only recently learned that La Llorona had been using her (willingly) and the Canadian (unwillingly).

Platt River: Sort of a mediator river, I think the Platt was neutral to friendly to humans, at least well behaved ones.

Fosse Grim (played by Josh): A water spirit who had introduced humans to the rivers and who had been captured / controlled by La Llorona, and then freed by human PCs. Josh as Fosse was the hook for most of the mods about the rivers. He noted that he'd slipped up by not saying "We are leaving the safety of the market truce", but that it had been obvious when he told the PCs that they might want to bring a few more friends and a lot of weapons.

La Llorona: The big bad of the 8-10pm mod, played by someone good at thinking on her feet. She'd been trying to tempt a PC into killing someone and saying "This death is for you, La Llorona." The PC decided that while he did want the power that would bring, he couldn't kill someone else, so he sacrificed himself, believing that this would bring him the power he sought, changing him into his final form. This wasn't actually the case, which is why the quick thinking was necessary. La Llorona's player told him that when the two rivers La Llorona had suborned (the Canadian and the Republican) went down, he could rise again, and at that point, he would have the power to kill La Llorona.

This meant that La Llorona was dead--at least this one was, at least temporarily--and would, therefore, not be showing up at the Trial of the Rivers. And anyway, it wasn't exactly a trial. And... where exactly was it? The location changed a couple of times based on who was where before we had that nailed down, but the real question was: Was it within the Market Truce?

Staffer: Yes, it is--this is not a combat mod!

Excellent. That meant deals could be made and shook on and become binding.

Now, I'd come along to watch and to be near Josh, but it turned out that I earned my keep. The building was the same one where House of the Rising Sun had been, and I'd helped with tear down. So, I knew where the chairs were. And, as Gwen from the Circus, I could welcome the PCs in, set up chairs for them, and remind them that the market truce meant they could make deals with the rivers.

Fosse Grim was the hook for this, but the Canadian had been approached by players who wanted to speak with the Mississippi. So, both of them went out to get the players.

Once folks were there, the Mississippi cooed over Wolf Creek, and the Canadian had a joyful reunion with the creek, as the rivers had thought Wolf Creek was essentially dead. The creek told her story.

The Mississippi asked the other rivers if they thought he should talk to these humans, and all of them agreed that he should. The old river sighed. The things one does for family.

The PCs hadn't, I think, thought of making a deal before I brought it up, but they definitely wanted to talk about the Colorado and the Hoover Dam, and they did want the Mississippi's token. Sam said, iirc, that he wanted to blow the dam.

Mississippi: Who will stop this man from doing that?

Given that the Mississippi was all in favor of blowing the dam, I think this was partly the river asking if all humans present were on board with this and partly Gaylord trying to get a feel for the room. I don't think anyone said they'd stop Sam, but I do think folks were hoping to be able to free the miners, both living and dead, and the Colorado river without killing a few thousand people. If they couldn't do the first without doing the second, well... blowing the dam was apparently on the table as an option.

There was some more talk, most of which I forget, and then the Mississippi said that they'd get back to this human business later. First, there was actual important business to attend to, business concerning the Republican River.

I've just looked over the mod details, and wow, a lot of stuff in it either old news or no longer relevant by this point. The "we're going to deal with this river business first" did a few things here.

* It established Old Man River's priorities, i.e., rivers before humans, and was therefore a bit of roleplay.
* It framed one of the few items on the list of stuff to cover in the mod that was still relevant.
* It gave the PCs time to think about what they wanted from the rivers and what they were willing to offer in return, which definitely included just how far they were willing to go to free the Colorado.
* It gave the NPCs time to think about what they wanted from the humans and what they might give in return, and it gave their players time to think about how to make the scene work for everyone. Fr'ex, one thing Gaylord told me afterwards was that he isn't a fan of supplication scenes and wanted to keep this from becoming one.

Now, despite the title, the Republican wasn't actually on trial. This was more of a "what happened and where do we go from here?" The Republican was a bit subdued, having realized how much La Llorona had used her and the Canadian, and told the story, possibly with input from others.

Then, the Mississippi turned back to Other Business, aka these humans here, and invited each river to talk with the humans in turn and make whatever deal they liked, which got a lot of people in on the action. I don't recall all of the deals but I remember:

* The Red River saying that he rather liked humans, and if he were _asked_ if, maybe, he could bend a bit this way or flow more smoothly over there, why, he might well just do that for the humans--if they _asked_ him.
* The Republican saying that, well, she didn't like humans, but maybe not all humans deserved to be killed, maybe not even all humans not in the room. They'd been very understanding when she was under the control of La Llorona, figuring out that if they didn't attack the Republican River, she'd just yell at them, but if they did, she'd do a lot of damage to them. What she wanted was not to be cut up and dammed by the humans.
* Similarly, the Canadian and Platt wanted to be able to flow. Bridges were fine, but dams were a problem.
* Someone--not Sam--made a deal with one of the rivers, promising to do "whatever it takes" to free either the miners, the Colorado, or both (I forget which).
* I think a politician made a deal with the Republican River, a woman from Texas. Certainly, she liked the idea that a friendly river (like the Red River) might flow in such a way as to get her an extra bit of vote in an election.

After all deals were struck, the Mississippi told Sam that he really didn't care about humans. He didn't even care enough about them to hate them. But, was he a treacherous river? No, he was not. He was, however, a river with a long memory and a lot of power, quite capable of being vengeful and deadly.

So, the Mississippi wasn't going to shake hands with anyone or make any official deals. He knew what Sam and the others had said they'd do. And he gave Sam his token.

This meant that no one had promised specifically to blow the Hoover Dam. One person had promised to do "whatever it takes" to free one or more of the prisoners, but the PCs had wiggle room and agency, which was critical. And now, Old Man River wanted to go back to sleep.

And we returned to Monster Camp and changed, except for Josh, who just had to collect his fiddle. He wasn't going to be playing it, but he wanted to remind folks that Fosse Grim played the fiddle and thus might be called on for advice or as a judge.

For it was midnight, and thus, Zadkiel would be at the crossroads, should anyone want to challenge them to a fiddle contest. Zadkiel was also Belial, which is, I think, unfair, as I don't believe they ever lied. Along with Samael/Lucifer and Camael/Azazel, they were from a place we liked to call, ah, Downstairs.

First, Zadkiel's player had to be extracted from a mod that was running late. This was Amod Lele, who used to write for A&E. He'd just been running a trip to Hell mod, along with the player of NPC Gabriel, who apologized profusely for that running late. We assured her that it wasn't a problem or even her doing -- everything had been running a bit late because the House of the Rising Sun had run late, so it was more like this mod was the fifth airplane in line that got nudged off its timing.

In theory, Samael was supposed to be the hook for this, but Alex, who played the NPC Samael, was also the main staffer in charge and was running himself ragged trying to be in several places at once. But, Amod's wife, Caitlin, who'd played Lilith and other roles, had made sure she could be free to watch the fiddle contest, and we all agreed she could be the hook, which meant we didn't need to hunt for Alex.

So, Amod went to the crossroads, and we went to the tavern.

Caitlin as Random Townie: Um... there's this guy with wings down at the crossroads. Could someone make him go away? This is above my pay grade!

Folks got together and headed to the crossroads. Now, in theory, Robert Colvin, whose player, like Amod, plays the fiddle, should have been the one to challenge Zadkiel, but the player had retired for the evening and his hand was hurting. In theory, Nathaniel could do it, as Nathaniel also played the fiddle, but in practice, Franklin, who played guitar, agreed to be the one to challenge the devil at the crossroads.

We learned all of this en route, and I started trying to get ahead of the main group to give Amod a heads up. When I got as far as Caitlin, I explained the situation, and she ran ahead and explained it to Amod. GMs are, in general, a lot better at rolling with unexpected twists if they get even the tiniest bit of a heads up.

The crossroads scene pretty much encapsulates everything that I larp for. Okay, we drove several hours for a top bunk bed in the New Hampshire woods where I need to spray tick repellant and use a flashlight at night, but we walked to a crossroads and the devil was there waiting.

And Zadkiel and Franklin had a quiet conversation. They weren't whispering, of course--everyone needed to hear--but no one was shouting.

Franklin: I want what's mine, what's hers [Leonora's], and your token.

Zadkiel: Yes. (long pause) Yes, you do.

What was Franklin's was his soul, sold to both Zadkiel and Samael. What was Leonora's was a film reel of Camille, which somehow contained the actress's soul. And of course, the token was needed for the retuning ritual.

And Franklin was, or at least seemed, pretty confident.

Franklin: I'm going to win because I'm better than you.

Zadkiel: How many songs shall we play?

Franklin: I only need one.

This exchange was a blast to watch. There was also the question of what Franklin would be staking on his part. Now, traditionally, Franklin should have staked his own soul on the contest, but Zadkiel already had his soul. Franklin tried to argue that he could still totally stake it. Why, just this very day, he'd bought himself a Destiny--he was destined to invent something that would change the world! Surely that would make his soul shinier, something to really boast about having on one's mantel?

Sadly, no. Zadkiel wasn't looking for the prettiest soul. They were looking to collect souls. And Franklin was asking for three things. So, three of his friends would have to stake their souls on this, and no, Franklin and Leonora could not stake their own souls, those being part of what was on the table.

Franklin quickly had two takers, one of whom asked if this meant he'd have to shake the devil's hand. Zadkiel said yes, everyone making this deal with them would have to. So, Franklin just needed one more person.

Nathaniel: Franklin, how sure are you that you're going to win this?

Someone noted that, given that on tomorrow's agenda was the retuning of the entire universe, if Nathaniel didn't have faith in Franklin for this, folks might as well give up now.

Nathaniel: You'd better win this. If you don't, my mother-in-law will haul you out of Hell so she can kill you.

Someone noted that Franklin had improved Nathaniel's relationship with his mother-in-law. This did not sweeten Nathaniel's mood.

Nathaniel: You'd better f*cking win this, Franklin.

Judges would be decided on by mutual consent of the two contestants, and none of the judges could be a directly interested party.

Me / Gwen: Make sure it's an odd number of judges.

Three was the number agreed upon, and Zadkiel suggested Fosse Grim as one, which Josh had been expected. Final decisions would be made back at the tavern. For now, all parties involved shook hands with Zadkiel, some more reluctantly than others.

Now, I had heard Amod play on his fiddle. He's good. I'd heard Derek, aka Franklin's player, play on his guitar. He's good. But, neither of them had heard the other. Heck, Derek didn't even know Amod played.

He was thinking that Franklin had this in the bag. This staffer probably couldn't even play a lick. Why, he didn't even see a violin--the staffer probably didn't even have one.

In Franklin's defense, I note that it was very dark at the crossroads. He didn't see the violin case until Zadkiel bent and picked it up.

None of us saw Franklin sweating or batting an eye, and we certainly didn't see his little thought balloon, which had the equivalent of "big uh-oh" however he chose to gloss it. Yep, the devil could, and would, play the fiddle.

Three judges were chosen:

* Fosse Grim, played by Josh, who would be more naturally inclined to favor the fiddle, but this was all right. He was the only NPC judge and probably the only one naturally inclined to favor the devil, and someone really ought to among the judges.
* Leland Barnes, who had recently lost his memory, and so everything was new to him. (Turns out he wasn't human by now, having been turned into a water spirit, but Josh and I didn't realize that, and I'm not sure whether Amod or Derek did either.)
* Sariel / Larry Reese, a PC fallen angel who played the piano in the tavern.

Zadkiel played the piece that Amod had decided he simply must play [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJQGkX7Hsww | "Devil's Dream"] Then, Franklin played and sang "Last Resort". Now, you can hear the original [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2Wwt6a5zjw | here] (or at least, at one point you could); however, this is NOT what it sounded like when Derek played it on the guitar. Derek played it like a man from decades earlier who was pouring every ounce of soul and passion into a ballad because his soul, his friends' souls, and, oh yes, the fate of the world were all on the line.

The judges conferred, and then Fosse announced that the decision was unanimous, and that, for completely different reasons, each of the judges had decided that Franklin had won the contest. That said, Fosse--and Josh--noted that Franklin's song would have been better on fiddle.

Zadkiel was a good loser and handed everything over. Apparently, it might be difficult to remove the actress's soul from the film reel and put it back into her body, as she'd put a lot of her self into that movie. And Gabriel and Israfil scolded various humans for risking their souls.

I / Gwen asked how Franklin planned to get his soul back from the _other_ devil he'd sold it to and everyone hastily hushed me so Zadkiel wouldn't hear that. Franklin announced he was done with shaking hands and folks would have to settle for high fives.

I asked Josh why the judges had decided the way they did. He explained: First, Fosse had said that folks should look solely at the music, not the words, as Zadkiel was only playing the fiddle, not singing. That said, he'd heard the tune Zadkiel had played a thousand times, sometimes better, sometimes worse. It wasn't new to him. Franklin's was something new and different.

Sariel / Larry said that Franklin's playing was more soulful. As for Leland, he said that he'd essentially heard only two songs in his life, and one of them was the best song he'd ever heard, and the other the worst. We told Amod about this later.

Amod had heard that Derek was good, but he had still been a bit concerned. I mean, we all know who should win this kind of contest, but we all know it should be a legitimate win. Josh and Amod had talked about this before the competition mod, and Josh and I had mentioned Heather Alexander's "Faerie Queen" and Alexander James Adams's "He of the Sidhe", both of which are basically The Faerie Queen Went Down to Georgia.

In each case, the Faerie Queen's tune is technically brilliant, but cold, while the mortal's tune starts slow, but gets better and more passionate over time. Amod later said that this made sense, and it worked with what he could do. He'd stopped playing the violin when he was 13, and had only picked it up again a few months ago, so at his best, he was as good as he was at age 13, and while that was indeed good, he said that 13-year-olds cannot play "with soul". I'd amend that to "most 13-year-olds", but his point stands.

My thinking is that Derek was lucky he hadn't had to play against Josh. Josh notes that Amod is probably a better player than he is, especially when it comes to technique, but there are things Josh can do that will play better to the audience. Josh also has the advantage of having been playing more constantly in the last several years than Amod, and doing a lot of instrument jams. These teach one a great deal about playing to an audience, and the fact that it is an audience of your fellow musicians just makes it better.

That said, Josh was pretty confident that he could have made sure to play well, but not too well for Derek to beat. He had heard Derek playing throughout the day. And, he said, while it's tricky when each person is only playing one song, one is the correct number, and the human gets to go last. After the larp, we discussed strategies for making the test seem more rigged against the human without actually being more rigged--perhaps the devil could choose all the judges or perhaps it had to be a unanimous vote in favor of the human for the human to win.

We all returned to Monster Camp where Alex considered what mod to send out. He decided not to send out a serious mod. Hoover Dam and similar things could wait until Sunday. No, he was going to send out the mod where Cinema attacked Radio, and needed someone with a good voice for radio. One of my fellow Manitou immediately demonstrated he was the person for the job.

Others would be folks from various movies with special attacks. Fr'ex, Top Hat characters could attack with High Fashion. David Copperfield characters could attack with Thinly Veiled Allegory. Cleopatra characters could attack with Historical Liberties!

If we hadn't been exhausted and aching, we'd have been sorely tempted to volunteer, and this despite my wanting no combat. As it was, we got some sleep and returned to Monster Camp for breakfast and to coordinate for the day's activities.

On my agenda was to see if I could bring Oren out again and sing Stan Rogers's "Field Behind the Plow" just because I wanted to, and to make the retuning ritual as Cassiel. Josh wanted to wrap the Assessor's selling a demigodhood to Harvey Ward, the person who wanted to buy it, thread and make the retuning ritual as Fosse Grim.

As we ate breakfast, Israfil's player came in, somewhat distraught, perhaps, out of character, and very distraught in character. The humans had decided to make Israfil, Archangel of Music, into the Rider of Pestilence at the Retuning. Or at least, that was the current plan, which had already changed many times already.

Israfil was devastated that their gift of music would be turned into pestilence.

Israfil: The world will end in SOUND!

Someone: They just... Rickrolled the universe.

And there were jokes about ear worms. But, we knew, this might not be the final configuration, and I was and remain extremely glad that I didn't have to sit through the long discussions about how the universe would be retuned.

Eventually, Josh and I headed out to the tavern as Oren and the Assessor. We walked into a meeting in progress, unsurprisingly. The Junkman, a helpful NPC, was reviewing what would happen at the ritual. When he was done, I got everyone's attention, intending to tell them that the Assessor maybe had something some folks might be interested in, but he interrupted, saying he wanted to deal with that privately.

That was fine, and as long as I had everyone's attention, Oren noted that plenty of folks outside the market (i.e., anyone not part of larp space) had no idea what was going on. Sure, things were bad, and maybe the world was ending, but meanwhile, they had food to put on the table, and Oren wanted to sing a song about that. He told folks that it was just fine if they continued to talk and plan while he sang, which I later realized was utterly appropriate.

As Josh noted, it boiled down to the fact that I wanted to sing a song. And most folks did indeed go about their business. And some folk stomped along to the beat and sang along on the final couplet.

Meanwhile, the Assessor concluded his business and passed on his title and his demigodhood to Harvey Ward. We went back to the NPC cabin and did some packing, and Josh changed costumes from the Assessor to Fosse Grim. We returned to Monster Camp, and I put on Cassiel's wings. Metatron's player brought out an amazing set of chimes and showed us how to ring them if we were called to be part of the retuning ritual, and folks noted that the people in the horsemen spots would get black chimes, not white ones, and were NOT to ring them.

Archangels didn't have free will, so if our name were called, we'd step forward, ring the chime, and wait to see if enough humans took up the sound. "Enough" was a deliberately vague term; basically, if they were louder than the chime, it was a definite yes. I think the four Riders would have free will to sound or not sound the chime, though they weren't supposed to sound it. Once everyone was in position, the white chimes were marked for whether they should be the first group rung, the second, the third, or the fourth.

We made our way first to the tavern where folks were singing the second to last song, "Help Yourself", so we joined in. We later learned that it was a reprise, as they needed to sing something for the pre-ritual ritual, and it really shouldn't be the last song of the game.

Israfil had learned they were no longer to be Pestilence. Whew.

Israfil: I... would have done a good job. I would.

Gabriel and Cassiel assured Israfil that no one doubted this, but now, thankfully, they wouldn't have to.

As we walked over, Gabriel turned to Cassiel.

Gabriel: How are you doing?

Cassiel: Sad.

Gabriel: ... well, yes. But how are you doing?

Cassiel never actually answered that, as someone else had turned in surprise and then said, "Oh, right," as he realized that it was the archangel of sorrow who was sad.

And, the archangel of death shrieked. As I understand it, this was because one of the humans who could do it was administering a short-term cure of the Static so that the archangel could safely complete the retuning ceremony, after which Static would, hopefully, no longer be an issue. It was over by the time Cassiel was there.

Cassiel to the archangel of death: Are you... as well as you can be?

The archangel of death said that they were, and Cassiel let the matter drop.

Folks went inside the building where the ceremony was about to happen. There was a quick review of the details, and then things began.

I forget a lot of details. If I don't attach a photo of the diagram or some version of the spoken words, the key things I recall:

At the center was Gabriel, the nicest / least of a jerk.
The Mississippi River was in the octave position above Gabriel.

This meant that the two would be working together. Gaylord told us on the ride home that there was even sort of a job interview to see if the two could work together.

Mississippi: You want me to... work... with... (falls asleep)

Gabriel: I can work with that.

The tritone, appropriately, had one Seelie, one Unseelie, and one Manitou. Josh explained to me that the tritone doesn't actually harmonize per se.

Cassiel wasn't in the ritual, and their token remained unused. I'd known that might happen, and I'd heard the Junkman telling folks earlier (when I was being Oren) that folks whose tokens weren't going to be used in the ritual should talk to someone specific, though I forget whom.

And the chimes sounded, one after another, except for the four Horsemen--Death, Famine, War--and Conquest.

Cassiel to Zadkiel: I don't recall there being a Horseman of Conquest.

Neither did Zadkiel. But, it turns out our NPCs had a faulty memory and we didn't do our research. In some versions, Conquest is a Horseman, and the humans decided to go back to this version.

Someone frightened everyone by sounding a chime. I'm not sure why, as it was clearly a white chime, not for a horseman position. But, Gaylord decided not to sound his own chime lest folks worry.

And the white chimes were all sounded in their groups, one after the other, forming a gorgeous major chord.

Then, we moved into the final song, "This May Be the Last Time". As soon as the final note sounded, Alex called "And Game Over!"

And folks stopped as directed, which has not always happened in my experience. But here, we moved out of character, talking to each other, saying goodbyes, grooving on the high of what we'd just done.

I asked Harold's player what did happen to Cassiel and the others whose tokens weren't used. He assured me that we were all still in the new universe, just not part of the cosmic blueprint the way the others were. And not all the archangels were in it the last time around.

He explained that folks wanted to put Cassiel in one of the four horsemen spots and Harold put his foot down.

Harold: You can _not_ do that to Cassiel! Well, maybe _you_ can, but _I_ can't!

There was no way he was going to lay that burden on the Archangel of Sorrow. In other words, as we confirmed with a couple other players, no one else wanted Cassiel in the inner ring, and Harold wasn't going to put the archangel in the outer. Or, to put it another way, Cassiel had pretty much talked themselves out of a job.

I suspect that Cassiel is a little sad about this, because they would make a reasonable War or Death. But, they're not going to tell Harold this, because what Harold did was sweet. Also, there was no way the old archangel of death wasn't going to get the Death position back, and I think putting Michael in War and the old War in Conquest may have been diplomatically wise.

And, as I told Harold's player, Cassiel really would be okay with NOT have sorrow woven quite so deeply into the blueprint of the universe.

But that's not quite all there is to Cassiel's story. As I had put my wings on that morning, one of them lost a feather. Cassiel decided to give it to Le Raconteur, who, I already knew, would be observing, not participating in, the retuning ritual. Le Raconteur thanked Cassiel, saying he'd given away his old token and would use the archangel's feather as a new one.

And the player mentioned this in post-game fan fiction. Oh yes, I discovered that post-larp fan fiction is a thing that people do. There was a consent list for this, which could include things like "(no sex scenes for my character, please)".

All in all, this was an astonishingly good game, and it may be a while before we try something like this again. The bar's been set rather high and needs to be made of a very particular alloy.

Musica Universalis Part Two

2021-08-19T03:20:52Z

Lisa:

Musica Universalis Part Two

2021-08-19T03:19:00Z

Lisa:

Part One covered general things we learned about the type of larp into which Musica Universalis falls and the various characters I played, ending in the middle of the mod where a group of players met three archangels played by those of us who'd signed on to play NPCs. In this scene, I was playing Cassiel, the archangel of Sorrow. Cassiel, like the rest of the archangels in play, had a token which they could bestow on someone, and the PCs wanted it for a ritual on Sunday in which they would try to retune the universe.

My job was to make them work to get it. After all, a lot of people would die in the retuning, which would be sad, and Cassiel was an archangel with a history of being unwilling to make hard decisions, having sat out the War in Heaven because they loved all their fellow angels on both sides and felt that both sides had a point but were not completely right. I also made it clear that Cassiel would not decide until after dinner, as I didn't want to make anyone spend more time than they wanted to working towards a goal that wouldn't be fulfilled for a few hours.

That said, there were a surprising number of people willing to do the work by sitting, talking, and emoting with Cassiel, starting with Irene Bellanger, who told Cassiel her story.

Cassiel told Irene the story of the War in Heaven (okay, technically, the second one). Samael, who was Imagination in the same way that Cassiel was Sorrow, had asked their fellow angels and archangels, "What would you do if you had free will and didn't have to do as God decreed?" This resulted in a lot of thinking and quiet talking, at first.

And then Samael asked Camael, the Wrath of God. And Camael thought about this and then turned around and punched their boss, Michael, in the face.

Irene (kind of caught between laughter and tears, as it really is simultaneously sad and hilarious): Are you saying the War in Heaven was a glorified _bar brawl_?

Cassiel: Nothing so dignified.

Irene: Nothing so _dignified_ as a bar brawl?

Well, no. As Cassiel explained when a couple more folks came over, a bar brawl, well, usually afterwards, someone buys someone else a drink, no hard feelings. Usually.

A couple of folks nodded and said that sometimes, it was just a matter of tossing folks into a jail cell to cool down overnight, which often meant folks on opposite sides shared a cell, and that did often help.

Cassiel was telling this story to drive home the point that while they believed all of the archangels were telling the truth as they saw it, and all believed most sincerely in whatever course of action they were advocating, well... they hoped it was clear by now that none of the archangels were infallible or incapable of making a mistake.

One of the folks who'd joined Cassiel was Harold Lewis, who, Cassiel was told, was probably the human who would most understand Cassiel's position. I'm a little vague on Harold's story, but I gather he'd been in a war (probably WWI?) and he certainly seemed to empathize with Cassiel.

There was a fair amount of crying going on, and a surprising amount of understanding for the archangel's position. Cassiel promised to think very carefully and wanted the humans to do the same, making sure they truly wanted Cassiel's token, and reiterated their promise to make a decision after dinner by the flagpole.

And one of the people there, Etta, talked about how important sorrow, and, by extension, Cassiel was, and how without sorrow, one doesn't understand joy. And she thanked Cassiel for, well, existing. And she invited the Archangel of Sorrow to dinner.

My original plan had been to go back to Monster Camp for supper, but... honestly, how could I refuse an invitation like that? And I knew that Gaylord had supplied some of the food that the players would be eating, and that I'd be paying for some of that, so it would be all right on that front.

I did, however, need to attend to certain biological functions first, ones angels and archangels perhaps do not need to. The player of Morgan, the woman who'd introduced Cassiel to Harold, went with me to show me where the nearest bathroom was and to help me get the wings off. They were small, sure, but I wasn't about to try to maneuver in a stall with them.

On the way, she noted, in character, that Cassiel would be giving their token (presuming they chose to give it, of course, but I knew by then that, unless no one showed up at the flagpole, I'd almost certainly be handing it over, and I suspect she did as well) to an individual, and that it should be someone Cassiel trusted to act as they would wish to act. She thought that Harold would be the ideal person to give it to. I had it narrowed down to her, Harold, and Etta, and with her pushing for Harold, that narrowed it down to two, as Cassiel wasn't about to inflict their token on someone who didn't want it.

Out of character, the player complimented me on the sustained roleplaying I'd been doing. I also learned that there were lofts in some of the buildings, and that getting down from those could be a bit too interesting. There are trap doors involved, and the door had come down rather hard on her nose that day. Ouch.

We also talked about faith and belief, and she told Cassiel that she had faith in them. And then, we went to the tavern for dinner.

A general dinner call was announced, and a few minutes later, one of the players handed me a covered plate which I think Gaylord had set aside. I / Cassiel did doublecheck to make sure that the players / humans had enough to eat, but I was assured that they'd all heard the call to dinner, that there was no line, and that there really was enough food to go around.

After I ate, I returned to Monster Camp and the NPC cabin to catch my breath, recharge my electronics, spray myself with more tick repellent, read a bit, and generally chill. A bit after 8, I put on my wings and took a flashlight and some cloth, in case I wanted to sit on the ground, and headed out.

I'd already located the flagpole, and there was no one there yet. This didn't worry me, but I heard the sound of a lot of folks singing Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah", so I went to the building where the sound was coming from.

I discovered that Cassiel had just walked into the House of the Rising Sun, where Lilith had set up her own market. This was slightly embarrassing, but only because Cassiel hadn't realized. They had nothing against Lilith, and I joined in the song, and then went to the flagpole.

I later learned that Hallelujah was the closing song for the House of the Rising Sun mod, the opening one being, of course, "House of the Rising Sun". Lilith's player assured me that Cassiel dropping in wasn't a problem. Just about every archangel and devil visited at some point during the mod.

I went to the flagpole and shook out the cloth. As I was putting it on the ground, Harold and Morgan joined Cassiel. This pretty much settled the question of who'd be getting the token.

I'm not sure if the staff had a specific timing of the emotional beats in mind, but as far as I was concerned, the only question remaining was whether the humans still wanted Cassiel's token. Folks had listened. Folks had spoken of themselves and their sorrows. Folks had cried, and folks had understood. Folks had _gotten_ where Cassiel was coming from, and said that it was a valid and important part of the fabric of the universe. We had a regular Inside Out moment, and I do wonder whether Cassiel would have been in the game without that movie.

Sure, I didn't have a huge crowd at the flagpole, but Cassiel could only give their token to one person, so that wasn't necessary. And yes, Harold still wanted the token.

That is, he wished he didn't have to ask this of Cassiel, and Cassiel wished they didn't have to give it to him, but yes, he did still want it. Cassiel gave it to him. And there was more crying, as the three of us discussed how being alone wasn't quite so bad when one was with other people, how Harold and Morgan had just gotten married, how sorrow may make for greater appreciation of joy, but losing people really doesn't make one happy, and things of that nature.

And after something they said, Harold asked Cassiel if Cassiel wanted to change their nature.

I gave this some thought and decided that Cassiel probably didn't. They'd just been told by several humans how important and valuable they were--how loved they were for being what they were. If that's not enough to restore an archangel's faith in themselves, I don't know what is.

So, no, Cassiel knew that sorrow was important, and that they were important as they were. But, they said, perhaps it would be no bad thing if there were somewhat less sorrow in the world.

After much hugging, crying, and philosophizing, Cassiel and the other two parted. I returned to Monster Camp with a vague plan of attaching myself to Josh for the two late slots, both because I wanted to know what would happen in the one he was scheduled for and the one he'd planned to attach himself to, and because that way, I'd know where he was when it got late enough I wanted to crash for the night.

But we were still in the 8-10 slot, and that meant that Josh and others were going to go to a combat mod involving La Llorona and a battle with rivers. The encounter at the flagpole hadn't taken long, and the House of the Rising Sun mod needed tear down, and the staffer on duty at Monster Camp said that Lilith's player shouldn't have to do that all on her own.

I went over, and I think Alden was already helping out with tear down, and with two of us there, things went faster. While I was doing that, I discovered that the Angel of Death's player was preparing to appear with the Lost Brigade, which currently consisted of three people. I was invited to be a fourth and accepted. This involved filling a room with fog and then opening the door so that we all stepped out of the fog and marched to the tavern singing a song about the Angel of Death which was in the songbook. And, as the staff had assured us, by now, the players, who'd all received the songbook in advance, were well enough trained to start singing along.

I'm not sure the fog machine added anything, as no one was right outside, and I don't know if the fog was even visible from the tavern. I also learned that the player of the Angel of Death had asthma and would happily have forgone the fog machine. I have put on my list of things I learned from this larp "If you're using a fog machine, find out who has asthma or other breathing issues and keep them as far from the machine as possible--and do you really need that fog machine?"

It's not top of my list, though. No, the top item is "Be ready for players to try to go far more deeply into the world than you've contemplated." In the scenes with Cassiel, I was asked several variants of "Okay, you are the Archangel of Sorrow. What does that mean?" and when I did my best to answer that, "Okay, and what does _that_ mean?" Folks were willing to go as deeply into the metaphysics as I'd take them, and my main limits were a) keep things progressing, not circling and b) don't contradict what the writers have established, which would have been just a little easier if I had remembered all of what they established. Even then, though, making up something risks contradicting stuff that I don't know exists.

In any case, we marched behind Death, sang, and took up positions holding tiny electric candles. Death was scheduled to be out there for up to three hours, but returned to Monster Camp after half an hour, when things seemed to have reached a logical point for that to happen.

Death had been driven insane by Static--the difference between what the divine plan was and what reality was, and the whole reason the universe needed retuning--possibly because of a combination of WWI and the pandemic flu. She cackled and made speeches about how people had to be more careful, but she was their friend, and--I can't reproduce that combination of scary and pitiful that the player achieved.

Someone gave her a five minute cure for the Static, and in those five minutes, the players got her to give someone her token. But, they also brought a skull to her and asked her to let the soul of the dead person whose skull it was find peace.

Death: Do you have this person's soul?

Players: ...er, no...

Death's player was a bit bemused, as the request was way off whatever script the staff had expected, but, as she said back at Monster Camp, she was certainly willing to go out and cackle at the PCs again. Hopefully, they had more than one five minute Static cure.

I'm not really clear on just what plot arc that skull was from. At that point, I was waiting for folks to come back from La Llorona so they could do the Trial of the Rivers.

By now, Gaylord's serial killer plot had run its course. He'd arranged with another NPC player to have her go off with his preacher, and they made sure to pass a lot of players. The preacher returned alone. When the NPC body was found, he said, "Oh, how terrible! If only I hadn't left her alone! Well, you should know that she repented having stolen from you, so I'm sure she's in Heaven now."

The PCs put two and two together, and set a trap for the preacher, someone who wanted to confess to him. When he tried to kill her, about half a dozen PCs ambushed him and captured him. It sounded like this was satisfactory and cathartic all around.

Gaylord was now playing the Mississippi River, aka Old Man River. Following the events of La Llorona, the Rivers were supposed to meet to discuss what to do about one of their number who'd joined La Llorona, and some humans wanted to talk to them, particularly the Mississippi. Gaylord asked who I was going to be if I were coming along.

I said I could be Gwen from the circus, but I'd also thought about being a little brook. Gaylord said they already had one of those -- Wolf Creek, who'd been with the Lost Brigade earlier. Now, the Mississippi was an old, powerful, grumpy river who really didn't care about humans. Gaylord thought it might be a good touch to make this old river react to Wolf Creek like a human grandfather reacts to a toddler.

Mississippi: Well, look at you! Who's a burbling creek? You are!

He checked with the NPC player of Wolf Creek who said a) thanks for the heads up, b) yes, that would be great c) so long as it was ONLY the Mississippi River who did that--if all the rivers did it, she'd be tempted to go homicidal.

So, there was the Mississippi and Wolf Creek. There were the Colorado, Republican, Red, Platt, and Canadian rivers. And there was La Llorona. As I understand it:

Wolf Creek: Had liked the people who lived alongside it, but they either died or left, which made the creek sad. So, when some soldiers came along, it went with them, because it was better to have some people. When someone--Zadkiel, I think?--grabbed the Lost Brigade, Wolf Creek was lost as well. But now, the Creek was back. The idea of the creek as a child was actually relevant to the PCs, as a debate with / about the rivers had included the idea that rivers weren't people because they couldn't have children, and that this somehow meant it was fine to make them do what the humans wanted. Or at least, some humans thought this, though I doubt the ones coming to talk with the rivers were among them.

Colorado: Not present. This river was being turned into a dike by the humans who were creating Hoover Dam. Some of the PCs wanted to free the Colorado River. In fact, when I was being Gwen and wandering, they spoke with another NPC, the Market Broker, aka MB, who was willing to sell them a) passage to Hoover Dam and, for any who survived, passage back and b) information on the three different options they had and what each option would entail and cost. In return, he wanted either a soul or a number of items adding up to at least that in value. Le Raconteur offered to sell a story, something he'd never done before, and have it wiped from his memory. This, MB said, would get them there and back. Sam, who was changing into something inhuman, offered to sell his last remaining human memories, so that he'd remember he'd once been human, but nothing else. This, MB said, would get a bit less than halfway to what was left. That was where I left folks, but I was fairly sure they'd finished finding enough other things to make the deal by now, possibly having checked with Seamus, who played MB. The main problem was that the easiest way to free the Colorado was to blow the dam, but that would kill thousands of people, including the human workers that the PCs wanted to save (as the creation of the dam involved a lot of evil icky blood magic).

Mississippi: Had a token, which the PCs would want. Gaylord thought at first that Mississippi would give it in return for a promise to blow the dam, but later made a decision that worked better.

Red River: A friendly-to-humans river.

Canadian River: Not actually in Canada, I learned. Had recently been under the control of La Llorona.

Republican River: A hostile-to-humans river, let's kill all the humans, come on and join me in killing all the humans! She'd been working willingly with La Llorona and had only recently learned that La Llorona had been using her (willingly) and the Canadian (unwillingly).

Platt River: Sort of a mediator river, I think the Platt was neutral to friendly to humans, at least well behaved ones.

Fosse Grim (played by Josh): A water spirit who had introduced humans to the rivers and who had been captured / controlled by La Llorona, and then freed by human PCs. Josh as Fosse was the hook for most of the mods about the rivers. He noted that he'd slipped up by not saying "We are leaving the safety of the market truce", but that it had been obvious when he told the PCs that they might want to bring a few more friends and a lot of weapons.

La Llorona: The big bad of the 8-10pm mod, played by someone good at thinking on her feet. She'd been trying to tempt a PC into killing someone and saying "This death is for you, La Llorona." The PC decided that while he did want the power that would bring, he couldn't kill someone else, so he sacrificed himself, believing that this would bring him the power he sought, changing him into his final form. This wasn't actually the case, which is why the quick thinking was necessary. La Llorona's player told him that when the two rivers La Llorona had suborned (the Canadian and the Republican) went down, he could rise again, and at that point, he would have the power to kill La Llorona.

This meant that La Llorona was dead--at least this one was, at least temporarily--and would, therefore, not be showing up at the Trial of the Rivers. And anyway, it wasn't exactly a trial. And... where exactly was it? The location changed a couple of times based on who was where before we had that nailed down, but the real question was: Was it within the Market Truce?

Staffer: Yes, it is--this is not a combat mod!

Excellent. That meant deals could be made and shook on and become binding.

Now, I'd come along to watch and to be near Josh, but it turned out that I earned my keep. The building was the same one where House of the Rising Sun had been, and I'd helped with tear down. So, I knew where the chairs were. And, as Gwen from the Circus, I could welcome the PCs in, set up chairs for them, and remind them that the market truce meant they could make deals with the rivers.

Fosse Grim was the hook for this, but the Canadian had been approached by players who wanted to speak with the Mississippi. So, both of them went out to get the players.

Once folks were there, the Mississippi cooed over Wolf Creek, and the Canadian had a joyful reunion with the creek, as the rivers had thought Wolf Creek was essentially dead. The creek told her story.

The Mississippi asked the other rivers if they thought he should talk to these humans, and all of them agreed that he should. The old river sighed. The things one does for family.

The PCs hadn't, I think, thought of making a deal before I brought it up, but they definitely wanted to talk about the Colorado and the Hoover Dam, and they did want the Mississippi's token. Sam said, iirc, that he wanted to blow the dam.

Mississippi: Who will stop this man from doing that?

Given that the Mississippi was all in favor of blowing the dam, I think this was partly the river asking if all humans present were on board with this and partly Gaylord trying to get a feel for the room. I don't think anyone said they'd stop Sam, but I do think folks were hoping to be able to free the miners, both living and dead, and the Colorado river without killing a few thousand people. If they couldn't do the first without doing the second, well... blowing the dam was apparently on the table as an option.

There was some more talk, most of which I forget, and then the Mississippi said that they'd get back to this human business later. First, there was actual important business to attend to, business concerning the Republican River.

I've just looked over the mod details, and wow, a lot of stuff in it either old news or no longer relevant by this point. The "we're going to deal with this river business first" did a few things here.

* It established Old Man River's priorities, i.e., rivers before humans, and was therefore a bit of roleplay.
* It framed one of the few items on the list of stuff to cover in the mod that was still relevant.
* It gave the PCs time to think about what they wanted from the rivers and what they were willing to offer in return, which definitely included just how far they were willing to go to free the Colorado.
* It gave the NPCs time to think about what they wanted from the humans and what they might give in return, and it gave their players time to think about how to make the scene work for everyone. Fr'ex, one thing Gaylord told me afterwards was that he isn't a fan of supplication scenes and wanted to keep this from becoming one.

Now, despite the title, the Republican wasn't actually on trial. This was more of a "what happened and where do we go from here?" The Republican was a bit subdued, having realized how much La Llorona had used her and the Canadian, and told the story, possibly with input from others.

Then, the Mississippi turned back to Other Business, aka these humans here, and invited each river to talk with the humans in turn and make whatever deal they liked, which got a lot of people in on the action. I don't recall all of the deals but I remember:

* The Red River saying that he rather liked humans, and if he were _asked_ if, maybe, he could bend a bit this way or flow more smoothly over there, why, he might well just do that for the humans--if they _asked_ him.
* The Republican saying that, well, she didn't like humans, but maybe not all humans deserved to be killed, maybe not even all humans not in the room. They'd been very understanding when she was under the control of La Llorona, figuring out that if they didn't attack the Republican River, she'd just yell at them, but if they did, she'd do a lot of damage to them. What she wanted was not to be cut up and dammed by the humans.
* Similarly, the Canadian and Platt wanted to be able to flow. Bridges were fine, but dams were a problem.
* Someone--not Sam--made a deal with one of the rivers, promising to do "whatever it takes" to free either the miners, the Colorado, or both (I forget which).
* I think a politician made a deal with the Republican River, a woman from Texas. Certainly, she liked the idea that a friendly river (like the Red River) might flow in such a way as to get her an extra bit of vote in an election.

After all deals were struck, the Mississippi told Sam that he really didn't care about humans. He didn't even care enough about them to hate them. But, was he a treacherous river? No, he was not. He was, however, a river with a long memory and a lot of power, quite capable of being vengeful and deadly.

So, the Mississippi wasn't going to shake hands with anyone or make any official deals. He knew what Sam and the others had said they'd do. And he gave Sam his token.

This meant that no one had promised specifically to blow the Hoover Dam. One person had promised to do "whatever it takes" to free one or more of the prisoners, but the PCs had wiggle room and agency, which was critical. And now, Old Man River wanted to go back to sleep.

And we returned to Monster Camp and changed, except for Josh, who just had to collect his fiddle. He wasn't going to be playing it, but he wanted to remind folks that Fosse Grim played the fiddle and thus might be called on for advice or as a judge.

For it was midnight, and thus, Zadkiel would be at the crossroads, should anyone want to challenge them to a fiddle contest. Zadkiel was also Belial, which is, I think, unfair, as I don't believe they ever lied. Along with Samael/Lucifer and Camael/Azazel, they were from a place we liked to call, ah, Downstairs.

First, Zadkiel's player had to be extracted from a mod that was running late. This was Amod Lele, who used to write for A&E. He'd just been running a trip to Hell mod, along with the player of NPC Gabriel, who apologized profusely for that running late. We assured her that it wasn't a problem or even her doing -- everything had been running a bit late because the House of the Rising Sun had run late, so it was more like this mod was the fifth airplane in line that got nudged off its timing.

In theory, Samael was supposed to be the hook for this, but Alex, who played the NPC Samael, was also the main staffer in charge and was running himself ragged trying to be in several places at once. But, Amod's wife, Caitlin, who'd played Lilith and other roles, had made sure she could be free to watch the fiddle contest, and we all agreed she could be the hook, which meant we didn't need to hunt for Alex.

So, Amod went to the crossroads, and we went to the tavern.

Caitlin as Random Townie: Um... there's this guy with wings down at the crossroads. Could someone make him go away? This is above my pay grade!

Folks got together and headed to the crossroads. Now, in theory, Robert Colvin, whose player, like Amod, plays the fiddle, should have been the one to challenge Zadkiel, but the player had retired for the evening and his hand was hurting. In theory, Nathaniel could do it, as Nathaniel also played the fiddle, but in practice, Franklin, who played guitar, agreed to be the one to challenge the devil at the crossroads.

We learned all of this en route, and I started trying to get ahead of the main group to give Amod a heads up. When I got as far as Caitlin, I explained the situation, and she ran ahead and explained it to Amod. GMs are, in general, a lot better at rolling with unexpected twists if they get even the tiniest bit of a heads up.

The crossroads scene pretty much encapsulates everything that I larp for. Okay, we drove several hours for a top bunk bed in the New Hampshire woods where I need to spray tick repellant and use a flashlight at night, but we walked to a crossroads and the devil was there waiting.

And Zadkiel and Franklin had a quiet conversation. They weren't whispering, of course--everyone needed to hear--but no one was shouting.

Franklin: I want what's mine, what's hers [Leonora's], and your token.

Zadkiel: Yes. (long pause) Yes, you do.

What was Franklin's was his soul, sold to both Zadkiel and Samael. What was Leonora's was a film reel of Camille, which somehow contained the actress's soul. And of course, the token was needed for the retuning ritual.

And Franklin was, or at least seemed, pretty confident.

Franklin: I'm going to win because I'm better than you.

Zadkiel: How many songs shall we play?

Franklin: I only need one.

This exchange was a blast to watch. There was also the question of what Franklin would be staking on his part. Now, traditionally, Franklin should have staked his own soul on the contest, but Zadkiel already had his soul. Franklin tried to argue that he could still totally stake it. Why, just this very day, he'd bought himself a Destiny--he was destined to invent something that would change the world! Surely that would make his soul shinier, something to really boast about having on one's mantel?

Sadly, no. Zadkiel wasn't looking for the prettiest soul. They were looking to collect souls. And Franklin was asking for three things. So, three of his friends would have to stake their souls on this, and no, Franklin and Leonora could not stake their own souls, those being part of what was on the table.

Franklin quickly had two takers, one of whom asked if this meant he'd have to shake the devil's hand. Zadkiel said yes, everyone making this deal with them would have to. So, Franklin just needed one more person.

Nathaniel: Franklin, how sure are you that you're going to win this?

Someone noted that, given that on tomorrow's agenda was the retuning of the entire universe, if Nathaniel didn't have faith in Franklin for this, folks might as well give up now.

Nathaniel: You'd better win this. If you don't, my mother-in-law will haul you out of Hell so she can kill you.

Someone noted that Franklin had improved Nathaniel's relationship with his mother-in-law. This did not sweeten Nathaniel's mood.

Nathaniel: You'd better f*cking win this, Franklin.

Judges would be decided on by mutual consent of the two contestants, and none of the judges could be a directly interested party.

Me / Gwen: Make sure it's an odd number of judges.

Three was the number agreed upon, and Zadkiel suggested Fosse Grim as one, which Josh had been expected. Final decisions would be made back at the tavern. For now, all parties involved shook hands with Zadkiel, some more reluctantly than others.

Now, I had heard Amod play on his fiddle. He's good. I'd heard Derek, aka Franklin's player, play on his guitar. He's good. But, neither of them had heard the other. Heck, Derek didn't even know Amod played.

He was thinking that Franklin had this in the bag. This staffer probably couldn't even play a lick. Why, he didn't even see a violin--the staffer probably didn't even have one.

In Franklin's defense, I note that it was very dark at the crossroads. He didn't see the violin case until Zadkiel bent and picked it up.

None of us saw Franklin sweating or batting an eye, and we certainly didn't see his little thought balloon, which had the equivalent of "big uh-oh" however he chose to gloss it. Yep, the devil could, and would, play the fiddle.

Three judges were chosen:

* Fosse Grim, played by Josh, who would be more naturally inclined to favor the fiddle, but this was all right. He was the only NPC judge and probably the only one naturally inclined to favor the devil, and someone really ought to among the judges.
* Leland Barnes, who had recently lost his memory, and so everything was new to him. (Turns out he wasn't human by now, having been turned into a water spirit, but Josh and I didn't realize that, and I'm not sure whether Amod or Derek did either.)
* Sariel / Larry Reese, a PC fallen angel who played the piano in the tavern.

Zadkiel played the piece that Amod had decided he simply must play [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJQGkX7Hsww | "Devil's Dream"] Then, Franklin played and sang "Last Resort". Now, you can hear the original [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2Wwt6a5zjw | here]; however, this is NOT what it sounded like when Derek played it on the guitar. Derek played it like a man from decades earlier who was pouring every ounce of soul and passion into a ballad because his soul, his friends' souls, and, oh yes, the fate of the world were all on the line.

Musica Universalis Part Two

2021-08-19T03:17:11Z

Lisa:

Musica Universalis Part Two

2021-08-19T03:16:23Z

Lisa:

Musica Universalis Part Two

2021-08-19T03:15:50Z

Lisa:

DexCon 2019

2021-08-18T08:14:24Z

Lisa: Created page with "I did not write up the games I ran, but the players were excellent. * 201 July 3: Wednesday, 10pm-2am Thursday July 4: Yellow King RPG: The Doors to Heaven. I had 6 players,..."

I did not write up the games I ran, but the players were excellent.

* 201 July 3: Wednesday, 10pm-2am Thursday July 4: Yellow King RPG: The Doors to Heaven. I had 6 players, and this went well. I'd playtested it with three players ahead of time, which helped.
* 2019 July 4: Thursday, 2pm-6pm: Trail of Cthulhu: Cthulhu City: Exit Wound. Again, I had 6 players. I see I wrote that it went "oddly, but well".
* 2019 July 4: Thursday, 8pm-midnight Friday: Yellow King RPG: Night of Masks: I had four people, and it went well despite or because of how I finessed some of the rules. It helped that I'd played this at Gen Con the previous year.
* Friday, 5 July 2019: 9am-1pm: [[Dark Designs in Verdegris: "The Battling Bosses of Oz"]] (ae356)
* Friday, 5 July 2019: 2pm-6pm: A Dire Situation: "A Rather Short Engagement" by Lunar Veil Press presented by Jabari Weathers
* Friday, 5 July 2019: 8pm-midnight: [[Jorune: "The Trouble With Thriddle"]] (ae356)
* Saturday, 6 July 2019: 2pm-6pm: [[Dark Streets & Darker Secrets: "The Immortal City"]] (ae356)
* Saturday, 6 July 2019: 8pm-midnight: [[Immortal Beloved: "Three is a Magic Number" (ae357)

DexCon 2018

2021-08-18T08:05:27Z

Lisa: Created page with "* 2018 July 5: 2pm: Pasion de las Pasiones (ae339)"

* [[2018 July 5: 2pm: Pasion de las Pasiones]] (ae339)

AnonyCon 2017

2021-08-18T07:58:46Z

Lisa: Created page with "* 2 December 2017: 9am: At the Court of Ranavalona I (ae354) * 2 December 2017: 2pm: Good Night Harvard (ae354)"

* 2 December 2017: 9am: [[At the Court of Ranavalona I]] (ae354)
* 2 December 2017: 2pm: [[Good Night Harvard]] (ae354)

Main Page

2021-08-18T07:57:26Z

Lisa: /* AnonyCon */

==RPG Write Ups==

[[Altclair]]

[[Ars Mystica]]

[[Heartland City]]

[[Hub]]

==Convention Game Write Ups==

===Miscellaneous===

[[Garden State Games Fair 1996]]

[[NerdNYC June 2013]]

[[2015 Monsterhearts with Selkie Proof of Concept]] (ae293 + addenedum)

===GenCon===

[[GenCon / Origins 1992]]

[[GenCon 1997]]

[[GenCon 2000]]

[[GenCon 2002]]

[[GenCon 2003]]

[[GenCon 2004]]

[[GenCon 2005]]

[[GenCon 2007]]

[[GenCon 2010]]

[[GenCon 2011]]

[[GenCon 2012]]

[[GenCon 2013]]

[[GenCon 2015]]

[[GenCon 2016]]

[[GenCon 2017]]

[[GenCon 2018]]

[[GenCon 2019]]

[[GenCon 2020]]

===Origins===

[[GenCon / Origins 1992]]

[[Origins 1994]]

[[Origins 2006]]

[[Origins 2007]]

[[Origins 2008]]

[[Origins 2009]]

[[Origins 2011]]

===Dreamation and DexCon===

[[Dreamation 1998]] or possibly 1997

[[DexCon 8, 2005]]

[[Dreamation 2006]]

[[DexCon 2006]]

[[Dreamation 2007]]

[[DexCon 10, 2007]]

[[Dreamation 2008]]

[[Dreamation 2009]]

[[DexCon 2009]]

[[Dreamation 2010]]

[[DexCon 2010]]

[[Dreamation 2011]]

[[DexCon 2011]]

[[Dreamation 2012]]

[[DexCon 2012]]

[[Dreamation 2013]]

[[DexCon 2013]]

[[Dreamation 2014]]

[[Maelstrom 2014]]

[[DexCon 2014]]

[[Metatopia 2014]]

[[Dreamation 2015]]

[[Maelstrom 2015]]

[[DexCon 2015]]

[[Metatopia 2015]]

[[Dreamation 2016]]

[[Metatopia 2016]]

[[Dreamation 2017]]

[[DexCon 2017]]

[[Metatopia 2017]]

[[DexCon 2018]]

[[Metatopia 2018]]

[[DexCon 2019]]

[[Metatopia 2019]]

[[Dreamation 2020]]

===AnonyCon===

[[AnonyCon 2014]]

[[AnonyCon 2016]]

[[AnonyCon 2017]]

===DragonCon===

[[DragonCon 2010]]

==Larp Write Ups==

[[2000 Maryland Intercon]] (ae104)

[[Intercon F]]

[[Intercon G, Part 1]] (ae188)

[[Intercon G Revisited: The Dance and the Dawn]] (ae195)

[[Intercon H]] (ae200)

[[Intercon I: Thoughts on Larp Preparation]] (ae200)

[[Intercon I: Thursday Thing, aka PreCon]] (ae213)

[[The Sound of Drums at Intercon J]] (ae225)

[[Musica Universalis Part One]] (ae321)

[[Musica Universalis Part Two]] (ae322)

==Defunct Campaigns==

[[Hearts and Constellations]]

[[Dogs in the 'Verse]]

[[The Dreadful Secrets of Candlewick Manor]]

[[Etheric Seas]]

[[Kerberos Club Fate]]

==Miscellany==

[[Playing Stories, Telling Games]] This is a paper I delivered at the International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts in 1995. My father put it online, and I was astonished to discover that gamers around the world found this useful. Since the old site is gone, I am putting it here.

[[Top Twelve Things I Learned At GenCon 2011]] (ae243)

[[Coined RPG Terminology]]

[[Suffering and Tribulations]]

[[GM Mouthpieces]] (Igtheme essay from my zine (ae104) in Alarums and Excursions)

[[Enjoying and Surviving Larps]] (Essay from my zine (ae104) in Alarums and Excursions)

[[Power in RPGs]] (Igtheme essay from my zine (ae106) in Alarums and Excursions)

[[Running a Weekend Long Larp]] (Somewhat dated, but still reasonable essay from my zine (ae105) in Alarums and Excursions)

[[Please Don't Break the World!]] (Essay from my zine (ae209) in Alarums and Exucrsions #400)

[[Solving Plots, Turtling, and Summoning the Maelstrom]] (Essay from my zine (ae209) in Alarums and Exucrsions #400)

[[Scenes in RPGs]] (Essay from my zine (ae209) in Alarums and Exucrsions #400)

[[Stomp!]] (Essay from my zine #214)

[[General Notes on "I'm Only Playing My Character"]]

==New Users==

Sysops, click [[Special:UserLogin|here]] to make a new user

Metatopia 2017

2021-08-18T07:56:34Z

Lisa: Created page with "* 2017 November 3: 9am: Playtesting Panel * 2017 November 3: 10am: Thousand Arrows Focus Group * 2017 November 3: 2pm: Pasion de las Pasiones (ae353) * 2017 November 3: 4..."

* 2017 November 3: 9am: Playtesting Panel
* 2017 November 3: 10am: Thousand Arrows Focus Group
* 2017 November 3: 2pm: [[Pasion de las Pasiones]] (ae353)
* 2017 November 3: 4pm: [[GUMTHEWS]] (ae353)
* 2017 November 3: 8pm: [[Chromeshoe]] (ae353)
* 2017 November 3: 10pm: BLT CPA, aka Barely Legal Transgender Certified Public Accountants
* 2017 November 4: 9am: Everything you ever wanted to know about the Forge but were afraid to ask.
* 2017 November 4: 11am: Atomic Witch
* 2017 November 4: 2pm: [[The Excellents]] (ae353)
* 2017 November 4: 4pm: [[Awesome 8s]] (ae353)
* 2017 November 4: 8pm: Project Wingspan
* 2017 November 4: 10pm: Lovecraft Rules
* 2017 November 5: 10am: [[Immortal Beloved]] (ae353)
* 2017 November 5: Noon: PSICOM Focus Group

GenCon 2017

2021-08-18T07:43:43Z

Lisa:

* 2017 August 16: 10 am: [[Vanagard]] (ae346)
* 2017 August 16: 7pm: [[Blue Rose: Intrigue in Tanglewood]] (ae346)
* 2017 August 18: 9am (I think -- might have been 10am): [[RWBY]] (ae346)
* 2017 August 18: 2pm: [[Clockwork: Dominion: Inheritance]] (ae347)
* 2017 August 18: 10pm: [[Call of Cthulhu: An Eldritch Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum]] (ae347)
* 2017 August 18: 10pm [[GoD: Taste for Murder: Stormy Weather]] (ae348)
* 2017 August 19: 9am: [[Clockwork: Dominion: Power]] (ae348)
* 2017 August 19: 1 pm: [[Castle Falkenstein: Babbage Engine]] (ae349)
* 2017 August 19: 7pm: [[Dweomer by Gaslight: Goblin Market]] (ae351)
* 2017 August 20: 10am: [[Dreamchaser]] (ae352)

GenCon 2019

2021-08-18T07:38:51Z

Lisa:

* 2 August 2019: 6pm-10pm: [[Magpie Games Room: Bluebeard's Legacy]] (ae338)
* 4 August 2019: 10am-2pm: [[Over the Edge: Under Broken Wings]] (ae350)

Overview of Gen Con 2019 Plan:

Wednesday, we presumably fly in.

Thursday:

9am-1pm: Heart Playtest: The City Beneath, this being something to do with the game Spire, which is about a secret rebellion of oppressed Drow against their High Elf rulers in a very weird city. It falls under "weird indie games", not "D&D variant".

1pm-6pm: Eat and shop!

6pm-10pm: Magonomin: Queen Elizabeth's Astronomer Is Missing! This is a Fate variant where the PCs are wizards in Elizabethan England.

Friday:

10am-Noon: 2nd edition CthulhuTech: Shadow War: Lightning Mission (It's possible I'll swap this out if a slot opens in an 8am-noon game I want more, but I am curious about the new CthulhuTech.)

Noon-3pm: Phoenix Dawn Command. This one's free, and I do hope it'll cover a full game session. A couple of years ago, we did a character generation only session, but I think that was only a single hour.

3pm-6pm: Currently leaving this open for eating and shopping.

6pm-10pm: Bluebeard's Legacy. In the original Bluebeard's Bride, folks play the Sisters, aspects of Bluebeard's Bride. Here, they play the Brothers, aspects of his Son. I very much want to get a feel for this.

Saturday:

9am-1pm: Clockwork Dominion: Conspiracy of Ravens. This requires some actual knowledge of the various system options, so I'm going to have to try to bone up on those.

1pm-6pm: Blue Rose LARP: Trials of the Rose: The Call to Adventure. A 12-20 person LARP, apparently also using the AGE system. I may swap it out, but perhaps not. I do want to understand the game system and world better, and I want there to be a Fate version of the RPG.

6pm-10pm: Masks: Face Your Fears. This is a PbtA game about teenage superheroes. If you've seen Young Justice Season 1, this is basically that as a game. Josh and I each have a ticket for this one.

Sunday:

10am-2pm: Over the Edge: Under Broken Wings. I want to see how 3rd edition plays.

We plan to fly out Monday, so the rest of Sunday is for shopping, hanging out, and packing, and probably at least some sleeping.

GenCon 2017

2021-08-18T07:37:01Z

Lisa:

GenCon 2017

2021-08-18T07:31:09Z

Lisa: Created page with "* 2017 August 16: 10 am: Vanagard (ae346) * 2017 August 16: 7pm: Blue Rose: Intrigue in Tanglewood (ae346) * 2017 August 18: 9am (I think -- might have been 10am): R..."

GenCon 2019

2021-08-18T07:20:32Z

Lisa:

2 August 2019: [[Magpie Games Room: Bluebeard's Legacy]] (ae338)

Overview of Gen Con 2019 Plan:

Wednesday, we presumably fly in.

Thursday:

9am-1pm: Heart Playtest: The City Beneath, this being something to do with the game Spire, which is about a secret rebellion of oppressed Drow against their High Elf rulers in a very weird city. It falls under "weird indie games", not "D&D variant".

1pm-6pm: Eat and shop!

6pm-10pm: Magonomin: Queen Elizabeth's Astronomer Is Missing! This is a Fate variant where the PCs are wizards in Elizabethan England.

Friday:

10am-Noon: 2nd edition CthulhuTech: Shadow War: Lightning Mission (It's possible I'll swap this out if a slot opens in an 8am-noon game I want more, but I am curious about the new CthulhuTech.)

Noon-3pm: Phoenix Dawn Command. This one's free, and I do hope it'll cover a full game session. A couple of years ago, we did a character generation only session, but I think that was only a single hour.

3pm-6pm: Currently leaving this open for eating and shopping.

6pm-10pm: Bluebeard's Legacy. In the original Bluebeard's Bride, folks play the Sisters, aspects of Bluebeard's Bride. Here, they play the Brothers, aspects of his Son. I very much want to get a feel for this.

Saturday:

9am-1pm: Clockwork Dominion: Conspiracy of Ravens. This requires some actual knowledge of the various system options, so I'm going to have to try to bone up on those.

1pm-6pm: Blue Rose LARP: Trials of the Rose: The Call to Adventure. A 12-20 person LARP, apparently also using the AGE system. I may swap it out, but perhaps not. I do want to understand the game system and world better, and I want there to be a Fate version of the RPG.

6pm-10pm: Masks: Face Your Fears. This is a PbtA game about teenage superheroes. If you've seen Young Justice Season 1, this is basically that as a game. Josh and I each have a ticket for this one.

Sunday:

10am-2pm: Over the Edge: Under Broken Wings. I want to see how 3rd edition plays.

We plan to fly out Monday, so the rest of Sunday is for shopping, hanging out, and packing, and probably at least some sleeping.

DexCon 2017

2021-08-18T07:18:56Z

Lisa:

* 5 July 10pm: [[Cthulhu Dark: The Seaton Expedition]], by Graham Walmsley (ae341)
* 6 July 2017: 2pm: [[With Great Power: The God Game]] (ae342)
* 6 July 2017: 8pm: [[Call of Cthulhu: Adventus Regis]] (ae342)

* 7 July 2017: 8 am: This Favored Land (ae342)

Robert Dushay ran this, and I think Bob did a better write up months ago than I could. Apart from me, the players were a family, and Bob did a good job of making opportunities for everyone to shine as Union soldiers with superpowers trying to find and disable a Confederate superweapon.

* 7 July 2017: 2 pm: Beyond the Wall (ae342)

GM: Richard Ruane ran this. It's an OSR game, which means it's a bit old school for my tastes, but the mood was right. We were a group of young people, including a Witch's Prentice, a Young Woodsman, a Fae, possibly an exorcist (my notes are confusing), and my Village Bear.

We all had relationships with others in the village. And we all had to work together to save the village from some threat that could ultimately be traced back to at least one of these relationships.

* 7 July 2017: 8 pm: [[Masks: In the Shadow of the Fallen]] (ae343)
* 8 July 2017: Midnight: [[Blue Rose: Shadows of Tanglewood]] (ae343)
* 8 July 2017: 2 pm: [[Tales From the Loop: The Missing Dog]] (ae343)
* 8 July 2017: 8 pm: [[Montsegur 1244: Albigensian Crusade]] (ae344)
* 9 July 2017: 10 am: [[Fate Core: Agents of Si-Fan]] (ae344)

Night's Black Agents: Van Helsing Letter

2021-08-18T01:22:56Z

Lisa: Created page with "5 August 2016 Friday 8 pm: Night's Black Agents: Van Helsing Letter * GM: Greg * Matthew P: Morgan -- Wetworker * Derick Larson: Varouette -- Black Bagger * Me: Fleurey? -- B..."

5 August 2016 Friday 8 pm: Night's Black Agents: Van Helsing Letter

* GM: Greg
* Matthew P: Morgan -- Wetworker
* Derick Larson: Varouette -- Black Bagger
* Me: Fleurey? -- Bagman -- MOS Explosive Devices
* Joshua Wallace: Green -- Medic

I don't remember a lot about this one either, apart from a screw up with explosives and being enthusiastic enough that one of the other players reminded me -- very gently -- to wait my turn.

The GM was smooth enough that I didn't realize until the end that this adventure was very freeform. That is, as with Dracula Dossier and Armitage Files, the GM has to decide whether each element -- NPC, location, item -- is mundane, helpful, neutral, sinister, magical, and so on.

In Strasbourg, France, the agents were contacted by a man named Pierre about the eponymous letter.

Pierre: A German man acquired a letter -- I sold it to him -- but fortunately, I made a copy.

The agents arrived and I think got the copy. I don't recall whether their intervention saved him from the return of the German and his minions who were returning to silence him permanently.

The letter was full of various bits of information that might or might not be true, and various things that could be interpreted in more than one way. Our takeaways included:

* Put a coin in the mouth first. Then, remove the head.
* Valid prey include those the vampire's shadow falls on and those who hear church bells.

I had a note about a wild pig.

Someone: Related to boar?

GM: It is a boar Hotch!

And somewhere within a day or so of the Czech border, the agents learned, there was a tunnel in which was Van Helsing's doctor bag.

The tunnel was located, and the agents watched and possibly spoke with the caretaker, but slipped away quickly. They didn't know whether he was anything more than he seemed.

Someone: If he really is a nice man, we're doing him a favor [by slipping away].

Inside the tunnel, there was indeed a bag, and that's where, by all rights, my agent should have died, stupidly.

I'd used the MOS the agent had in explosives earlier -- I forget why. So I was rolling for getting a bag with a lot of unstable explosives safely out of the place it had been stashed for possibly over a century, and I totally blew the roll.

I asked the GM if I should take one of the unchosen agents. He'd have been well within his rights to say yes. It wouldn't have slowed anything down, and it wouldn't have wrecked anyone's game. But he decided to go easy on me and have the agent wounded, but not so badly that we couldn't continue after relatively minor first aid. It wasn't a wrong call. It wasn't a necessary one either, but we were all fine with it as it kept things simple.

The agents learned there was some kind of high class party with some interesting guests. There was some family about whom someone said: Lot of anemia and blood diseases in that family.

Possibly this was the family of a woman at the party who had sequentially dated several men quite a bit older than she was.

Someone: Those men -- they don't suddenly die within next few months?

GM: Uh... Yeah!

And near the building with the party was a black van holding a very large church bell. Mind, by the time the agents got there to deal with it, there'd been an altercation, if a subtle one, that resulted in the death of an NPC agent that might have been an ally. Ah well. Mistakes were &c.

Someone made a Preparedness check for earplugs and succeeded. One of the agents grabbed a knife, punched someone or something, and cut a cable. I think that may have been to keep the sound of the bell from being heard over the sound system installed in the van or at the building where the party was. And Parkour definitely happened.

The bell rang, and an enemy shooter was killed by the vampire, for the shooter had heard the bell!

I have a note about the agents having an MP3 of Wedding Bells, a burner car, and a green syringe (which had to do with whatever kerfluffle resulted in the NPC agent dying).

I think one of us asked, "So church bells have been going off every Sunday?" I think the question having to do with why the vampire was only showing up now. I forget what the answer was, but it seemed to make sense at the time.

But, if the agents were to destroy the vampire, they'd have to ring the bell and lure it in with potential prey. The van didn't drive well, but I think the agents did their best, as they wanted it at least some distance away from the party. I think the GM noted that some castle had a bell tower, but I don't recall how that fit into things.

I think Morgan rang the bell and then dealt with vampire claws as best he was able. And there was a shooting MOS involved, which helped. My notes say:

<pre>-) shooting MOS 6 + 2 SMG -) 6
not blood</pre>

Which is to say that bullets weren't drawing blood, but when a bar was used as a spear -- again, if I understand my notes -- that worked.

Green: Note to self -- go back and shoot that woman.

Varouette tried to push the vampire onto the spear, essentially wrestling the undead creature. The vampire chose to take the damage and damage Varouette in turn, but I think the agent got lucky, i.e., did not die. The creature was, I think, destroyed.

One of the agents spoke to the woman who'd been involved with all the suddenly dying men: I'm just gonna ask one question. Why'd you summon this here?

Woman: So much money! (i.e., from dead guys)

Agent: I kick her -- I don't shoot her

She was kind of a hitman. The GSV was trying to acquire the vampire as an asset. The woman that my agent killed by accident was actually trying to kill the vampire. Oops. And the caretaker was indeed just an innocent caretaker.

All of this, of course, could have been quite different. As the GM said, the case is where you look for it.