Call of Cthulhu: City on a Hill
2pm Call of Cthulhu: City on a Hill
- GM: Becky Slitt
- Christopher Webb: Deacon Joseph
- Kimberly: Phoebe, midwife, 45
- James Unck: Ruth Tucker
- Gregory Rae: Annie Eaton
- Vladimir(?): Hendrick von Lybergen, 45
- Ian McLean: Captain Matthew Gillbert
- Me: Ellis Eaton, 18
I don't have a lot of notes for this one, but I remember the jist. It was November 1638. 5 years ago, if I understand my notes correctly, the town of Windsor, or what would become the town of Windsor, in what would become Hartford County, Connecticut, was founded.
There were natives living on top of a mountain.
Ruth: Plus I have these blankets...
More seriously, the natives could have been living in more desirable land, but chose to live on the cliffs because of some kind of evil.
It quickly became apparent that some of the PCs knew at least something of the supernatural. Not all of them thought of it the same way, of course. Ellis, fr'ex, thought he was specially chosen by God, iirc.
Me (on making a SAN roll for Ellis): The weird thing is I have that much SAN to begin with.
GM (to Ruth (who's been calling Phoebe a witch throughout)): So you're starting to get the ides of where the ley lines are.
Phoebe: _I'm_ a witch??
Someone else: I've got a musket.
As I recall, something was in the forest, and it was connected to a statue Ellis had, one he was convinced was talking to him. Eventually, he snapped out of it, realizing that statues don't talk.
There was also something in the ocean, some kind of being that was sometimes worshipped as a god. It was called Enathon. I think it could have been banished by either three people or five, all of whom shared some kind of sacred bond. Kinship was ideal, and a marriage could count for that. The group included a pair of siblings, Ellis and Annie, as well as a mother and son, Phoebe and Deacon Joseph. I believe Hendrick had seriously considered proposing to Phoebe.
My notes also mention precious metal as a gift to the spirits, gold or silver being acceptable. I think Ellis's statue was gold. It also mentioned tracing lines, likely the ley lines, something I think all of the women could do, though I might be mistaken.
At some point, someone referred to "friends" and someone else asked for a definition of the term.
Someone: We'll call it Party A.
Around the time Ellis heard the statue talking to him and then realized statues don't talk, the following exchange took place, though I forget who said what:
You were just in the forest?
Yeah -- we gotta get out of there
... we _did_ get out of there
Other unattributed quotes:
Our father -- our _earthly_ father, not God...
< strikethrough >ne< /strikethrough >farious plans You are very farious.
Someone, likely OOC: If you've ever been to New Haven -- around where Ikea is
And eventually, folks wound up on the seashore, and I have these lines written down:
There _is_ no grapevine -- you're on a _seashore_!
I don't know that I don't know where it is
That is very true...
As near as I recall, at this point, the following had become clear (although it may get contradicted or supplemented later in this write up):
Annie Eaton had learned about the mythos through books in her father's library, and tried to keep the knowledge from Ellis, her younger brother. She fought against the mythos.
Ruth was a geographer, and was also aware of the mythos, but wanted power from it. At one point, she and Ellis started chanting together, and Annie was horrified at the obscenities (i. e., words of power related to the mythos) coming out of her brother's mouth.
Phoebe, the midwife, may have been somewhat pagan or may not have, but I think she knew some folk magic, and she was very protective of her son, Deacon Joseph.
Joseph, like Ellis, had been misled, but I think he came to his senses more than Ellis did, though I could be misremembering.
Hendrick von Lybergen had a friend who'd vanished some time ago, but was now living on the shore where the group found itself, worshipping the strange god in the sea, wealthy as he'd always wanted to be -- but unable to leave the shore. And, anyway, why would he want to? He was rich! He had all this wealth on the shore, all this gold, all his! Hendrick was appalled.
Captain Matthew Gillbert seemed normal, but who could tell for sure?
Meanwhile, Enathon, the being in the sea, asked those receptive to it, telepathically:
- What will you give?
- What will you get?
Ellis wanted a good community, and he was prepared to be forever not a part of it -- to exile himself from it. This intrigued Enathon, but it needed some idea of what Ellis meant by "good". I said that Ellis would stammer out his best understanding, which likely included unfortunate concepts like god-fearing and Armageddon and the like.
Enathon: You wish for this land to be a preparation for the end of days.
One of the other players: So what you're saying is it's his [Ellis's] fault all the other games you ran happened.
The bargain was accepted, and Ellis felt pain, great pain that would only diminish and cease with distance from this place. He fled into the ocean and started swimming.
Phoebe defied Enathon.
Phoebe: You will take me before you take my son!
Someone (probably either Phoebe or Deacon Joseph): I will get a Puritanical community.
Enathon: I cannot dedicate this community to another god.
Someone: What?
Enathon: But I will take your sacrifice.
My notes say: Every time the spell was chanted, the tentacle withdraws, then drags her under water. I'm guessing "her" meant Phoebe.
Enathon: I can make it great -- but I cannot dedicate it to another god.
Ruth's player passed a note to the GM with Ruth's offer: She would give her humanity. What she wanted was power.
Another tentacle dragged Ruth under. Ruth cried tears of joy.
GM: Under the waves -- you know there you will find happiness and transcend the pettiness of humanity.
Hendrick: I know what I need to do.
Anne: I've been studying for this all my life.
Deacon (stating what he wanted): This city will endure forever.
Captain Gilbert: I'm thinking of hiding with the people on the mountain.
This was the sanest response of all, considering the circumstances.
Hendrick: I have a bargain for you. I wish two things, but I will give a great payment. I want my friend to go home, and I want you to go away from these shores. I will worship you till the end of my days and my descendants will and their descendants, and so on.
Enathon: I will not leave -- but if you will always worship me, you will be rewarded. (turning to the matter of Hendrick's friend) And you? What will you give for him?
Hendrick (bowing to the inevitable): He was like my right hand to me. I will give my right hand.
Enathon: Done. He may leave. You will stay. You will have many descendants and they will all worship me.
The captain ran to the settlement atop the mountain.
Captain Gilbert: I'm hoping they'll let me stay there until I die.
Anne fled, horrified (and down much SAN, I suspect).
A week later, Ellis washed up back in Massachusetts. But, even there, he was in pain. Indeed, he was in pain _anywhere_ in North America. He had to return to England, and so he did. Apparently, the historical Ellis was a bit younger, but also returned to England.
The captain lived out the rest of his days with the Native Americans. My notes say "Quinnapnon(?)", but, as the question mark indicates, I have no idea if I have spelled the tribe's name correctly.
And the GM continued with the epilogue:
It is left to Annie to tell the story in whatever way she chooses. Hendrick does get descendants. We're not going to think too hard about how and with whom. There are always those who worship Enathon in the Ocean. And, there is a city. They are always prepared for the end of days.
At this point, we learned a few things that not everyone had known, including the confirmation that a) marriage would make it possible to get a third family member and b) Hendrick would have proposed to Phoebe.
Captain Matthew had only one secret. He was staying in the army because he knew that as soon as he left the army, he'd be expected to marry, and he wasn't interested in marrying a woman. Otherwise, he was exactly what he seemed.
Hendrick had been married to a beautiful woman, and he was devastated when she died. This is why he went to sea, and there, he saw and heard what he should not have.
Annie's mother was dedicated to stopping dark forces, and Annie could cast spells. She was on a mission, seeing New Haven as a colony for which she would fight against the darkness. At one point during the game, she cast spell to see magic. This blinded Ruth momentarily, but I am not sure whether Annie noticed that.
Ruth had been born into a cult that worshipped the Great Old Ones. She was also a legitimate Surveyor, and a good one, at that. She'd worked with husband until she murdered him for not being a good enough cultist. She wanted to make the colony dedicated to the Old Ones. She also wanted power. Her grandmother said that she would always be nothing compared to those under the water.
Phoebe had fled to the Netherlands, as that was a more open minded place, and then went to the New World with her son. She was actually a Puritan, not any kind of Pagan, but she respected other good religions. She was proud of and worried about her son. She wanted to find and harness power for light, and to make sure that the colony would not give in to darkness. Oops.
Phoebe had tried to do something with magic in play. My notes are unclear, but I think she tried to bounce one of Ruth's spells and that this spell was targeting her son, perhaps to make him act on his impulses? Regardless, the player rolled 00, a fumble. So, the spell bounced onto her, and, as the GM put it, this made Phoebe "batsh*t crazy protective of her son".
Deacon Joseph resented growing up a pauper. He wanted money. He was also a deeply devout Puritan. He'd heard of Enathon from the Reverend Davenport, an NPC mentioned in many, if not all, of the PCs' sheets, though not appearing in the game. I think the Reverend had suggested he make a deal with Enathon. Joseph wanted to bring wealth and succor to the colony.
Reverend Davenport was a historical figure -- see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Davenport_(minister) . My notes on him are confusing, mentioning a revolt and a belief that the end of days is "gone", which I am not sure was what was said.
It is astonishingly fun to play a CoC game where everything is fair, and the group could defeat the evil in the scenario -- yet, fails to, at least as much for in character reasons as for mechanical reasons.
