Call of Cthulhu: Sleeping Beauty

26 June 11, Sunday, 10 am, Sleeping Beauty, Call of Cthulhu

GM: Misty Fortner

This was my final game of Origins. Misty referred to it as one of her twisted fairytale games. It was set in Arkham in the 19th Century.

A marriageable girl named Ella Flaxen had become strangely ill, falling unconscious. Nothing else seemed wrong with her, but she did not awaken. Her parents moved her to a hospital that could keep her alive with experimental treatments while the doctors tried to rouse her, to no avail. Recently, in a most disturbing development, Ella became pregnant. The game opened with a meeting between Ella's family and her best friend (who was betrothed to her brother) and the hospital staff to discuss the situation.

• Matt Wendling: Ryan Flaxen, an engineer, and Ella's father. (He played Uncle Shen in "Keeping Up Appearances" at GenCon 2010.)
• ???: Gina Flaxen, Ella's mother
• Me: Edwina McKeon -- Ella's best friend, betrothed to Ella's brother
• ???: Thane O'Neill -- Hospital Director (Misty noted that he needed to be played by someone willing to make decisions)
• ???: Jason Morrison -- Ella's doctor, who had been on vacation until recently. Another doctor, Dr. Bellaire, had been covering for him, and this was the doctor who discovered Ella's pregnancy. It was Dr. Morrison's birthday, and he was feeling rather put upon. They're not supposed to be mean to him on his birthday!
• ???: Wynona Morrison -- Dr. Morrison's wife, and a volunteer at the hospital. Their marriage had been somewhat strained of late, which is why the doctor had been taking his vacation.
• ???: Myra Mitchell -- A nurse at the hospital

Brandon Flaxen was Ella's hot-headed brother and Edwina's fiance. He did not appear in the game, but he would have been a PC had there been an eighth player. While he was not "necessary", I am sure that someone playing him would have had enough to do.

My notes list a Dr. Atkins whose day off it was. I'm not sure how important, if at all, he was.

The characters gathered at Arkham Hospital, a teaching hospital to discuss Ella's case. Well, perhaps "discuss" was as overly optimistic term. Ryan Flaxen was belligerent and dismissive of the hospital's efforts. Gina and Edwina were trying to be more polite, but also to support Ryan.

Ryan (I think as his player looked at ingredients on his coffee?): This list of disclaimers is almost as long as the excuses in this hospital!

Dr. Morrison: Ryan.

Ryan: Doctor.

Dr. Morrison: Good to see you, too.

Ryan: Any answers today?

Dr. Morrison was annoyed and overworked.

Dr. Morrison (checking his notes): She's only 16?

Ryan: See how little he knows about his own patients?

The question of moving Ella came up. Dr. Morrison tried to explain that the hospital was the best place for her, but he was also annoyed enough to tell Director O'Neill that maybe they should let the Flaxens take their daughter home and have her be their problem if they felt that the hospital was so incompetent.

Ryan (trying to be patient, but not very good at it): Doctor, we are professionals. At least, I am. And when a bridge falls, an answer is found.

Dr. Morrison: There are still several possibilities to exhaust.

Ryan: Well, exhaust them!

Dr. Morrison: I would be, but I have to attend pointless meetings and farcical accusations!

At some point, folks calmed down, a little.

Either Gina or Ryan: Perhaps as men of science, you can tell me about these tests.

Nurse Mitchell approached Edwina. She had noticed a young man visiting Ella, and had figured out, perhaps because she had seen Edwina with him, that Edwina knew something about it. Was Edwina going to talk to Ella's parents, or would Nurse Mitchell have to do so?

Edwina reluctantly agreed to talk to Gina Flaxen, revealing her secret, albeit after she had done a couple of things.

Before Ella had fallen ill, she and Edwina had gone walking in the park, as was their wont. There, they met a young man whose dog had temporarily gotten away from him. This man was named Jeremy Redcliff, and he and Ella fell in love. Edwina, as Ella's friend, should have either discouraged this or told Ella's parents, but instead, she kept Ella's secret and chaperoned the two sweethearts. Jeremy was a common laborer, and thus not someone Ella's parents would consider a suitable suitor.

Mrs. Flaxen was displeased, to put it mildly. Further, Edwina had just compounded her error. I had asked if she could get a message to Jeremy, and the GM agreed that she could find a page to do so. The message set up a meeting.

When Ella fell ill, Jeremy had visited her in secret until Edwina told him to stop, lest the family find out and misunderstand. He had. She now told Jeremy about the latest twist, Ella's pregnancy, watching Jeremy very carefully. He swore that he had not been responsible, and it was clear to her that he was telling the truth. He made it clear that he was willing to marry Ella, to speak to her parents, to avenge her, whatever Edwina advised him was best.

Mrs. Flaxen: You told an _outsider_ about this?

Edwina: I had to know if he were responsible. I had to look into his eyes and know.

Mrs. Flaxen: Edwina, I am deeply disappointed in you.

Mr. Flaxen was not pleased either.

Mr. Flaxen: If he were honorable, he would have come to us at once and proposed, so that we could refuse!

At this point, I took a mental moment or two to remind myself that:

A. Edwina had, in fact, been stupid, and by the standards of the day, Mrs. Flaxen was absolutely correct in her take on matters.

B. _Edwina_ had been stupid pre-game. This was no reflection on me.

Once I internalized that, the game became fun again. Edwina was not especially smart, and she wanted the problem to go away. This gave me direction, as did the other things going on in the game.

Now, I did not know everything going on, as the characters split up. After all, this was not some haunted house, but one of the most modern hospitals in the country! And, the hospital staff had other cases to deal with and other issues, and they were not about to share these with Ella's family. Ella's parents needed to confer. The Morrisons were still not having the best time of things, and it was still Dr. Morrion's birthday. They weren't supposed to be mean to him on his birthday!

So, I'm not quite sure what was going on in the quarantine area of the hospital. I think there was some creature there draining people's youth. And, there was a woman on the 4th floor, in the dementia ward, Miss Parks, who knew about faeries.

Edwina might normally have ignored what she'd heard about Miss Parks, but Jeremy gave Edwina Ella's journal, into which he swore he had not looked, and it mentioned faeries, a faerie queen, Ella agreeing to help out, and generally, vague, disturbing hints. So, Edwina sent a note to her mother, who was a spiritual medium, something Edwina tended to keep very quiet about.

Edwina did not have the Sight, but her mother confirmed that what Edwina had read was correct, and gave her tips about how to see faeries and how to recognize Seelie and Unseelie fairies. One could see them if one had eaten faerie flesh. Alternatively, if an Unseelie touched a human, his or her eyes would glow red, while a Seelie's would glow Violet. Naturally, Ella's parents were utterly skeptical. So were the nurse and Mrs. Morrison, at least at first.

However, the nurse, and perhaps Mrs. Morrison, learned better, as they drank Miss Parks' tea, which allowed them to see what she had in her room. When Edwina went to visit Miss Parks, she was cautioned by one or both women, most strongly, not to eat or drink anything Miss Parks provided.

But, Edwina knew that she had to see in order to know what to do, and Miss Parks was delighted that Edwina understood about fairies. So, she offered Edwina tea, and Edwina did indeed drink it.

And her eyes were opened. In a corner, bound, was a creature her mother had described to her. Miss Parks had been scraping off bits of its skin to put in her tea and on her crackers. Edwina screamed (as I rolled 00 on a SAN check). The women who'd advised her not to drink the tea chided her.

Edwina went into Ella's room and saw two fairies, small humanoids with wings. They explained that Ella was carrying twins and that the queen would collect these, and then use them to take over the world. This was the queen Edwina had read about, a woman abandoned by the faerie king who then became a sorceress and essentially turned herself into the faerie queen.

Edwina asked who the father of the children were. The faeries said that this was Dr. Morrison, who had been controlled by the queen when she used him to impregnate Ella. Edwina realized that, given how little standing she currently had, no one would ever believe her word over Dr. Morrison's.

So, she came up with what she considered a perfectly viable solution. She would aid the fairies. Their queen would take the babies that night and solve the problem. Ella would no longer be pregnant nor subject to scandal, and neither would Edwina. Edwina barricaded herself in Ella's room, loudly proclaiming that, having failed Ella once, she would watch over her friend now.

Ella's parents began to believe that Edwina had gone 'round the bend. I can't imagine why. Mrs. Flaxen tried to convince Edwina to let her into the room. Edwina did, trying to pretend she'd come to her senses.

Mrs. Flaxen (humoring her): If there's some ritual you need to do to protect Ella from fairies, go ahead and do it.

Edwina: Mrs. Flaxen, I do know there's no such thing as fairies. I think Miss Parks must have put something in that tea. And, I don't trust the doctors. You know, I don't think Ella's pregnant at all. She wasn't when she came in here, and the doctors have made mistakes before.

I am not sure Mrs. Flaxen was convinced about either Edwina's sanity or Ella's situation, although Mr. Flaxen was more than willing to believe ill of the doctors. The nurse tried to get in, and Edwina had a quick conference with her, realizing that both knew about the fairies.

Nurse Mitchell: I'm going to kill the babies.

Edwina (realizing that this, too, would solve all her problems): All right.

Edwina was desperate, not terribly sane, selfish, and more than a little stupid. I, on the other hand, was having fun as chaos reigned supreme. I was fine with whatever Edwina's fate might be -- scandal, a nineteenth century asylum, whatever, bring it on!

The babies were born at a remarkably fast pace, unnaturally so. Nurse Mitchell and Edwina between them managed to convince Mrs. Flaxen that the nurse had to take the babies somewhere to do some, um, hospital thing. But, Nurse Mitchell could not immediately kill the babies when she had a moment (i.e., she blew a POW roll to have the willpower to do the deed), and by then, the parents had caught up with them, and there was no further opportunity.

The parents started to figure out who had fathered the children, as there was a resemblance to Dr. Morrison, and Edwina tried to explain things in terms that would make sense. There was a woman, a very bad woman, who had... drugged the doctor, and it wasn't the doctor's fault!

Meanwhile, there was a woman downstairs who was trying to claim the babies. She encountered Dr. Morrison and explained that she was the Queen of Fairy, come to claim her prize.

The doctor had the orderlies restrain her, as she was obviously delusional.

Queen (as he makes some fanciful claim himself): Do not mock me!

Dr. Morrison (suddenly quite serious): Please, I am not mocking you. I am mocking your delusion.

The queen tried singing. Amazingly, Dr. Morrison managed to resist the effects of her song, although the orderlies did not.

Meanwhile, upstairs, the knowledge of what Dr. Morrison had done sunk into the minds of his wife and Ella's parents. Mrs. Morrison and Mrs. Flaxen went downstairs. Mrs. Flaxen struck the doctor and locked him in the room with the orderlies, the queen, and his wife, figuring that one of the two women in the room would deal with him severely.

Me: And on the doctor's birthday, too!

However, Mrs. Morrison began to get actual answers from the queen.

Queen: I need the children.

Mrs. Morrison: Why?

Queen: So I can become immortal -- Oh. I shouldn't have said that.

Meanwhile, the others made a surprising discovery. Ella's beau, Jeremy, was none other than the Fairy King himself, although he did not immediately remember this, having given up his immortality for Ella.

One could almost sympathize with the cast off queen. Almost. And then, she told Dr. Morrison what she had caused him to do to Ella.

Someone: Off with her head?

Queen: Give me the children!

Mrs. Morrison: No. I have three children, so you can just imagine what I am going to do to you.

Dr. Morrison went white as the final pieces fell into place for him, and he tried to strike the queen, but missed. His wife struck her instead.

Mrs. Morrison: _This_ is how you hit a woman!

Dr. Morrison: I take notes.

Either Dr. Morrison or Mrs. Morrison: I'm claiming temporary insanity.

The queen was gagged, ending her effect on the orderlies, who now looked confused.

Mrs. Morrison: One mm for yes. Two mms for no. Do you still intend to take the babies?

Queen: Mm. (as her sense of self preservation kicks in) Mm.

Alas, Mrs. Morrison knew better than to believe that. She started to block the queen's nostrils, only to be stopped by her husband, lest she commit a murder.

Mrs. Morrison: Says the man who at the least provocation let himself be hypnotized! (as the doctor tries to interrupt) And she just lay there, unconscious! Is _that_ why you had me --

Dr. Morrison: No! I didn't know I had done this. Although -- you _were_ very appealing when you were lying there, not moving. (I suspect that this was the players having fun improvising, though I don't know for sure.)

But, the Morrisons managed to tear themselves away from their domestic issues to consider what to do with the queen.

Dr. Morrison (to the queen): What you did -- that was sick! I know about sick people. I'm a doctor. And you're sick! And, this is a hospital. We have a room for sick people!

He started wheeling the gurney with the queen on it to the quarantine area of the hospital.

Mrs. Morrison: If what I was doing was murder, what are you doing?

Dr. Morrison: As you are constantly reminding me, you are innocent. I'm the guilty party. Apparently, there is blood on my hands already, so let me finish what I apparently started!

And, with that, he pushed the gurney into the quarantine area, closing the door. (And I have _no_ idea of all the hijinks that went on involving that area while Edwina was dealing with her own problems.)

Mrs. Morrison: Are you going to lock that poor woman up in there?

Dr. Morrison: Well, maybe for a little while.

Mrs. Morrison: In that case, I think we need a brick layer.

Dr. Morrison embraced his wife in a dip and planted the first loving kiss on her lips in quite some time. She kicked her leg up in delight.

The doctor and wife left the hospital, deciding that, under the circumstances, it would be best if they never returned. Mrs. Morrison's last action before leaving was to sign off on the volunteer sheet.

Meanwhile, Ella finally woke up. Jeremy made it clear that he loved her and was willing to marry her at once, wherever and whenever her parents wanted, perhaps discreetly, and then go on a long enough honeymoon that a return with children wouldn't be suspicious.

Edwina: And he _did_ give up immortality for your daughter.

Ella: And, I have two babies, and Jeremy is my only suitor at the moment.

Ella's parents looked like they would reluctantly agree. I asked if that meant Edwina would be permitted to marry Ella's brother. The general consensus was that there would be some family counseling, or whatever the equivalent might be in 19th century Arkham where one needs to cover up Certain Events.

Out of Context or Incomplete Quotes:

Take it away to a lab or something.

Mrs. Flaxen (much put upon): Are you also going to tell me that you believe in fairies?

Nurse or Mrs. Morrison: No, Mrs. Flaxen, like most rational people, I subscribe to the belief that there are no such thing as fairies.

Mrs. Morrison (about her husband): I think there's something wrong. He hasn't called me that for at least four years.

Ryan Flaxen (in full skeptic mode): And that's the science you bring to the table?

Someone (to Ryan, I think, but it might have been to Dr. Morrison): You, sir, are a cad! Jeremy gave up immortality for her.

This was a lot of fun, even if I don't know everything that was going on. The players of the medical staff had handouts listing the entire patient roster and the floor plan of the hospital, and their slow absorption of this information and subsequent meetings both kept the burden on the players to a minimum and had the odd effect of realistically simulating overworked hospital staff.