Call of Cthulhu: The Stars Are Fallen

Saturday, 8 pm, Call of Cthulhu, "The Stars Are Fallen"

• GM: Chris
• Me: Emerson Hughes, Pilot, not at all sure about Will's leadership skills
• ???: Malik Williams, Engineer, sure that he's Mandy's boyfriend
• ???: Will Baker, Park Ranger, Nominal Leader
• ???: Mandy, Police Officer, knows that she's broken up with Malik
• ???: Jonah Cook, Pizza Delivery
• ???: Scotty, clergyman, most recent addition, has food. His player had to leave early.
• Neil: Ted Vance, "Hobo", actually more of a survivalist, albeit with some mental disabilities

The game was set in 2015, two years after the apocalypse. I think the setting was created using Graham Walmsley's Apocalypse Machine, which guides the GM to creating a post apocalyptic setting with mythos elements inextricably entwined.

So, two years ago, in 2013, there was a freak meteor shower which led to a nuclear winter. The PCs had slowly gathered together for safety and survival, and, as the GM noted, the character sheets had skills reflecting what they used to do, many of which, like Emerson's piloting skill, were largely useless. This is something that might have bothered me, but the GM coming right out and saying that this was how things were set up made it fine by me.

The group had just come from a bad experience in Mexico City, which was left largely unspecified, but involved street gangs, cannibals, reduced Sanity, and the recruitment of Scotty to the group.

Three NPC members of the group, Dr. Howard and the brother James and Robert, who were hunters, had left three days ago to search for uncontaminated water. They should have returned by now, and Emerson, at least, was starting to think that if Will couldn't make the hard decisions about when to cut losses, perhaps he shouldn't be in charge. He was mollified when Will decided they'd give it a short time longer, either till the next morning or till the one after that, I forget which. The important thing was that it was short and a decision.

The group tried to orient itself, especially as a storm was coming.

Someone: Do compasses still work?

GM: Actually, yes.

The storm was coming from the east, not the west, which was unusual. Storms these days tended to be gale force. Also, most of the animals had died out. Oh, there were a couple of dogs in Mexico City and some rats, but the less said about Mexico City, no doubt, the better.

The group set watches, and during the third watch, Malik became aware that there was something out there.

Malik: Sweetheart, wake up

Mandy: We're not together any more.

Malik: We're not?

At that point, the two players noted with amusement the differences in the way their character sheets described their PCs' relationship, but then moved on. It seemed that there was a short person, moving with some difficulty. No... it was... Howard Winters, aka Dr. Howard, but he didn't have his satchel. He always carried his satchel.

The doctor had been tortured and was dying. I forget the specifics of what had been done to him, but I think he was missing at least his little toes, maybe more.

The group tried to find out what had happened.

Howard: Oasis.

Whatever this oasis was, Richard and the doctor had seen it. Richard's brother James told them not to go.

Someone: What happened to Richard and James?

Howard: Dead.

He mentioned "the lion with starry eyes", but said that the lion hadn't killed the brothers.

Someone: Who did?

Dr. Howard: Them. Kind of like a frog -- but not like any frog you've ever seen -- no eyes -- none of them have eyes.

Dr. Howard died soon after. The group made arrangements to dispose of his remains, I think via pyre. They continued on and found an abandoned quarry, with a couple of buildings around. They took shelter in one of the buildings before the storm hit.

The good parts: There was a little bit of food in the building, at least if one counts corn chips and the like as food. The building provided adequate shelter from a nasty storm.

The bad parts: Monsters attacked. I'm forgetting whether they were ghouls or deep ones, and I doubt the PCs would have known. They did manage to fend them off, albeit at some small SAN cost. By the time the storm let up, everyone was a bit stir crazy and the group was definitely in need of food.

The quarry, clearly, was not the "oasis" where Dr. Howard and the brothers died. That was apparently in or near Palenque, a village which was nearby and which a couple of the PCs had actually been two some years before the apocalypse.

There was a mine / quarry area, and nearby was the actual village. The mine / quarry was near some Mayan pyramids. The pyramids were about 200 feet tall. There was a crane, about 250 feet tall. There was a hole in the ground, and lots of people working. And, Sanity rolls were required to see what was driving the humans to work as hard as possible. My notes said that Ted rolled 96 on his SAN roll. His SAN was 40. I think Ted and Mandy were taking a closer look.

Someone (I think Ted): Whatever it is, it needs to die.

There was a trail of smoke in the village, and there were figures moving there, but fewer than at the site of the quarry.

As Ted and Mandy took a closer look, the ground shook, and a rocky monument erupted from the earth at the quarry site. This resulted in an avalanche for about half a square mile around. At this point, Scotty's player had to go, so Scotty was crushed under a tree and killed. Given that this was not merely CoC, but post-apocalyptic CoC, with PCs who knew nothing of the mythos, this seemed a reasonable way of writing the character out.

Will (when Ted and Mandy return): What did you do?

Mandy: We didn't do anything, man!

Will originally planned to free the people from their oppressors. As far as the group could tell, there were three types of beings. There were humans. There were fish-like beings. Both of these were treated like slaves by toad-like beings with spears.

Will (looking at the numbers and the odds): Change of plans. We are no longer freeing the people. We are taking some food and getting out of here!

GM: So you are overcoming any bravery when it comes to freeing the people?

Will: Yes.

The group snuck into the village, timing this appropriately with when the workers were sent back from the quarry, but I don't remember if this meant the group snuck in just before or at about the same time the workers returned. I do remember the group being impressed that the town had electricity, especially one impressive building in particular.

Emerson: Geez, the monsters have a great electrician!

The group went to one of the houses where a man and his pregnant wife lived. They spoke mostly Spanish, but Jonah's player came up with a reasonable explanation of why he spoke enough Spanish that the GM could allow sufficient communication. The man was the only one who came to speak to the PCs, and he made sure that his wife stayed inside.

As the GM noted, he was in Storytelling Mode.

Someone: We will now hear exposition.

The man explained that the villagers had been approached by the black man -- not a man of African descent, but a man who was entirely pitch black.

Man: The black man provides food. He came to us and we agreed to work with him. Everything he says is lies.

He was afraid to be seen talking to the group, lest his wife be taken from him. Women were often taken into the main building in town, and they never returned Ht thought that there would be food in the gymnasium, as he was pretty sure that's where the eggs were.

Emerson calculated the group's odds to the best of his ability, and figured that they were pretty dismal. So, he gave the man his first aid kit. Once the man understood what it was, he was very grateful -- but still, quite understandably, wanted the strangers to go. They did.

The group discussed using pipe bombs.

Someone: Preferably on an unoccupied building?

Someone: We are all going to die!

Someone else: Y'know -- that might not be as bad as we'd been thinking!

GM: You are all in the right mind to play Call of Cthulhu.

The group split in two: Ted and Everyone Else. Ted's job was to find and destroy the eggs. We figured it was potentially a suicide mission, but quite appropriate for him.

Ted managed to distract some monster, I think a moonbeast. He ran, planning to light a pipe bomb, and then toss it into a gas station.

Ted: Come on you SOB -- chase me!

GM: He's all about that!

GM: Give me a throw roll.

Entire table: <shudder>

The GM ruled that the chance of success was doubled, due to situational modifiers. The player rolled 02 and we all cheered. The gas station and the moonbeast went up with a satisfying <WHOOM!>

And, Ted was safely out of range when the bomb went off.

Ted then returned to the building and found the gymnasium area, and then the hatchery, which was in the pool. It was extremely humid.

Someone: Ted -- want to take out the pool?

GM: This is what happened Thursday. Ted went on suicide mission after suicide mission and kept coming back.

There were 6 Deep Ones clustered near the doorway, actively doing something in the pool. The water was distinctly greenish, filled with algae and other things. And, there was something in the slime.

Ted: I'm guessing eggs.

GM: Might be a reasonable guess.

Ted (pipe bombs at the ready): Hey, Idiots! Come here!

Meanwhile, the rest of the group was in the stairwell.

Will: Which way smells worse?

GM: Upstairs.

Will: Downstairs!

The group made its way downstairs until it had the misfortune of attracting the attention of a moonbeast. Those who could fired at it, doing minimal damage.

Will (I think -- could have been someone else, as Will actually had a working firearm and the skill to use it): I'd like to take my held action.

GM: Okay.

Will (or whomever it was -- it might have been Malik): I run.

Someone else: We follow suit.

GM: It runs upstairs behind you

Just then was a loud <BOOM!>

GM: That was community center.

More precisely, it was Ted blowing up the Deep Ones. He even made his Sanity roll!

He saw that there were indeed eggs in the pool, and he could make out naked people curled up inside the eggs. He set off his final pipe bomb.

The Moonbeast charged the others, rocked by the boom that took out the Deep Ones, I think.

Someone: Thank you Ted!

The group ran up the stairs, barely keeping pace enough to stay ahead of the moonbeast. Folks who could fired when they could, unaware that they were actually wearing the creature down.

Folks ran to the firedoor that led to the roof, past storage areas. The moonbeast slid into the wall, then righted itself, and kept coming.

Everyone ran up to the roof. On the roof was a solid fire escape. Will went down first, as the final <BOOM!> went off.

Ted survived the final explosion, and he found food inside one of the offices.

Someone: Y'know -- we might all die and Ted might survive...

Jonah went down next, as Malik wedged the door shut, and then Malik. Neither of them were particularly good combatants. This left Emerson and Mandy, both of whom were good with firearms. Given what he'd heard about the women being taken, Emerson had Mandy go first. Then, he went down, making it to the bottom as the moonbeast reached the roof and roared!

Will (contacting Ted, I think via walkie talkie or radio): Ted! Ted! Did you make it here?

Ted: Waiting for you with some mashed potatoes.

And, to everyone's surprise, the group was reunited, having had no further losses since Scotty. They left town with a duffel bag filled with food, and they did not look back.

GM: You don't look back, so you don't see it, but Nyarlathotep is indeed displeased. He's the sphinx with starry eyes, so you have made a powerful enemy.

Technically, the food was to have been in the basement with the moonbeast, but we were short on time, so the GM cut us a break, figuring that, really, one duffel bag of food was vastly outweighed by one angry Nyarlathotep and a world with increasingly fewer places to which to run.

The GM explained the backstory. It all started with Azathoth, the idiot god at the center of the universe. Poor Azathoth had a bad dream. This is what diverted the meteor storm to hit the Earth.

But, the Earth is where Nyarlathotep's favorite toy, humanity, was. Nyarlathotep was not pleased. So, he decided to save humanity! Okay, sure, this involved breeding with Deep Ones and being enslaved to moonbeasts, but, hey, they were alive!

Mi Go technology was used to bring up the bedrock, which was what caused the earthquake. I forget what that was supposed to accomplish. Oasis referred to the illusions used to lure people in. As for the torture of Dr. Howard and the brothers, that was done by the moonbeasts, not Nyarlathotep. Moonbeasts are generally sadistic and use torture for fun.

GM: No one went into the caverns in the quarry. You're wise not to go into the caverns. Anyone who does dies. The shuggoth in the caverns eats everything -- Mi Go, deep ones, moonbeasts.

And there we ended, with an exhilarating, unexpected "win" that disguised a bleak loss, giving us players the delight of having things both ways.