The Gang's All Here: Vincent's Card Tournament, 2nd Session
GM: Erik Hanson
Players:
Elizabeth Bartley: Liliana Scarpelli: 15 year old Genoese noble seeking to marry into the Sforza family of Florence.
Joshua Kronengold: Ipolitto Sforza, a 12 year old noble.
Lisa Padol: Roggerio, a musician and ex-diabolist with an unwanted, but not entirely undeserved, reputation for intrigue, in Ipolitto's service.
Lee Painton: Vincent di Giovanni, Venitian nobleman and Necromancer, spying for the Sforza while trying to take over the Florentine criminal underworld.
David Siegel: Jebril ibn Mahmud, displaced Moorish architect with a talent for geomancy, in the service of the Sforza family.
Matt Stevens: Rafael Marancini, Jewish Cabalist and advisor to Ipolitto.
Rachael Tang: Bella Ziani, midwife and visionary.
Rachel and Lee could not make this session.
Prominent NPCs include:
Horatio Sforza: Ipolitto's oldest brother.
Sebastiano Sforza: Ipolitto's uncle, head of the family.
Ilya Ilyanovitch: Russian Hero.
Ivan the Bull's Son: Spirit of Ancient Hero, occupying his old sword which Ilya now wields. Recently, the sword absorbed much of a demon's essence, a source of some concern to Ilya and his employers. More recently, it was stolen.
Ciacco the Hog: Genoese merchant who earns his nickname. Boorish, gross, and ruthless. He wants to marry Liliana. She really doesn't want to marry him.
Liliana was sent to Florence by her family to seek an alliance via marriage with the Sforzas. Erik considered how to work her into the adventure. I made a suggestion which he liked.
When Liliana arrived, Sebastiano spoke with her. Of his three nephews, the oldest is the most likely candidate for marriage. This was Horatio, who, with Ipolitto, was attending the second round of Vincent's card tournament. Ipolitto was playing, Horatio watching.
Sebastiano had told his nephews that he would look in on the tournament later in tke evening. This he now proposed to do, in company with an entourage including Liliana and Rafael, Ipolitto's advisor, who had little interest in the tournament.
As Sebastiano explained, the tournament would be an excellent opportunity for Liliana to meet his eligible nephews, as well as their colorful companions, including the Sforza bodyguard, Ilya, and the newly hired architect, Jebril both there to watch, and Ipolitto's musician, Roggerio, there to gamble. Sebastiano looked on this as a small test. If Liliana married into the family, she would have to deal with such eccentric events and people on a regular basis.
On arriving at Vincent's party, Sebastiano discovered that the scene was more serious than he had anticipated. Bella had received a vision, while Ilya's sword had been stolen. This combination pointed to dire events. There was a silver lining, as far as Liliana was concerned: Ciacco, eliminated earlier from the tournament, had already left.
As far as Our Heroes were able to determine, a prostitute had gone with Ilya to a private room, drugged him, and stolen his sword. Bella's vision, or series of visions, showed the sword, a group of diabolists known to the Sforza household, particularly Roggerio, and an angel getting its wings cut off by a shadowy figure.
The angel was Mutuol, who had struck down a pious bishop, non-fatally, for unknowingly using faerie water instead of holy water in an exorcism. Our Heroes had known for some time that the diabolists had plans for the angel, but not the specifics.
The PCs either were able to figure out from Bella's description which church diabolists were conducting their ritual in. The players knew that the angel would almost certainly lose its wings, but the GM was playing fair. He asked what preparations we'd be making and what allies we'd be calling on. And, amazingly, we managed to plan sufficiently without spending so much time planning that the session dragged.
Allies and Contributions:
Liliana: Sebastiano hadn't intended to drop her into something so large, but he had no intention of wasting a resource. She had her family sorcery, which involves threads, strings, and embroidery. She was also unknown to the diabolists.
Jebril: The geomancer could do interesting things to the stone church and was unknown to the diabolists.
Game quote: They have not yet taken the measure of your Moor.
Mirko, Benedetto, Carmine: Vincent's brothers. While Vincent had been called away on important business, Benedetto had servants fetch Roggerio's faerie lute and a non-magical, but quite serviceable, sword for Ilya.
In addition, the brothers had time to create one magical item to aid the Sforas, and offered a few options, including something to raise the dead as zombies. This was respectfully declined in favor of a skull that could bring someone back from the brink of death, once.
Game quote: One get out of death free skull.
Brother Cedric Longfellow: English monk lending occasional aid to the Sforzas, a Renaissance Sherlock Holmes. Master of disguise and stealth.
Nobby: Shapeshifting faerie who married a mortal woman. He did not go with the PCs, but sent two allies with them.
1. Mook: A mortal man favored by the faeries, part Grover-the-muppet part Bab5's Zathros, and part Dustin Hoffman's Rainman.
Mook is an absent minded kleptomaniac with a perfect memory for everything he sees, and he can use pre-prepared magic. Nobby stressed that Mook was to be protected, and Roggerio intended to use the skull on Mook if necessary.
2. Foletti: Wind faeries who would be able to neutralize one of the diabolists. Mook was to summon them at need.
Lorenzo: Christian Alchemist, friend of Rafael. He created something to mask the scent of the Sforza forces.
Horatio and the main Sforza force would make a direct frontal assault while the others went through the sewers. Sebastiano would remain behind, to cast protective magic, and because he and Renier had an agreement not to interfere directly in each others' business. This agreement, as Erik pointed out, left plenty of loopholes.
Liliana asked for a rundown on the diabolists and their capabilities.
The Diabolists
Renier: The leader, charming, often glad to help the Sforzas. Roggerio used to be one of his followers. Recently revealed to be a noble. Known to cast countermagic against other diabolists.
Lucius: An unpleasant sociopath who can turn as much of his body into mist as he likes. Renier formally cast him out of the group, but he's still helping them. The Foletti were provided to deal with Lucius.
Lucius was cast out for a combination of things. He committed imaginative murders which drew too much attention. Agreeing to stop after one more discreet performance, he graciously gave the Sforzas clues so that they'd have a chance to stop him.
And stop him they did, but this was what Lucius wanted, for he was able to set up a situation where he could anoint his knife with Bella's blood, creating a potent weapon against the angel Mutuol. Renier, drawn to Bella, but set on removing Mutuol's wings, nevertheless cast Lucius out of his circle of diabolists.
Dolce: She decided that she wanted to stay a child forever, and no one knows how old she really is. She gives people nicknames. Previously, Dolce used a string to play cat's cradle and freeze Our Heroes in place. Liliana thought she might be able to neutralize this.
Cain: A gentle man cursed with lycanthropy. He believes this means he is cursed by God and is destined to be evil. Renier offered him greater control over his lycanthropy. Cain can now turn any part of himself to its wolvish equivalent. He can avoid changing into a murderous creature most of the time. In return for this, he lets Renier point him in a direction and unleash his rage.
Antonio: Drawn from the opera Der Freischutz. An excellent archer, but afraid of losing an archery competition for his wife's hand, he turned to Renier. He now makes magical arrows in sets of 9. 8 have red fletching and hit whatever he aims for, accomplishing his goal, whether that is to kill, incapacitate, or make any other useful shot. The 9th has black fletching and flies where Satan wills it to fly.
Gianetta: Sexually abused by her father and told it was because she was bad, Gianetta believed it and joined Renier. She can kill with a kiss. Unknown to Our Heroes, she can also change her appearance magically. She is the one who, disguised as a prostitute, stole Ilya's sword. Its combination of pagan hero and demonic essence made it a potent weapon against Mutuol.
Roggerio: No longer a member, he neglected to mention his connection with the diabolists to Liliana, though the other PCs know of it. He used to turn invisible and mix herbs to drug potential human sacrifices into unconsciousness. When one awoke too early, the reality of what he was doing hit him. He left the diabolists and prayed to the Virgin Mary, actually getting an answer. The diabolists don't know of his experience with the Virgin Mary, but the Sforza do. Everyone knows that he received his lute from the faeries. Roggerio is precariously balanced between infernal, divine, and faerie powers.
We joked about comic book parallels. Sebastiano is Charles Xavier, while Renier is Magneto. Renier had his Satanic Seven until Roggerio left, and The Satanic Six just doesn't sound as impressive. Horatio is sort of Cyclops. We've joked that Vincent is Wolverine, being the best at what he does, but what he does is not very nice -- it's raising the dead. Actually, Ilya is closer to Wolverine in temperment. Cain has similarities to Sabertooth, while Gianetta is sort of a cross between Mystique and Poison Ivy.
What follows is extremely Roggerio-centric. I leave it to Josh to detail the fight with Cain, and to him and the other players to write up any details I missed.
The PCs went through the sewers, arriving in the church via a side staircase. From there, they could see that the diabolists had somehow rendered the priests unconscious. The altar had been defiled: There was an inverted pentagram around it, and Mutuol was in the center of it. The bishop he'd struck down was unconscious at the angel's feet.
Renier was chanting. Gianetta was nowhere to be seen, which did not mean she wasn't in the church. Indeed, Cedric and Mook were unseen, keeping to the shadows, Mook having somehow acquired the skull.
Horatio and his men had entered the front of the church. None of the diabolists wanted to kill Horatio, for fear of Sebastiano's wrath, but his men were in a bad position. Antonio was shooting at them. Dolce was using her cat's cradle to immobilize them. Lucius was cutting them to ribbons invisibly, while Cain, in man-wolf shape, was having a similar effect while visible.
I think Roggerio used his music to aid in an attempt to do break Renier's concentration, but I'm not quite sure. Liliana used her magic to cut Dolce's cat's cradle. Jebril broke the altar with his geomancy.
Rafael walked boldly towards Renier and the altar, chanting prayers. Roggerio played to give the angel strength. Mook summoned the Foletti, aka "Mook friends". They kept Lucius occupied.
Then Antonio shot an arrow apparently at Roggerio, but actually at his lute, cutting the strings. I think Ipolitto shot Antonio's bow string, cutting it. Dolce looked at her broken string with the expression of a child with a broken toy. Then, angrily, she tossed beads on the ground near Liliana, whom she dubbed "frosty lady".
Ipolitto and Horatio now focused their efforts on Cain, Ipolitto shooting silver arrows at him. Cain was enraged and maddened by the pain. Liliana started slipping on the beads Dolce dropped. The stone gargoyles in the church attacked, one of them landing on Rafael. Jebril tried to come to his aid, carefully avoiding the beads, only to discover that they homed in on people who were moving. He fell down.
Erik pointed out that Rafael could use his Kabbalistic powers to command the gargoyle with one of the holy names of God. Matt said that he wanted Rafael to spend a round stunned, staring up at the gargoyle on top of him. Next round, he commanded the gargoyle to get off of him.
Roggerio put his lute carefully under the staircase. Then he headed for Dolce, tripping on the beads, but grabbing her ankle and pulling her down with him. He planned to tickle her in the following round.
By then, however, Antonio had restrung his bow. Erik was surprised at how much the PCs focused on Antonio and Cain, apparently ignoring Lucius,and he wanted to draw on the climax of the opera he'd gotten the idea for Antonio from.
Antonio, seeing only chaos around, fired a black arrow, letting Satan choose his target. Liliana used her magic to snap the bowstring, just after the arrow was fired. This was not GM fiat; Antonio was faster.
Roggerio instinctively covered Dolce, lying on top of her. This would have done no good if she'd been the target, and for a moment, it looked as if she might be. But the arrow hit Lucius instead, for reasons I'll go into later. Lucius was very surprised when the arrow hit.
Then, Erik used an interesting GMing tactic. He told Beth that Liliana saw someone sneaking up on Rafael, and Beth gave an in-character warning, so Matt said that Rafael would turn to face his attacker.
Alas, "Liliana" was Gianetta, disguised by magic. Erik had set up a situation where the fake warning cry was given by an unsuspecting, sincere player. He wanted it to be more convincing. Not a tactic I'd use every time, but it seems to have been successful this time. The distracted Rafael was hit by another of the animated gargoyles.
Ilya had been fighting and was now under attack by firey sparks, thanks to one of Renier's enchantments. Roggerio worried that Gianetta, now in her own shape, would kill Ilya with a kiss' but she had no desire to kiss anyone who was on fire. She stabbed Mutuol with Ilya's sword. A moment later, a shadowy figure cut off the angel's wings, with Lucius' dagger.
Renier called off his forces, saying they had what they wanted. Roggerio asked for Ilya's sword and Lucius' dagger. Renier said that the diabolists had but borrowed the sword and now returned it. As for the dagger, they would keep that.
Roggerio reminded Renier that the dagger had Bella's blood on it. Renier said that Bella could speak with him in person about the dagger. Roggerio asked what would happen if she did. Renier said that he guaranteed her safe conduct. This wasn't enough for Roggerio, who wanted to hear that the dagger would be returned. If Renier had told him that, he would have trusted his former leader. As it was, Roggerio looked at Renier from his position on top of Dolce, silently implying that he would use Dolce as a hostage to get the dagger.
This surprised Renier, but before matters could get seriously ugly, they got comically ugly. The shadowy figure removed his hood, and Jebril recognized his brother, Abdullah.
The two Moors had a passionate argument about Abdullah's actions in Arabic, which no one else understood. Then Jebril tried to attack his brother, but Abdullah garrotted him into unconsciousness.
Sometime during the arguing, but before the attack, I think, Roggerio spoke to the air, addressing Mook, hoping he would hear. He told Mook that Abdullah had a shiny that belonged to Bella. Could Mook please take it to her?
While Renier probably didn't hear this, Dolce certainly did. But Roggerio had few options, and Renier had been at Vincent's tournament and knew of Mook's odd abilities. He also knew that Mook, like Roggerio, is a favorite of the faeries. So, the diabolists didn't learn an excessive amount about Mook, I suspect. And if Cedric once used misdirection to keep the diabolists unaware of Roggerio's Heavenly experiences, it was certainly paying off now.
Ipolitto shot Abdullah with his crossbow, but the bolt bounced off, thanks to Renier's magic. Renier said that Ipolitto had been impolite. Ipolitto pointed out that Abdullah had attacked his servant, Jebril. Renier pointed out that Jebril had challenged first, and whatever duel they'd fought was clearly over.
Roggerio: This is how they duel?
Renier gave a "Who knows?" shrug. Roggerio got off Dolce, and picked her up, carrying her to Renier and the other diabolists, leaving her in their care. He told Gianetta that the shape she'd borrowed was fair, but her own was fairer. She nodded her agreement.
The diabolists departed, and Our Heroes gave what medical attention they could to the priests and Sforza men. The former were unharmed, but had a gap in their memories about what happened before they were rendered unconscious. I don't think anyone's yet discovered if he bishop remembers more. Jebril, once conscious, worked on restoring the masonry, including the altar.
Mutuol was near enough death that only the skull could save him. Mook, who had the skull, wanted to save him. Ipolitto said to do so, but the others, especially Rafael, weren't sure that using necromancy to save an angel was the right thing to do. Rafael argued that the angel should be allowed to die. Roggerio prayed to the Virgin Mary for guidance.
Erik noted that this put the deciding vote in the GM's lap, something he hadn't planned on. I pointed out that Roggerio need not get an answer, but he would pray, and his next step would be to ask Cedric for advice. The English monk had, after all, told Roggerio to consult him in case of spiritual crisis, and this definitely qualified. As Cedric was an NPC this would also be the equivalent of giving the deciding vote to the GM.
Erik decided that it was time the Heavenly forces put in an appearance, and Mary told Roggerio that preserving life was never wrong. Roggerio passed this on to the others. Ipolitto let Mook use the skull while Rafael prayed for forgiveness for what seemed to him the wrong course of action.
He too was vouchsafed divine guidance: God spoke to him as a weary father to a child asking why there is evil. He assured Rafael that the others were not wrong to save the angel, nor was Rafael wrong to council against it.
Horatio asked if Roggerio would have carried out his implied threat to Dolce. The musician admitted that he did not know. Horatio said that Roggerio really was a master of intrigue, as he had successfully bluffed Renier, who certainly is a master of intrigue.
Ipoolitto feared Cain would want revenge for the wounds he and Horatio had inflicted, but Erik told Josh, and I presume Roggerio told Ipolitto, that Cain would actually be horrified by the carnage he himself had committed, and deeply remorseful.
Mook did give Bella the dagger, and Rachel told Erik that Bella would give it to Sebastiano to keep safe. Mutuol was brought to the Sforza home to recover.
The Sforza have taken serious losses this year, from both a minor war for control of the city's criminal elements and the battle in the church. The diabolists now have an idea of Liliana's and Jebril's capabilities. Complicating matters, the Sforza household has an angelic guest.
While the diabolists are almost certainly still in Florence, they have vacated their former lodgings and cannot be found anywhere.
After the game, I emailed Erik, noting that, while it was an enjoyable session, not only had the PCs lost, which we expected, but Lucius' death was not due to their actions, but to GM fiat. I knew Erik wanted to draw on the opera, but Josh and I were pretty sure the PCs could have dealt with Lucius. Erik's email explained the larger scheme he had in mind:
The points that you just made had in fact occurred to me well in advance of yesterday's session. I knew that you guys wanted to kill Lucius, and didn't want to suck the frosting off of your gingerbread, so to speak.
Here's kinda how my internal GM dilemma went for a couple of months before last night's session. I had originally wanted to use the black arrow to take out Lucius well before anyone had said that they were going to be gunning for him. (Another element stolen from the opera "Der Freischutz." The final enchanted bullet takes out the diabolist, much to his surprise.) Then I had an internal wake-up call and realized that this would seem so anticlimactic to the PCs, because as you said, it would make everything seem as if the PCs aren't really necessary for the story to go on. That's always a big mistake.
So, finally the big battle is raging. There were two GM cards that I definitely wanted to successfully play. I wanted to introduce Jebbril's brother Abdullah, and I wanted the angel to lose his wings. Now, admittedly, it _was_ a big chaotic battle, and I _had_ made sure to give you plenty of stuff to keep you all preoccupied. But apart from Ippolito preparing a quarrel in advance to shoot at Lucius if the opportunity presented itself, and the players in general relying on the wind faeries to deny Lucius his misty advantage, no one was taking active steps to try to hunt Lucius and kill him. There was far more ganging up on Antonio, Cain, and Dolce. And it was a late hour, so I decided to move things into wrap-up by relying on a shot from Antonio to take out Lucius. (Not the best of justifications, I know.)
Nevertheless, Lucius's death at the hands of Antonio was _not_ a random occurrence in the cosmological scheme of things. While it may have pushed Roggerio away a little bit, it drew all the other diabolists closer to Renier. ("Hmmm... Renier serves the Dark Lord. Renier decides to kick Lucius out of the group. The Dark Lord then makes an independent decision to take the life of Lucius. Wow - Renier really _is_ in tune with the nature of our lord and master!") Also, Lucius _was_ a bit of a loose cannon. After cutting off the angel's wings, he might very well have decided not to stop there, but just finish the angel off. (Quite an ego booster to a serial killer - knowing that you've just offed an angel.)
Now the diabolists have the angel's wings, and the angel is _still alive_, and is _mortal_. Now it's possible for the diabolists to try to corrupt it just as they would any other mortal, which in many ways is easier than trying to rely on what would otherwise require an insanely powerful magical ritual that even then might not work. Remember - I have an evil GM's mind that branches out like a demented spider's web. I really have thought out lots of plot related things far, _far_ in advance, and the things that happen actually do add up to introductions of future plot threads that I've been planning for a good long while. So there is a method to my madness. I won't say more than that - otherwise it will ruin the surprise.
Dolce's Nicknames
Renier: Renier
Gianetta: Pretty Lady
Lucius: Smiley Man
Antonio: [We can't remember.]
Cain: Hairy Man
Roggerio: Funny Man
Abdullah: Smiley Dark Man
Jebril: Frowney Dark Man
Liliana: Frosty Lady
