Welcome to Grinkyville, Citizen!
GM: Erik Hanson
Players:
Beth 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, in Ipolitto's service
Lee Painton: Vincent di Giovanni, Venitian nobleman and Necromancer.
David Siegel: Jebril, displaced Moorish architect in the service of the Sforza family.
Matt Stevens: Rafael Marancini, Jewish Cabalist and advisor to Ipolitto.
Rachael Tang: Bella Ziani, midwife and visionary
Ipolitto, Liliana, Rafael, Roggerio, and Jebril entered a faerie mound in the Pyrenees. Their mission: Get permission to harvest moonlight, the second of three unusual ingredients necessary to counteract an addictive poison that kills if one stops taking it.
Bella took an unusual combination of drugs one day, while Vincent tried a new ritual. In both cases, the result was waking up in the faerie mound.
Erik requested us all to write down what our character would expect to see in a high court of the Good Folk. I cribbed a section from the poem Orfeo. Josh and Beth came up with similar descriptions without cribbing. These 3 were the basic high court of the late Middle Ages with traditional faerie elements.
Dave created an Arabian vision of djinn and brass domes. Rachael came up with a drugged, surreal vision, nut all that different from Bella's normal perceptions. Lee described a riot of life which would horrify Vincent. Finally, Matt's description said, basically, "Lots of non-kosher stuff that I can't enjoy." This made Erik laugh and know he could have fun with it.
Erik took all 7 descriptions -- and handed each player a different one than the player had written, simulating the strangeness of faerie. Vincent still protested the riot of life he saw in Ruggerio's vision. The faerie decided to help Vincent by temporarily turning him into a zombie. As parts of him fell off, helpful faerie servants stitched them back on.
Rafael was able to handle Ipolitto's vision, and was surprised to see that some of the faerie were dressed in somber black woolens, having academic discussions and enjoying modest repasts. Meanwhile, Ipolitto was somehow aware that he must not eat the succulent pig or the cows swimming in milk of Rafael's vision, and decided what he had heard about it being taboo to eat faerie food was true.
Bella was horrified at Liliana's vision, which was too close to sanity for the midwife who drugged herself to avoid seeing reality as it was. Worse, none of her drugs seemed to work for her. Jebril, with Bella's vision, was having serious trouble with synaesthesia. Eventually, Bella calmed down, deciding this was as weird as drugs anyway, and Jebril was given one of Bella's drugs. It worked on him, and while it didn't make the effect stop, made it easier to cope with.
Roggerio had Jebril's vision, while Liliana had Vincent's. Both found the land under the hill strange, but not unpleasant. Liliana liked the giant mushrooms and the tapestry-like leaves.
All of them were told that the price to harvest moonlight was high. Everyone had to give up an item of clothing marking their allegiance -- to the Giovanni for Vincent, to the Scarpelli for Liliana, to the Sforza for everyone else. Everyone recognized that the price was indeed high, but no one demurred.
In return, the group received items of clothing with tokens of the Reefmaster, Grinky, who was in charge of harvesting moonlight. These tokens would let him know the group had the good will of the court to harvest moonlight. Everyone set out, and Vincent was restored from his undead state. On an OOC note, Rachael was with her children in the next room, hence Bella's uncharacteristic passivity in the rest of the session.
As they followed a river, the vegetation grew ever larger -- or perhaps, they grew smaller. A huge net came down, catching them all. It was wielded by a 60 foot giant, the Reefmaster Grinky.
Grinky upended the net and everyone tumbled out except for those holding on to the net. This included Liliana, who was afraid of heights, and Rafael. Naturally, after Grinky dumped them out by vigorously shaking the net, everyone ignored Rafael to go to Liliana's aid.
Once everyone was recovered, Grinky welcomed everyone as citizens of Grinkyville and assured them that they could indeed harvest moonlight, as citizens did every night. He introduced them to the rest of Grinkyville.
Grinky: Old citizens of Grinkyville, say hello to -new- citizens of Grinkyville!
Depressed Citizens of Grinkyville (in unison): Hello.
The citizens, normal sized humans, shuffling out of grass huts in ragged clothes, greeted them unenthusiastically. The group began to get the idea that they were in trouble.
Roggerio: How long has everyone been here?
Old man: I was born here.
The new citizens of Grinkyville asked the old if anyone had ever tried to leave. They soon learned that Grinkyville sat atop a high plateau, reminiscent of the Cliffs of Insanity from the Princess Bride. As a practical demonstration, Erik held up a pencil, explaining that it represented the cliff. The eraser on top was the village. All around was a raging river filled with giant salmon.
Sometimes, people tried to jump over the cliff.
Citizen: The lucky ones are caught by Grinky before they hit the water. The unlucky ones are caught by Grinky after they hit the water. The really unlucky ones are caught by Grinky after a fish swallows them.
Roggerio: Grinky can get them out of the fish?
Citizen: Grinky controls the water. Grinky controls the fish. (pause) There was a time when a lot of people all went over together. Even Grinky couldn't get them all out of the fish.
The arrival of new citizens did, at least, bring a brief respite from the daily Game of Grinky.
Beth: Why do I have the suspicion that the Game of Grinky is like Calvinball?
Citizen: On a good day, the game is Mayor Grinky. On a bad day, it is King Grinky.
Ruggerio: And on a very bad day?
Citizen: Divine Grinky.
Roggerio (sotto voce to Vincent): If it is Divine Grinky, we could start a satanic cult. I know how such things are done.
Vincent: Roggerio, sometimes I like the way you think. Only sometimes, mind you.
Roggerio (realizing how much he's missed Vincent): Milord Giovanni, I take that as a complement.
To my surprise, Ipolitto and Rafael tried to escape before anyone had harvested moonlight. Ipolitto wanted to use his magical seeing glass to pierce any illusions. Alas, it seemed to have gotten misplaced when he fell out of the net. Josh asked if this meant the tactic wouldn't work, or if it just wouldn't work yet. Erik confirmed that it was the latter.
Rafael tried to pray as Grinky decided to make him Jester for the day, to cheer up the citizens, who seemed insufficiently happy. His booming announcement interrupted the prayer. Rafael started again, dovening, only to be picked up by the sash he was wearing with Grinky's token. Grinky decided that the words of the prayer were no longer funny, but the movements were.
Erik: Grinky invents the yo-yo.
Between Walking the Dog and Around the World, Rafael found himself dizzy, disoriented, and unable to complete his prayer.
Evening fell, and Grinky told the old citizens to help the new ones learn to harvest moonlight. The new citizens were given barrels and lowered slowly down in rope harnesses, as Erik continued to get mileage from Liliana's fear of heights.
At last, they were in the river, which now held pure moonlight. They filled the barrels. Vincent took out a flask, emptied its contents, filled it with moonlight, and put it away.
Roggerio (following suit): Milord Giovanni, sometimes I like the way you think. Only sometimes, mind you.
Vincent: Roggerio, I take that as a complement.
Grinky: Citizens of Grinkyville, we have drink! Let us also have food!
Beth: Wait a minute. Are we sitting on fish hooks?
Indeed, they were. The salmon proceeded to swallow the bait. Vincent used his magic to make himself taste like a zombie. This caused the fish which had swallowed him to regurgitate him with alacrity. Vincent wondered if this were such a good idea, as he sailed into the air, then fell back down, clinging tightly to the rope throughout.
GM: Vincent invents bungee jumping. Unfortunately, he doesn't have an elastic rope.
Grinky found this so amusing that he decided to make Vincent the new Jester. While all survived being swallowed, they were quite ready to leave Grinkyville, especially Vincent.
Unlike the PCs, the players had a blast in this session, and we dubbed Grinkyville a cross between Paranoia's Alpha Complex and The Village of The Prisoner. Erik said he'd never seen a group of players laugh so hard at how hosed they were.
This was a very well structured episode. I think the switched visions did bring home how strange Faerie was, as Erik had hoped. (This was similar to Kat Miller's approach in her Everway adventure City of a Thousand Moons.) The price for moonlight was a nice foreshadowing of the perils to come. Grinky and Grinkyville were totally unexpected, extremely evil, and beautifully appropriate. The humor was a good mood shift, and it was time for a reminder of how perilous the Faerie are, even when they are being helpful.
