7th Session
All current players made this session, Cat via Hangout due to a last minute emergency.
I had given Vito a visitation from Amelia via email:
-- -- --
[This takes place after the others have left for Mexico City.]
At some point, when Vito is alone, perhaps just after he returns to his hotel room, he hears a tentative voice behind him.
"Uncle Vito?"
It's Amelia's voice. If Vito turns (or looks in a mirror), he can see her. She's dressed like a noble of Carcosa, and she looks very, very tired.
"I don't have much time, Uncle Vito. The King -- he tries to be nice, but... he's not very good at it. He said I could warn you. About Mexico City. You're going to learn something there. Well, you or your friends. Something for what you're doing now. But, Uncle Vito, it isn't enough. That's what you need to know -- it isn't enough by itself. It's like -- it's like being told which building someone lives it. But, that building, it's a skyscraper. A really big skyscraper, with lots and lots of apartments on lots and lots of floors, and no list of who lives in any of them. You could search and search and never find the right apartment. Just knowing the building isn't enough."
-- -- --
Vito sent Remy a letter to update him about the whole situation, wanting to make sure that there was a record, in case something happened to him. He ended with:
-- -- --
Amelia sends her love. When the time comes, you're coming with me, motherf*cker, back to Carcosa. We're going to bring our people home.
-- -- --
Vito didn't sleep well, if at all, after that visit. He did convincne his fellow mafioso that they really didn't want to deal in Nectar, making an economic argument, not a moral one. After all, they want repeat customers, preferably those who spend in multiple areas. He also made an Accounting Spend, showing that the numbers didn't work out in terms of sheer profit.
Me: I don't care whether that's the truth or not; you spent a point, so they believe it's true.
(For GMs trying to wrap their heads around Gumshoe, you don't have to allow a Spend for things that you consider impossible or beyond the scope of what a Spend should do. But, convincing the Los Angeles mafia that a new area they'd never even noticed before wasn't sufficiently profitable to them seems well within the bounds of a 1 point Accounting Spend to me.)
We did a quick "Last Week On..."
Chris: Lillian's bent now? What's up with that?
This turned into speculating about the studio, er, twitter audience (which we don't have) writing fanfic and became a bit of a running joke. Amusing, but I don't want that to get _too_ distracting.
Vito met the others at La Paz. Elena already knew Josh Winters as well as Lillian, and they introduced Martin, who was flirting shamelessly with her. Vito had "dead eyes", as Chris put it, but was polite when introduced, as well as apologetic for not being more sociable.
Elena (noticing "Josh"'s bruising): What happened?
Josh / Joyce: 'Tain't nothing.
When Vito pressed, the others said, "Birds." This was entirely accurate, as far as it went.
As the group walked through the streets, a young girl was carried on people's shoulders in a noisy, joyous celebration of her quniceanera *check spelling* She tossed Lillian a scarf for a splash of color. I said it was yellow, but at Alden's request, we retconned that to be red.
As folks walked through the streets to the party, Chris said that Vito was seeing the streets of Carcosa and imagining himself gunning everyone down. I asked what the others saw. Lilian saw the music. I'm not clear on whether she has synthesis or something akin to it (nor, for that matter, how or whether to model that mechanically, particularly in Trail). I forget what Joyce and Martin saw, but Martin was throwing himself into the joyous mood.
The party was being held at a house that was about to be remosled by its owners before this kind of remodeling became trendy. The party spilled out over two floors and several rooms. Joyce set up to keep an eye on things as she waited for the musicians, doing well enough on a Sense Trouble roll that I figured she would know when the mood changed. Martin flirted and got drunk.
Vito tried to explain what he had learned from his experiences in the 1920s in Carcosa. It's not that he didn't appreciate good art.
Vito: Too much art can kill you.
Lillian: That's nonsense.
Vito: I'll try to smile every now and then so as not to ruin your fun.
Lillian: Just be in the moment. Not the past. Not the future. Just be in the moment.
Of course, the moment was a bit complicated. Joyce was watching carefully, so she spotted the musicians. She also spotted Martin's two sisters, Isabella and Darla, who were under the impression that their brother was safely in rehab at Las Palmas Pacificas, as he had been that morning when they paid their surprise visit. Naturally, they were enjoying themselves in the evening at a party!
Lillian moved to do damage control, asking if her aunt were there. Alas, the sisters had gone without her, so there was no convenient NPC to fob them off on. This is around when Josh came in and started playing them. Elena was happy to introduce them to lots of people, including Diego Rivera, Frieda Kahlo, and Leon Trotsky (aka Lev Davidovich).
Martin, meanwhile, found one of the musicians and pulled him into a private room. He was charming and reassuring, and promised that he and his friends could protect them from Jonathan Brooks, who was beating his own men, maybe killing some of them. Brooks's Russian bodyguard, Konolovov, was currently protecting the musicians from Brooks, reminding him that he and Leticia de la Luz still needed them, but the musicians were terrified of what would happen when their job was complete.
And nothing was good enough for Leticia, who seemed to be calling the shots. They never saw her anymore; she was in a different room, her voice piped to be audible all over the place, and they weren't sure she was well. Sure, they were paid well enough in cash, and they got Nectar for free, but if it hadn't been free, they wouldn't have been interested in it.
Martin asked if the musician had any on him, and when it was clear he had, asked for it. The musician handed it over. Martin did not immediately take it, Betsy and I having, as far as I could tell, a silent agreement that Martin would absolutely take it -- after he'd gotten all the available information.
He covinced the musician to tell him where the hidden studio was. The man said that he and his bandmates had always been blindfolded, but had figured out where they were anyway. It was an underground area, under an old, ruined hacienda, and he was fairly sure that Brooks's cultists owned the house next door to the hacienda. He was nervous about telling Martin this, and said that Konolovov would kill him if he knew he'd spilled the beans.
The musician went out to join his fellows, quietly explaining the situation as they set up to play. Joyce / Josh got ready to sing, and sang the Spanish versio of "The Tennessee Waltz", which is rather different from the English version. Martin took the Nectar.
Lillian decided to dance, I think wanting to dance with Elena. Elena tried to encourage her to dance on her own, and Lillian said something about not wanting to try to follow Elena, so she would dance first.
The musicians played. Elena clapped in time with the music, genuinely wanting Lillian to look good as she danced. I think her current impression is that Josh and Lillian are an item, given that Lillian tried to give her that impression the first time they met. She's attracted to Josh / Joyce, sure, but not about to try to cut in, and I don't think she's currently aware that Lillian's attracted to her. She knows Vito isn't, and I don't think she takes Martin's flirting any more seriously than Martin does.
So, all was going well until the mood changed, something Joyce picked up on instantly. Martin came out of the room where he'd just done Nectar and was spotted by his sisters, who were angry at Martin, but also at his friends, particularly Lilian, who clearly knew that he was there.
At the same time, four men came in, spotted the musicians, and started to move in, reaching for their handguns. Joyce was the only one who spotted this.
Chris asked if perhaps Joyce could give Vito a high sign, and I thought it was perfectly reasonable to assume that they'd worked something out ahead of time. Cat said that the sign was when Josh / Joyce's hat hit the ground.
So, the hat hit the ground. Vito flipped over a table and reached for his gun. Lillian dragged Isabella behind the table Vito had just flipped.
Joyce / Josh (in Russian, to Trotsky's bodyguards): Comrades! Protect Lev Davidovich! The assassins are here!
(brief pause as we applauded this piece of brilliance)
Me: Darla tackles Martin.
Josh: Hey! I'm playing her.
Me: Sorry.
Josh: Yes, she does tackle Martin.
And Martin was on Nectar. Betsy argued that the weaker Nectar in Mexico City and the fact that Darla was his sister would probably keep Martin from trying to have sex with her. I pointed out that Nectar didn't turn one into a rapist.
Me: A firm "no" would keep him from trying to have sex with her.
Alden: It wouldn't be a "no" so much as throwing him across the room.
Chris (pointing out the sigificant piece of data): Hey! We've actually found the line Martin won't cross!
Betsy: Sex with his sisters? Yes!
Joyce and Vito shot at the cultists while Lillian used her martial arts to toss one into the corner of the table. Almost as soon as the fight started, it was done: three of the four cultists were dead,bwhilevthe fourth was unconscious. Many of the party goers were very nonplussed.
Vito: Why is everyone getting upset about a couple of gunshots?
Martin, Lillian, Joyce, the musicians, Darla, Isabella, and Vito, who was carrying the unconscious man, went outside. Lillian hailed a cab. Joyce hot wired a truck with the appropriate Spend. The sisters were told to get into the cab with Martin and Lillian.
Isabella: No, I want to go in -that- car!
After all, it was more exciting, and Isabella was sure that Darla and Lillian could protect Martin, while Joyce and Vito protected her. So:
Cab: Darla, Lillian, Martin Joyce's Hot Wired Truck: Joyce, Vito and prisoner, Isabella, Musicians
Someone: A hot and bothered (?) Lillian is in the car with a hopped up Martin, and Darla.
Lillian told the cab driver to follow the truck. Cat decided to use Joyce's Dilettante ability to turn Trotsky into a contact. There may have been an Oral History Spend involved. Either way, she drove to a Russian safehouse she'd retroactively learned avoid last session while using Oral History to ask around in the Russian community about Konovolov.
Meanwhile, Lillian and Martin started kissing. I -think- Lillian initiated it, but I don't recall for sure. I think she stopped things at the point where Martin tried to undress her.
Darla was not pleased.
GM: Hey, at least Martin's missing a woman.
Darla: No, this is all wrong!
After all, Isabella was the one convinced Martin just hadn't met the right woman. Darla had her feet more firmly on the ground.
Lillian (to Darla): Oh sh*t -- you saw all that!
Lillian or Martin (I think): I'm sorry -- I shouldn't have done all that.
Darla also wasn't happy that Lillian had let Martin take whatever he was taking. After some confusion, we told Josh the bit he'd missed, that Martin had gotten drunk, so Darla could indeed smell booze on his breath and believe, at least for a while, that his state was due to mere inebriation, not to drugs.
Folks arrived in the Russian safehouse. Vito and Joyce took the prisoner into a room, suggesting that the others stay out. The musicians, Martin, and Lillian were fine with that. Isabella wanted to stay, but Darla pulled her out.
As Vito had both Intimidation and Interrogation, iirc, and as the man was certainly at their mercy, he told them what little he knew. Much of this was confirming what Martin had already learned -- where the studio was and Konolovov's role. He also said that there was a huge mouth in the cellars below the studio, and that it sang with de la Luz. This was not a surprise to Joyce and Vito.
Vito was disgusted by the man and threatened to burn out his tongue for betraying his boss. Joyce had to do the translation, but that probably did not make the threat any less scary.
I think that Joyce and Vito adjourned to a private discussion of prisoner disposal.
Joyce: Get a sock and fill it up with rocks.
Vito (amused): Oh, just like I was back in grade school.
Joyce: Before we go shooting prisoners again...
She wanted to make sure that they had all the information the man could give them. Vito left the room to keep from scaring the guy too much. Joyce asked how many men Brooks had. He told her it was half a dozen. Joyce realized that she had no idea whether or not this was the truth. (Joyce does not have Assess Honesty.)
Vito came back in and realized a couple of things. First of all, the man sometimes slipped out of Spanish and into a strange babble. Joyce recognized this as whatever the thugs from Bangkok were speaking in the hangar in New York. Second, the man seemed unable to figure out what was and wasn't true anymore.
Vito looked at the man sadly, realizing that, at least at this stage, the man didn't have the ability to make any choices. He let Joyce know that she might want to leave the room, and she felt no need to remain.
Vito (to the prisoner): It'll be okay. It'll be all right. (breaks the man's neck so that he dies instantly, feeling no pain)
Both in terms of character and in terms of theme, this was beautiful.
Vito now pulled Martin aside to have a talk with him. I forget whether he told Martin what he'd just done, but he might have.
Vito: I'm not going to threaten or intimidate you.
Martin: You're pretty intimidating already.
Vito: You've got two beautiful sisters who love you. You gotta kick this sh*t.
Martin did not disagree.
Vito: I'm not gonna do to you what I'd do to my own son -- or my other two kids.
Martin: I'm... grateful.
(GM hastily scribbles this down, as this is the first indication she's had of Vito's family situation, apart from the fact that his mistress (still needs a name) is one of his Sources of Stability. It says something about Vito that his Sources are carefully chosen not to be blood relatives.)
Vito: By the way, you're beautiful. We'll talk about this later. Now, are you gonna take this sh*t seriously?
I think Martin said that he would or at least nodded. Vito made it clear that he knew it wouldn't happen overnight and that Martin would backslide. He wasn't expecting miracles.
Vito: One day at a time. I gotta know you're trying.
Vito talked with the Russians, expressing his appreciation for the temporary shelter of the safehouse.
Vito: Your boss is involved in politics?
He said that he had some sympathies with unions, if I recall correctly, and made it clear that he'd be willing to give their boss some help, if there were something a man in his position could do to help.
The group discussed whether they should go after Brooks and his cultists at once or wait until the next day, and decided not to wait.
Vito: Josie -- you got your usual hardware?
Lillian: Can we slow down -just- a minute?
Vito: We are getting ready to shoot people. You know what pleasure I take in shooting people. Oh, by the way, you were beautiful. You're great.
This last referred to Lillian's performance in the fight at the party, as far as I can tell.
Naturally, Darla and Isabella wanted to come along. Well, Isabella did; I'm not sure whether Darla did as well. The group decided that it would be best if the sisters could be convinced to return home, or at least to have adventures somewhere less dangerous.
Joyce (I think): Martin? Have you come down yet?
Vito (looking at Martin): No.
Martin: I'm working on this.
Lillian: You want me to handle this?
Martin (consciously modeling his reply on Vito's speech to the Russians): Yes. Thank you. I owe you for this.
He also was well aware of his relative lack of combat skills.
Martin: If there's any fighting, I'm staying on the sideline.
Meanwhile, I think Isabella first thought that Vito, and maybe Joyce, worked for the mafia -- I forget whether this was something I suggested or something Josh came up with on his own. But, when Lillian tried to explain that she, Joyce, Vito, and Martin were trying to stop bad people who couldn't be stopped by notmal meas, I suggested that Isabella might think Martin was an undercover operative, and perhaps the others were as well.
Me: It makes perfect sense!
Isabella: Oh! You're working for the law.
Vito found this hilarious.
Vito: Hey, Josie! Working for the law! I'm a G-man!
Joyce: Hey, I'm legit!
Vito: Where's my badge?
Lillian tried to talk the sisters into leaving Mexico City, explaining that her aunt, whom she'd put them in touch with, was the cause of Lillian having adventures.
Isabella: But I never get a -chance- to have adventures of my own. I can help!
Lillian, and perhaps the others, explained that Isabella and Darla should indeed have their own adventures, but if they stayed with Martin, they'd be in danger, and they'd endanger everyone else, as the others would need to protect them.
Darla said that she'd handle Isabella. Darla then had a wrenching conversation with Martin where she told him to get clean of his drug habit.
Darla: You have to -try-!
Martin: You and the mobster are both telling me this.
Darla: Oh. He -is- a mobster. Will you try?
Martin agreed.
Martin: Stay safe for me, please!
Darla: You have to stay safe too -- you could have been -killed-! Don't get killed!
Marin: Thank you for understanding.
Darla: I don't. But, that's not important.
After that, Vito talked with Martin.
Vito: You know what you've got to do.
Martin showed him the letter from Jeremiah. Vito understood that it was a powerful motivator, but he also understood how addiction worked.
Vito: You know the Nectar's going to drown that out.
Martin: Lillian told me it existed when we left Los Angeles. I only got it yesterday.
Vito: One step.
Vito explained (possibly explained again) about Amelia and Carcosa and the evil of the mythos. I forget the details, but I think the coversation ended like this.
Vito: ...because I am so tired.
Martin: Yes.
Vito: One step -- I am not going to cede the field to -them-!
Martin: There's just us. There's no justice. There's Just Us.
They parted from the siblings, and we glossed over how they fetched whatever equipmennt they wanted, as I was perfectly willing to assume that they could get stuff from car trunks and hotel rooms without being obvious about going back into the rooms. I wasn't particularly interested in playing that stuff out. Things were getting late, and I wanted to get to at least a raasonable cliffhanger.
So, folks went to the hacienda. I forget whether everyone rulled for Stealth or whether someone carried others, but they snuck in easily in the dark and made their way to an underground recording studio that was partitioned into three sections, an engineering's room with a studio on either side. Alert for trouble, folks were not surprised when men started moving into the room from two directions, but rather moved quickly to prevent themselves from being boxed into a kill zone.
Joyce and Vito opened fire on the cultists coming from one direction. I think the was the point where Martin used his alarm whistle (unless that was at the party?), which I ruled increased the opposition's difficulty on such rolls as they had to make by 1. Lillian moved quickly to keep Konovolov from moving into the room, thus preventing the second group from entering the room, and disarmed him. I think the two may have done some inconclusive scuffling, or perhaps he was winged lightly by a bullet or by Lillian. He did manage to move into the room after a few seconds, letting a couple of guys get in after him.
During this time, Martin decided to hide and stay on the sidelines, like he had said he would, and he did this well. He also noticed that the soundproofing was not equally well applied everywhere in the room. On examining this more closely, he found cables behind the loose soundproofing, followed them to the studio Konolovov's men were trying to get through, slipped past them (high Spend, good roll), and found a hidden door opening on a stairwell leading further down. He started to follow the stairs, noting that he could cut the power from there.
The cultists were dropping, but at least one of them shot Vito. Lillian vaulted off Knonolovov's shoulder, flew through the air, and, with her kukri, she beheaded the man who'd just shot Vito. Blood arced through the air onto Lillian's dress, just like the red scarf she'd been wearing earlier. Vito confirmed his opinion that Lillian was a natural stone cold killer. (Everyone who did killing this episode easily made the Stability roll for that.)
There were still several thugs standing.
Konolovov: We will accept a surrender.
Lillian: So will we.
This gave me an unexpected opportunity. Konolovov, as written, is ready to double cross Brooks and kick his Nectar habit for a thousand dollar bribe, but figuring out how to get this point across without being absurdly obvious is tricky. The line I gave Konnolovov wasn't actually intended to introduce the idea, but to give the PCs a chance to surrender and get put into an Inescapable Deathtrap, which would make for the cliffhanger ending. But, Lillian's counteroffer opened things up.
GM: He looks _so_ tempted. But, his eyes flick to the others.
Lillian: You don't have to surrender as a group.
Konolovov hesitated, again, clearly tempted. Lillian warned him that the clock on the offer was ticking down. Chris made a Credit Rating spend for Vito and had the mobster hold up ten one hundred dollar bills, his guess, utterly unprompted by me, and utterly correct.
Konovolov now had no intention of fighting, but there were still several cultists still standing, and Vito had shot through his ammo drum. Either he or Lillian made a Preparedness roll to have a grenade, and Lillian tried to throw it into the room the cultists were still trying to get out of.
I honestly don't recall whether she made the roll or just missed it, but either way:
-- The grenade went off -- Lillian hit the ground and pulled Konovolov on top of her -- Joyce ducked into the other studio, the one farthest away from the blast radius -- Vito tried to do something similar, ducking up the stairs that the bulk of the dead cultists had come down. I don't think he made that roll, though I don't recall.
After some confusion, I remembered that the point of Joyce's Athletics roll was to get her behind sufficient cover to protect her from blast damage, so she took none. Vito and Lillian took some, if I recall correctly? It wasn't a huge amount, but at this point, Vito was down to 1 Health. Konovolov took a fair amount of damage, but survived (possibly to Vito's disappointment, as he'd reasoned that if Konovolov died, he wouldn't have to pay the man). I didn't bother to roll for the cultists. It was a grenade, it was time to start wrapping for the evening, and it was appropriately cinematic.
Martin (hearing the boom): Well, I'm glad I'm not up there.
GM: Hey, Joyce, Lillian? There's just one problem. Where's Martin?
This was the running joke from the previous session, and they checked the corpses quickly, to make sure that none of them were Martin.
Betsy thought Martin would have left a note. I vetoed that, given the short amount of time involved, but pointed out that it wasn't as if it would be hard to figure out which way he went. At worst, a Simple Search of the room would do it, and at best, the door might be open.
Martin decided that he would cut the power, firguring it would give him an advantage. He wasn't trying to attack anyone, after all, so if they couldn't see him to attack him, that was a win.
This meant that, as the others found the door and the stairs, the lights suddenly went out. I decided not to call for a Preparedness roll or Spend for flashlights. They all knew they were going into a cellar. They got equipment. Flashlights are I'd expect them to remember. Also, using flashlights shows other people where you are, and not all those people are friendly.
Also, they had something else to worry about. Singing filled the area, a duet between Leticia de la Luz and La Boca, aka the Mouth of Mexico City. It was the song that had been playing on the record player in the apartment where two men had killed each other, and it was setting the unwilling listeners' teeth on edge.
This was a 3-point Mythos Stability roll. Martin made it. I don't recall whether Joyce or Vito did, but they might have. I am fairly sure that Lillian did not make it.
GM: So, Lillian's got this pillar, Art is the Creation of Beauty and Meaning? Well, Lillian, as the song rings out, perverting the very idea of meaning and beauty, you realize just how wrong you were, and just how right Vito was when he said that too much art can kill.
Alden said that Lillian was having a flashback to when she beheaded the cultist upstairs, the fight replaying in her mind, everything about it sychronizing with the singing. It was her first kill.
GM and Alden: And it feels _so good_!
Joyce: Vito! Get Lillian out of here!
Lillian: First one of you who touches me gets a knee in the groin!
Vito (weighing this carefully): I'll be willing to take that from you.
Martin thought about using his whistle. I'm glad that didn't happen, because I have no idea what the result of trying to use sheer cacaphony to block the song should be, beyond a vauge feeling that it shouldn't work.
Then, Martin, the Nectar addict and non-combatant, was the one who remembered Elena Alcatruz's Nahuatl song. He sang it, and it worked to cancel the effect of de la Luz and La Boca's singing.
And, he spent all his Art points and carried everyone.
GM: Now, there are downsides. You have to keep singing and you obviously can't talk. And everyone not wearing earplugs will hear you coming -- oh. Right --
Betsy (who had just reminded me of this): Ventriloquism.
Yep, Martin's Art specialties are Sketching and Ventriloquism.
We agreed that this was the place to break, and we'll finish stuff up, I think, on the 29th.
This was a fine session. Everyone got to be awesome.
And folks said that if Josh did join the game, he could stat up Darla. Martin's two sisters constitute a single Source, so that wouldn't mess with anything mechanical. Or, if he makes sessions irregularly, Darla can flit in and out, or Josh can play other Sources of Stability. That said, I think the current ides is that, if Josh makes the next session, he should probably play the (very wounded) Konovolov.
