John: Is it possible for us to get our possessions back? I don't want to have to ransack the medical supply closet for
scalpels.
Sam: You kept the murder weapon?
John: I sure as hell didn't leave it on the body! Fingerprints?
Sam: So you brought a bloody knife into the hospital with you?
John: Of course not. I would have washed it off somewhere. Aren't there any public fountains in Edinburgh?
Sam (waving a hand): Okay. Whatever. You all can get your possessions back.
Bill: Cool! I'm taking a sip of my medicine. Life 2. Coincidental, right?
Sam: Definitely. Dif 5, 1 success.
Bill: (rolls) Oh hell. Botch.
Sam: Ouch. Two points of Paradox. Hmm... As soon as you take a sip from your whiskey flask, you get sick all over the
floor. The nausea passes quickly, but the hangover remains.
Bill: Draw mutters, "I knew I should have stayed away from those eggs. All wholsom food is caught without a net or a trap."
Nate: Walter sees this and lays hands on Draw's shoulder. "There. Now your body should be back to normal." Life 3. Will
it be coincidental? Everyone feels better after vomitting.
Sam: If only because nausea is the worst sensation in the world.
John: I beg to differ. Dying of consumption is far worse. Coughing up blood, struggling to breathe. And it never goes
away like some little flu bug.
Sam: You're right, John. Sorry. In any case, as long as the recovery from the hangover is gradual, it'll be coincidental.
Dif 6, 2 suc.
Nate: (rolls) No successes.
Sam: Well, Draw. You don't feel any better.
Bill (ooc): At this rate, I'm going to recover from my hangover by recovering from my hangover.
John: I'm well enough to leave the hospital, right?
Sam: I suppose. What did you have in mind?
John: I'm going to look for a shop where I can buy antique knives. Since vampires might be involved, I'll see if I can
afford a couple of silver-plated blades.
Nate (ooc): You're thinking of werewolves, I think.
John: I have Prime and a decent supply of Quintessence. I can inflict agg with my bare hands if I want. I'm thinking
that an ancient knife with Celtic runes on the blade might make a great focus for some of my attack magic, if that becomes
necessary tonight. Keep it coincidental.
Ed: Good idea, John. Allan is going with Homer to look for knives. The runes would fit my paradigm nicely.
Sam: Okay. The two of you are going shopping for antique, silver-plated knives with Celtic runes on them. What are your
Resources?
Ed: Resources 3.
John: Resources? Oops. I knew I was forgetting something. "Hey Allan, mind if I mooch?"
Ed: "Not at all."
Sam: Um, you just met this guy an hour ago and you're already lending him money, Allan?
Ed: Sure. Why not. If there's trouble at the carnival, I'd rather have well-armed companions with me than unarmed ones.
Sam: It's just that... Nevermind. It's really not important, I guess.
John: Great. How many knives can we get with Resources 3?
Sam: How many were you looking for?
John: As many as we can afford.
Ed: Yeah.
Sam: Well, you find two knives each.
John: Four knives in the entire city of Edinburgh?
Sam: Four high-quality, silver-plated, antique knives with Celtic runes on the blades. Yes.
John: They don't all have to be antiques. If they look like antiques, that's good enough. How many silver knives can we
find that look old and have runes on them?
Sam: (rolls some dice lazily) You find twelve fairly believable replicas.
Ed: We buy them.
John: Yeah. I hide all mine in my trenchcoat.
Sam: You're hiding eight additional knives in your trenchcoat? How many knives did you have there before?
John: Just four. Oh yeah. Plus the three I took out of the kitchen.
Nate (ooc): Shit! What the hell are you going to do with thirteen knives?
John (ooc): You'll see, Nate.
Nate (ooc): Dare I ask?
Ed: That gives me an idea. Can I find a place that sells swords. I bet I can find one that looks like the Highlander's,
or maybe one like the sword in Blade. That would be cool.
Sam: Homer, with thirteen knives, you're going to rattle like a jester on a roller coaster. And Ed, are you planning to
bring a sword with you to a carnival? This isn't D&D. People don't carry weapons wherever they go.
John (ooc): Some of us do...
Nate (ooc): Well, other than the ones who are hitmen for wraiths, they don't.
Ed: What about guns? We don't want to get any closer to a vampire than we have to, right guys?
Sam: Sorry, Ed. This isn't the U.S. Firearms aren't legal in the U.K.
John: That doesn't mean they aren't around.
Sam: Do either of you have a Contact with a weapons smuggler or similar low-life?
John: No.
Ed: No.
Sam: Then neither of you have any idea how to find illegal weapons in Edinburgh.
John: Okay. (smiles) Let's go to Edinburgh Castle. Might as well see a few of the sights while we're in the neighborhood,
right?
Ed: Sure. We go to Edinburgh Castle for the rest of the day.
Sam: Is that all? Can we move on to tonight, now?
John: Not quite. I'm going to go to one of the war museums in the castle and steal the guns out of one of the display
cases.
Sam (with a look of horror on his face): You're going to what?!?
Ed (ooc): They have guns in Edinburgh Castle?
Nate (ooc): (falls on the floor laughing) Your character's new nickname is now Homer Phoenix, John.
John (ooc): Yeah, except not nearly as well guarded. It's just glass. I'll use Entropy 1 to find the weakest point and
hammer through with the butt of one of my knives.
Sam (smoldering): Oh yes it is. I know you're prepared to die for love, but is Homer really prepared to spend the
rest of his life in prison for love? There is no death penalty in the U.K., either. You could be Bubba's mistress for a
long, long time, you know.
John (ooc): Come on. I'm not stealing Gatling guns, here. A couple of hand guns, and then I go hide somewhere. I have
three dots in Stealth and an Arcane of three. It's gotta be possible.
Sam (pleading): Please don't do this, John. I don't want to have to kill Homer off in the second session...
Bill: It's not like they keep ammunition in those cases, either, John. You'd be lucky to find three or four rounds. A
gun isn't much use without bullets, you know.
John: I guess you're right, Bill. Nevermind, Sam. Ed and I will just wander around the castle looking at the
scenery. Can we see the carnival from the castle walls?
Sam: You can see a couple of large tents in the distance at the edge of town, but you can't make out any real details.
Ed: What color are the tents?
Sam: (shrugs) Most of them are white or tan. A few are a brightly colored.
Ed: How many, and what colors?
Sam: I don't know. Two red ones, three green and white ones, two blue ones, one yellow one, and maybe one red and green one.
Ed: Nine colored tents? One for each Sphere. That can't be a coincidence.
Bill (ooc): You're right. A GM doesn't create coincidences unless they're linked to the plot somehow.
Sam knows this was a coincidence and begins trying to figure out how it's supposed to fit into his plot.
Sam: Anything else? Are we ready to move on to tonight's carnival?
Bill: Almost. Draw is going to make a stop at a liquor store. He's really stocking up. He's also going to buy a few small
flowers to give to any young women he might fancy at the carnival.
Sam: Okay. Night falls.
Ed and John: Crash.
Nate: Hold on. I'm going to make the rounds in the hospital and check the other patients for any signs of bite marks.
Sam: But Walter didn't notice the scabs on Christabel's arm earlier.
Nate: Oh yeah. Then I'm just going to go about my daily business. Do I notice anything unusual about the patients?
Sam: Well, one of them is moaning the name "Hastur" in his sleep, but that shouldn't alarm you.
John (ooc): I hate you, Sam. You know that?
Sam: Thank you, John.
Nate: Hastur?
Bill: Long story.
John (ooc): Hastur's one of the gods of H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulu Mythos. His moniker is "He who must not be named" because
saying his name will cause Hastur to appear and wreak havoc on the world or something.
Sam: Yes. Thank you, John. Moving onto tonight's carnival...
ST (Sam) - Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Draw (Bill) - William Blake
Homer (John) - John Keats
Walter (Nate) - Nathaniel Hawthorne
Allan (Ed) - Edgar Allan Poe