Sam: By the time you reach the carnival, night has already fallen. About, about, in reel
and rout the rides all dance at night. The lights on strings around the tents burn green
and blue and white.
Ed: Rides? What kind of rides?
Sam: The usual carnival fare. Ferris wheel, merry-go-round, scrambler, and a couple of
children's rides. There are also lots of games, fortune teller, freak show, a hall of
mirrors, cotton candy shop, clowns, jugglers, fire-eaters, sword swallowers - you name it.
Ed: Cool.
Nate: Hmm... What kind of freaks of nature could I make with Life 3?
Sam: Crooked trees? Rose bushes that can put roots down into stone? Not a whole lot, I'm afraid.
Nate: How about man-eating trees? A whole forest of man-eating trees.
Sam: Maybe with enough successes, but you'd really rack up the Paradox doing that.
Nate: Walter wouldn't do that, of course. Not in character, unless he is really good at hiding the kind of person he
REALLY is.
Bill (ooc): I don't think we want to know what kind of person you really are, Nate. You're not going to write stories
about headless horsemen when you grow up, are you? Or poems about sailing to Antarctica?
John: When does the magic show start? And do we see Christabel anywhere?
Sam: People are already queuing up for tickets. And no, you don't.
John: Let's get some tickets, then.
Sam: You manage to find some seats about halfway up the stands. The tent you are in is fairly large, with a stage area
opposite the entrance. The curtains are closed, at the moment.
Ed: What color is the tent we are in?
Sam (glancing at his notes): It's a blue one.
John: I'm going to use Spirit 1 to see if there's anything strange going on in the Umbra near us.
Sam: What's your focus?
John: I cut open my finger with one of my knives and draw a third eye on my forehead.
Sam: Let's just hope no one is looking at you. Dif 4, 1 success.
Nate: I'm going to sing a hymn softly until I can see if any magic is being used in the area with a Prime 1 Effect.
Ed: Me, too. I have Prime, too.
Sam: You only need Prime 1, Ed. Dif 4, 1 success. What's your focus, Ed?
Ed: I draw a rune on a piece of paper and stare at it until I can see the magic.
Sam: Roll. Draw, did you want to do anything?
Draw (smiling mischievously): I'm going to use Correspondence 1 and Life 1 to get a good look at various attractive
women's breasts. I'll drink from my flask and sway kind of drunkenly as a focus.
Sam: Okay. Same difficulty, but 2 successes.
Everyone rolls.
Draw: Three successes. Extending the duration to the entire scene.
Sam: Right. Whatever.
Ed: One success.
Nate: Two successes.
Sam: You both sense magic being used very close to you. Walter can also tell there is a lot of magical activity near the
stage.
John: One success.
Sam: Homer sees nine wraiths standing just in front of the curtain. They are chained together and appear to be involved
in heavy labor, but you can't tell what it is. They look to be suffering immensely. The vision fades before you can get any
other details.
John (ooc): Chain gang of the undead. This bodes well.
Sam: Draw, you are having quite a good time, I imagine.
Draw (ooc): I need to get Forces 3. Then I could actually fondle them, too.
John (ooc): That and Correspondence 3. You'd never need your hands again.
Sam: Yuck! Can we get back to reality, now?
Ed (ooc): What do you mean by that, John?
Draw (ooc): Nevermind, Ed. It'll make sense when you're older.
John (ooc): Life 2 Correspondence 3. Draw could sow his wild oats from the other side of the planet.
Sam begins to wonder if Fanny Brawne or Dorothy Wordsworth would be interested in joining the gaming group. Or maybe
that young woman, Mary Shelley.
Sam (loudly): The curtain opens, revealing a man dressed in a tux, complete with top hat. He introduces himself as
William the Great, and proceeds to perform various minor magic tricks.
Nate: Prime 1, again. I'm trying to watch the show from beginning to end to see if he uses True Magick at any point. I'll
switch my focus to prayer, this time.
Sam: Dif 4, 3 suc. +1 cumulative dif penalty after the first Arete check.
Nate: As long as it takes to get them. (rolls) Agh! Three turns to get it. The dice must hate me tonight.
Sam: William does not appear to be using any magic during the show.
John: That or he's a Tremere.
Bill: Rule Zero, John.
Sam: As the show reaches its climax, William calls Christabel out onto the stage. A few stage hands push a coffin-like
wooden box and a crate of swords onto the stage. William opens up the coffin, and...
John: And a vampire jumps out to attack us all!
Everyone else: John! Rule Zero!
Sam: No vampire. Christabel steps into the coffin and lies down. William addresses the crowd as the stage hands close
and lock the coffin. They put a sheet over the top of the coffin. "And now, ladies and gentlemen, the iron maiden!" He
pulls one of the swords out of the crate. Are any of you doing anything?
John: Um, no. It's just a magic show.
Nate and Ed nod in agreement.
Bill: I think I am going to explore some other parts of the female anatomy, while I'm at it.
Sam: Draw, you feel a force slap your face very hard, and a voice speaks in your mind, "Bugger off, pervert!"
John (ooc): What is this, Mage Night at the Nephandi Carnival? Shouldn't we have gotten some sort of discount or something,
then?
Sam: Walter, there is some real magic going down on stage.
Nate: I let the rest of the cabal know this.
Sam: William plunges the first sword through the coffin. There is a scream, and the point of the blade is covered in
blood where it sticks out. William looks distantly uncomfortable.
John: What?
Sam: William sticks another sword through the coffin. Christabel screams again, and you can hear the sounds of fists
pounding uselessly on the inside of the coffin. With trembling hand, he draws another sword.
John: I trust Mel is a bit upset about this situation?
Sam: Yes. William plunges another blade into the lid of the coffin. Christabel's screams turn into sobs and her pounding
grows weaker.
Bill (ooc): It occurs to me that I might not want to give the GM The Book of Madness for his birthday next month...
John (ooc): Don't you dare. He has too many sourcebooks as it is, and I saw him eyeing Mummy in the gaming store a couple
weeks ago.
Nate (ooc): That's such a munchkin game.
Sam reaches behind his GM screen, lifts up a copy of Mummy, and waves it, grinning.
John (ooc): Stop it.
Sam's grin broadens.
John: Is the crowd reacting at all?
Sam: As a matter of fact, quite a few of them are getting sick, and all the children are crying. The rest are too horrified
to look away.
John: Gotcha. Homer is charging forward, screaming at the magician to stop.
Bill: Time to raid the marketplace at dawn, I suppose. Draw is right behind him.
Nate and Ed: Ditto.
Sam: There is a pool of blood beneath the coffin when you reach the front of the stage. William looks very uncomfortable,
but seeming to believe the show must go on, he draws yet another sword from the crate.
John: I'm charging to the coffin. Is William marked for death?
Sam: Yes. Everyone, what's your Willpower?
John: Six.
Bill: Five.
Nate: Eight.
Ed: Ten.
Sam: (rolls) Homer trips on his way up the stairs. Draw stumbles over him but keeps going. Walter falls to his knees.
Allan, you feel the sensation of a fist slam into your face. Take lethal two.
John (ooc): It figures the one with the lowest Willpower would get off easy.
Bill (ooc): Alcoholic haze.
Nate (ooc): What's attacking us?
John (ooc): Probably the chain gang of Wraith bouncers.
Bill: I'm screaming at William to open the coffin, nervously taking a sip from my flask. Life 1 to see if Christabel is
still alive. Dif 4, right?
Sam: Yes. William calls offstage for the stage hands to bring keys.
Bill: (rolls) Three successes.
Sam: There is nothing alive in the coffin.
John: Well shit. Can I get onto the stage, now?
Sam: Yes. The stage hands nervously remove the cloth and open the locks. Per+Alertness, dif 6.
Everyone rolls.
John: 2 successes.
Nate: No successes.
Bill: 1 success.
Ed: Four successes.
Sam: If you make at least one success, you notice that this is not the same coffin as the one Christabel was in.
John: Great...
Sam: Inside the coffin, penetrated by a dozen sword blades, is a man. His skin is pale in death, but he has a strangely
youthful appearance. You notice a hole in his chest where no sword penetrated.
Nate: A hole?
Sam: Everyone give me Per+Alertness, dif 7.
Everyone rolls.
John: No successes.
Bill: Two successes.
Nate: One success.
Ed: Three successes.
Sam: If you made more than one success, you notice that the source of the hole in the man's chest is the wooden stake
sticking down from the lid of the coffin.
John: Oh shit.
Bill: Aaauugh! Close it! Close it!
Ed: Huh?
Sam: Allan definitely recognizes the man as a vampire when its eyes open and it leaps out of the coffin, features locked
in a mask of fury and hunger. The hole in its chest is gone.
ST (Sam) - Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Draw (Bill) - William Blake
Homer (John) - John Keats
Walter (Nate) - Nathaniel Hawthorne
Allan (Ed) - Edgar Allan Poe