Sam: When last we left our cabal, they had just paired off for their own little conversations, breaking Rule One of
roleplaying - never split up the party. While Draw and Walter are out getting trashed, the plot wagon rolls forward.
John (ooc): Crushing us all beneath its wheels.
Bill (ooc): Drive your cart over the bones of the dead, I always say.
Sam: Everyone at the hospital, give me a Perception + Alertness check, dif 7.
Everyone rolls.
Ed (ooc): Two successes.
Fanny (ooc): One.
Mary (ooc): None.
John (ooc): Two successes.
Sam: Everyone but Clara is woken by the sound of glass breaking downstairs.
John: Homer immediately grabs a few knives and goes to investigate.
Ed: Allan does the same.
Fanny: Christabel removes a compact from the nightstand and uses the mirror to look at the source of the racket.
Ed (ooc): Are the women's rooms just around the corner from the sound of the noise?
Sam: No. The sound is coming from downstairs.
Ed (ooc): Then how can she see the source of the racket with her mirror?
Bill (ooc): Correspondence, I think.
Fanny (ooc): Yes. Correspondence 2.
Sam: Difficulty 4.
Fanny: (rolls) Two successes.
Sam: Could you step out of the room with me for a moment, Fanny?
Fanny (ooc): Sure.
John (ooc): This could be bad.
Nate (ooc): Maybe for you. Walter and Draw are out drinking while you guys are getting your butts kicked by whatever is
breaking into the hospital.
Sam (smiling innocently): That's what YOU think...
Fanny and Sam leave the room.
Nate (ooc): So, what is everyone going to buy next with their Experience? I think I'm going to see if Sam will let me go
on a Seeking. I have the 28 XP saved.
Mary (ooc): In two more sessions, I should have enough to buy Forces 3. I already have a few rotes in mind, and the
inventions to make them coincidental.
Bill (ooc): I might have enough to get Life 3 by the end of this session, though it will depend on whether Draw can find
some scrap of new enlightenment or a mentor to teach it to him. It will be fun to go into a drunken rage and kick some ass,
for once. No more of this kick people in the shins and hope they notice.
Nate (ooc): Walter could teach Draw Life 3.
Bill (ooc): The paradigms might be a bit weird, though. Maybe we'll have a drinking contest. Draw can learn how to make
his body absorb alcohol without any side-effects, and Nate could pass out and have a near-death experience that results in a
higher degree of enlightenment.
Nate (ooc): Yes, he'll learn not to try to drink a Cultist of Ecstasy under the table.
John (ooc): What exactly would you roll to stage a drinking contest?
Mary (ooc): Stamina, certainly.
Bill (ooc): According to the rules, every two drinks inflicts one die of bashing damage.
John (ooc): Not much drama in that system, though. I mean, on one hand, it ignores alcohol tolerance. On the other,
with a decent Stamina and a bit of luck on the dice, you can drink gallons of whiskey without ever getting drunk. Shouldn't
it get harder and harder to resist the effects with each drink?
Bill (ooc): It seems like a strange thing to turn into a dramatic system. A drinking contest has very little game
effect, after all.
John (ooc): Unless you return to the hospital after getting trashed, only to find an army of Nephandi trying to
disembowel the rest of the cabal.
Bill (ooc): Good point.
Nate (ooc): What are you going to buy with your XP?
John (ooc): Actually, I just picked up Prime 2.
Bill (ooc): Didn't you need a mentor?
John (ooc): Nah. Sam said it was no big deal. Homer has been hanging out with Allan - the guy who whips out lightning
bolts every five minutes - and their paradigms are not too different.
Ed (ooc): Yes. We both like swords.
John (ooc): Knives, actually.
Ed (ooc): Nevermind. 8-Bit Theater reference... You know, the Original
Final Fantasy web comic?
John (ooc): I see. I guess that makes you Fighter, Draw Black Belt, Fanny White Mage, hmmm...
Mary (ooc): And you can be Red Mage.
Ed (ooc): What about Clara?
Mary (ooc): I don't think she would fit into that game. (smiles slightly) Unless you want me to be Black Mage...
Nate (ooc): Maybe Cid, then.
John (ooc): He wasn't in the first Final Fantasy. Well, at least not as a PC.
Nate (ooc): Actually, Allan is more of a Black Mage, throwing around lightning bolts whenever the opportunity arises.
Mary (ooc): True, but he just doesn't do evil the way it needs to be done.
Nate (ooc): Maybe you're evil Princess Sara, then.
Mary (ooc): Maybe. Or maybe I'm just an imp.
(Meanwhile...)
Sam: You see a man dressed in a black ninja outfit sneaking around downstairs. He's holding a small device in one hand
that looks like the ghost detectors from Ghostbusters, and he appears to be headed for the stairs leading into the basement.
Fanny: What could be in the basement?
Sam: The only thing in the basement, as far as you know, is a small chapel.
Fanny: Can I use Mind 2 to figure out what he's doing?
Sam: Sure. Difficulty 8.
Fanny: What? Is it Vulgar or something?
Sam (smiles slightly): No. Let's just say he has some protections...
Fanny (rolls): One success.
Sam: You get a brief glimpse of a For Sale sign outside of the hospital before his thoughts become lost in the fog that
conceals them.
Fanny: Weird. Where are the other characters?
Sam: Allan and Homer are going down the stairs to investigate the broken window, armed with knives. Mary is still
asleep in a small room just down the hall. Draw and Walter are not in the hospital.
Fanny: Okay. Christabel is going to keep an eye on the ninja, ready to attack his mind if he causes trouble.
Sam: Alright. Stay here for a little while. I'm going to catch the rest of the group up.
(Sam goes into the main gaming room.)
John (ooc): Hey Sam, what would you roll for a drinking contest?
Sam: Isn't it just a die of bashing damage per two drinks?
Bill (ooc): Yes, but that doesn't take into account alcohol tolerance or the increased difficulty of staying sober.
John (ooc): Right. With a decent Stamina, you could soak alcohol like a sponge without ever getting drunk.
Sam (smirking): How about Stamina + Streetwise, with a health level of damage for whoever gets the fewest successes?
Bill (ooc, clapping his hands): Yes! I KNEW there was a reason why I took three dots in that skill!
John (ooc): What would be the difficulty?
Sam: I don't know. Maybe dif 5, with a cumulative penalty of 1 per check, not to mention the health level penalties.
And why are we discussing drinking contests, exactly? Has Walter decided to try to drink the Cultist under the table?
Nate (ooc): If he does, could I buy a Seeking?
Sam: Drinking contest, Chorister, and Seeking - somehow, those three things aren't fitting together in my mind...
Nate (ooc): Bill and I decided that Walter would teach him Life 3 if Draw will help me get a Seeking.
Sam: A Cultist of Ecstasy attempting to help a Celestial Chorister find enlightenment? Is this like that theoretical
dual Tradition Verbena/Chorister John was pondering earlier?
Bill (ooc): A Celestial Chorister/Verbena? How does that work? Pray for divine intervention and then sacrifice a goat
just for good measure? Pagan AND Monotheist?
John (ooc): It could work. Kind of a religious environmentalist with New Age leanings.
Bill (ooc): Have you been sharing your opium with John and not with me, Sam?
Sam: I just told him I'd think about it.
Bill (ooc): Right. And then you made your own Verbena Chorister as a villain for your Mage chronicle, didn't you. Rule
Zero just isn't sacred anymore, is it?
John (ooc): At least when you give the GM ideas, you know what you're up against. Left to his own devices, he's only
going to find his own way to screw us.
Sam: This is true...
Nate (ooc): So, can I buy a Seeking?
Sam: It seems a bit strange for a Chorister to derive enlightenment from alcohol.
Nate (ooc): We figured out a way. If Walter has a near-death experience, wouldn't he learn something from it?
Sam: You're going to drink yourself into a coma?
Nate (ooc): If that's what it takes.
John (ooc): Sounds more like a Euthanatos Seeking than a Chorister. Maybe I should go out drinking with Draw when I have
enough XP...
Bill (ooc): So much for having an upright citizen around to help Draw back to the hospital...
(Fanny peeks into the room)
Fanny (ooc): Are you almost caught up, yet?
Sam (ooc): Uh, almost. Just give us a few more minutes.
Fanny (ooc): Okay. Have they seen the ninja, yet?
John (ooc): Ninja?
Sam (ooc): Never you mind, John. You'll see soon enough.
Nate (ooc): At least now we know how Thief fits into all of this. He got his class change, already.
John (ooc): In Final Fantasy X, Bahumet's overdrive is awesome, though I don't know why the king of the dragons would
run around wearing a wagon wheel on his back...
Fanny (ooc): Could you hurry up? You're taking forever.
Sam (ooc): Okay, Fanny. Go back into the kitchen. We'll let you know when you can come out.
(Fanny leaves.)
Sam: Anyway, Allan and Homer were headed downstairs to the source of the noise.
Nate (ooc): You never answered my question. Can I buy a Seeking?
Bill (ooc): And can I get Life 3?
Sam (glancing at the door to the kitchen): Um, sure. Whatever. Now, the other two of you have found a window broken in
one of the hallways.
Nate (ooc): Yay!
Bill (ooc): Awesome. You're asleep still, right Mary?
Mary (ooc): Yep.
Bill (ooc): The four of us could play eucre while Ed and John are chasing this ninja.
Mary (ooc): Okay.
Ed: With Investigation, could I track him by following the trail of broken glass?
Sam: Sure. Perception + Investigation, dif 7.
Bill (ooc): Sam, the four of us will be in the kitchen. Let us know when we're back together again.
(Ed rolls.)
Sam (ooc): Okay. Sure, Bill.
Ed (ooc): Three successes.
(Bill, Mary, and Nate leave the room.)
Sam: Okay. The two of you manage to track the trespasser to the locked door leading down to the basement. At least, it
WAS a locked door. Now, it is a pile of splintered wood. The smell of smoke fills the air.
Ed: Is something on fire?
Sam: No. The smoke seems to have come from the charred and splintered remains of the door.
John (ooc): Looks like ninjaboy has a Ring of the Ram.
Sam: What are you doing?
John: Homer is going to glance at Allan, eyes widening slightly, before descending into the basement.
Ed: Allan follows.
Sam: Both of you give me Per + Alertness checks, dif 8.
Ed (ooc): Is it an ambush?
Sam (evasively): Maybe...
Ed (ooc): Because if it is, I get to reroll 10s because of my Alertness specialty.
Sam: It's not an ambush.
John (ooc): Well, that's a relief.
Ed (ooc): Wait. I have an Alert specialty for Perception. Do I get that bonus?
Sam (ooc): Sure.
(Ed and John roll.)
John (ooc): Yikes. A nine, a two, and three 1s.
Sam (ooc): At least it's not a botch.
Ed (ooc): You're not going to believe this.
John (ooc): You failed a check with eight dice?
Ed (ooc): Close. I BOTCHED a check on eight dice.
John (ooc): Dif 8 is a bit high.
Ed (ooc): I would have botched a dif 7, too.
Sam (ooc): Neither of you see the ninja until you walk into the chapel. Allan trips over the man's foot before either
of them even realizes there's someone else in the room. He has a weapon that looks like something on the Sci-Fi Channel in
one hand, and a device that looks like one of the ghost activity detectors from Ghostbusters in the other.
John: "Who are you, and what are you doing here?"
Sam: "Just examining the merchandise." He waves the gun at you.
John: "Merchandise? What are you talking about?"
Sam: "This hospital is on a nice piece of property. The city council is thinking about rezoning the area to a comercial
district, and I was just seeing if this building could be demolished and replaced with a Wal-mart."
John: "Let me see if I understand you correctly. You dress up in a ninja outfit and run around with a gun and a machine
that goes ping in the middle of the night, and you want us to believe you've come to check out the resale value of a place
that is not even for sale? Tell me if that doesn't sound a wee bit out of the ordinary to you..."
Sam: He snarls and pulls the trigger.
John: Can I dodge? I have the Lightning Reflexes specialty.
Sam: Sure. (rolls) Two successes.
John (rolling): Four successes.
Sam: Homer leaps to one side as the weapon fires a bolt of white heat that reduces one of the pews to a pile of
smoldering rubble. Can I have an initiative check?
John (ooc): Hmm, could this guy possibly be a Technocrat?
(They roll.)
Ed (ooc): Five successes.
John (ooc): Four successes.
Sam: He only got three. Go ahead, Allan.
Ed: Allan is going to stab him in the foot with one of his knives. (rolls) Four successes.
Sam: That one surprised him. Roll damage.
Ed (rolling): One success.
Sam: He howls in pain as the blade slices into the side of his foot. Homer.
John: "No one shoots a BFG at me and lives to tell the tale!" Attacking him with a knife. (rolls) Four successes, plus
rerolling the two 10s due to knife specialty... (rolls) Two more successes.
Sam: Damage?
John (rolling): Soak lethal 5.
Sam (rolling): Ouch. No luck. Severely wounded, he pulls out a sphere and throws it on the ground. A cloud of smoke
fills the room, and when it clears, the ninja is gone. (pause) Oh damn. I forgot to tell Fanny to come back into the room.
John (ooc): I'll get her. (leaves the room)
Sam: Tell them all to come back, now.
(The rest of the group comes back into the room.)
Fanny (ooc): I'm never letting you and Nate be partners again, Bill.
Mary (ooc): No kidding. Talk about Call-it-itus. I don't think you're allowed to go alone when your partner orders it
up, Bill.
Bill (ooc): I'm sorry, but I had a lay-down hand when he called it hearts. I thought for sure it wouldn't get back to
me.
Fanny (ooc): Dumb luck, perfect empathy, or table talk - you decide.
Sam: Fanny, shortly after they found and severely wounded the ninja, he disappeared in a puff of smoke.
Fanny: Can I find him?
Sam: He isn't anywhere in or near the hospital.
Fanny: That's not good.
Sam: Draw and Walter return to the hospital at dawn with a swagger in their step and a light of triumph in their eyes.
That's where we'll stop for the week.
ST (Sam) - Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Clara (Mary) - Mary Shelley
Christabel (Fanny) - Fanny Brawne
Draw (Bill) - William Blake
Homer (John) - John Keats
Walter (Nate) - Nathaniel Hawthorne
Allan (Ed) - Edgar Allan Poe