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Mass Transit Abomination
With the club issues settled the Mages had a few days of peace before the next bit of news arrived via their favorite conspiracy paper “Sick Sad World”.
It seems that women in the city were being kidnapped, but only for a few hours before being let go. It was exactly the sort of odd situation that surely no good could come of. Sounds like a job for… the Mage PCs Who Had Not Yet Come Up With a Cabal Name! (Not very catchy, is it?)
With the Stars (in alphabetical order):
- Aenaiyah: Mysterium/Acanthus
- Argus: Guardian of the Veil/Obrimos
- Marissa: Apostate/Acanthus
- Molly: Apostate/Mastigos
- Neils: Free Council/Obrimos
- Nokoni: Adamantine Arrow/Thyrsus
- Rex: Free Council/Moros
Through a combination of obtaining police reports (Argus) and twisting fate to stumble upon newspaper articles (Marissa) the group manages to track down a few of the kidnapping victims’ names and addresses. They decide to split the list while interviewing the formerly kidnapped women. Aenaiyah and Molly pose as a journalist (Aenaiyah actually was one before her Awakening) and journalism intern looking for some additional information for a newspaper article that they are writing on the mysterious kidnappings. Argus flashes his FBI badge to talk to some of the others in a more official capacity with Rex as his partner. Neils and Nokoni argue about who will be keeping an eye on Marissa (she is only a child after all), meaning that neither one of them was actually paying any attention when she wandered off to get ice cream. Ultimately they found her and bought her a Wii to keep her busy while the others brought back the information they had obtained from the victims. It seems that each woman was grabbed in the area of a particular train station in the city. This station is conveniently located next to a bar, which is probably where the women were targeted. Oddly enough, each of the women tell a similar story – the kidnapping was a weird sort of “Scared Straight” scenario in which they were kidnapped, brought to a disused subway tunnel, and ranted at regarding how unsafe it is for young women to be alone in the city at night.
If only the Mages knew a woman with shocking purple hair and a slutty wardrobe who might be kidnapped at a bar…
Oh! Hello Aenaiyah!
And so the plan is set. Aenaiyah will go to the bar, where she will hopefully be approached by the kidnapper. Sounds like a great plan to me! Oh, and Argus will turn invisible and follow her when she gets dragged off. :::yawn::: When “last call” is made and still no kidnapper approaches Aenaiyah (she can tell that the random drunks trying to get lucky just don’t have the necessary Fate aura to be the kidnapper), they think the evening might be a loss…unless… the kidnapper might not actually approach the women at the bar, he might just follow them down to the train platform. And so Aenaiyah, with invisible Argus in tow, heads down to the platform where she is promptly kidnapped and dragged away.
She is dragged through the maze of tunnels to a disused area where a couple of other women are tied up waiting for the arrival of the evening’s final student.
Class is now ready to begin!
Of Mice and GMs
As GMs we were faced with a problem. On the one hand we had a lot of great material to work with that was nothing short of brilliant. I do not in any way exaggerate when I tell you that hearing about the events of the second session from the other GM’s perspective made me laugh so hard that tears streamed down my face, I couldn’t breathe, and I couldn’t stop! How do you not abuse that? What kind of GM would it make me if I let that go? I have a responsibility to make the PCs miserable at any given opportunity, and this one was given on a silver platter with a side order of steel toed boots and an invitation to kick hard and often.
The problem is that all those hilarious things went down in the second session of the campaign. Sure, now I’m not against a TPK, but at the time I had only just invested in a bunch of books to GM this bad boy and I wasn’t sure I was quite ready for a TPK in the third session.
How the times have changed!
As a result we decided to teach these people a lesson about being discreet, while leaving at least some of them alive to play another session. And so we decided that the news guy who had been at the club that night, the one who got sent home from work the next day ranting about monsters, did his ranting in front of a Hunter who also worked at the station. This particular Hunter is not of the “all monsters must die!” variety. This guy is a member of Network Zero: The Secret Frequency. (See: Hunter the Vigil) The fine folks at Network Zero are all in favor of vicious uncontrollable monsters meeting violent ends, but they understand that not all “monsters” are monsters. Mostly what Network Zero wants is to prove that they aren’t insane. They want to prove that the monsters are real.
And so, when they heard about the events at the club they saw a golden opportunity to not only meet some monsters in a social setting but maybe get some Werewolves on film!
And so they made some fake invitations. And they made a fake club (heck, these guys work in TV Production they know how to build a set), and they got the cameras and the sound equipment in place and they waited.
One of the Hunters posed as a bouncer outside of the “club”. The previous night the Werewolves transformed when they were refused entry into the club. This is why their bouncer was, under no circumstances, to allow them to enter the club.
AND THEN THAT PURPLE HAIRED NUISANCE SHOWED UP!
She stroked his arm, she flipped her hair, she cast Perfect Moment and he let her in. If he hadn’t allowed himself to be so distracted by her maybe Matteus wouldn’t have gotten the drop on him so easily. If he hadn’t been trying to show off what a big tough man he was to her maybe he wouldn’t have decided to let Matteus get the first shot in free.
If he hadn’t been trying so hard to show off maybe he wouldn’t have gotten his ass beat before using that silver sword cane he was leaning on to trigger a wolf-out like he was supposed to!
Ultimately the Hunters ran out as fast as they could leaving some of their camera equipment behind. The Mages and Werewolves, instead of ripping each other’s faces off and roasting each other on spits like we had hoped, used it to discredit them by filming an attack by “fake” Werewolves. How did they do this? One of the Werewolves went into Gauru form and Rex, the Matter Mage, made a fake zipper to stick to his back like it was just a costume that looked real good from the front, and real ludicrous from the back.
They then posted the videos online and headed to the bar for a few brews together.
I ask you, what did I do to deserve this?
In Other News:
Right about now you’re probably asking: “What about the people who went off to find the Werewolves in Central Park? “ If you are, you are not alone in this. Aenaiyah and Nokoni were asking that too…repeatedly… while I was attempting to stall.
You see, I knew something that they didn’t. I knew that the Werewolves didn’t happen to be in Central Park right then and there. I knew this because their GM IMed me so.
This is a parallel campaign. While my table of Mages busied themselves retrieving a grimoire in France, the table of Werewolves had problems of their own to deal with back home in NYC. A group of Azlu were operating an illegal nightclub in a “place-that isn’t”, existing only in the Spirit Realm and only being accessible for a few nights out of every month. (They were running a module called “Parlor Games”.) Nokoni, being a Thyrsus Mage, is aware that Werewolves play an important role in protecting the physical world from threats attempting to reach through the Gauntlet and tells his fellow Mages so. As a result the Mages are afraid that perhaps someone left that body at the edge of the park in an attempt to cause trouble for the Werewolves of the city. In reality the Werewolves found the body hidden in the truck, about to be disposed of by servants of the Azlu, and one of the less responsible Wolves decided that if they posed the body in the van they could draw out the murderers and deal with them. This happened early on in the second session.
As an amusing side note: at the start of the third session one of the Werewolf players asked if that particular decision made the news, and when their GM started shuffling through her papers to find a handout he knew that no good could come of it.
And so, when my Mage players asked yet again: “So, what about the folks who went to Central Park? Have we made contact with the Werewolves yet?” I had no answer for them. The Werewolves were chasing down an Azlu who had bolted from the fight last session and the combat that followed was taking longer than the conversations at the Mage table. Eventually I was forced to just own up to it. I told them “The Werewolves aren’t at the Park just yet.”
Aenaiyah: “Well, why can’t we just skip ahead until they are at the Park?”
Me: “Ummmm…”
Aenaiyah: Gives me the stink-eye
Me: “I’m not sure when they are going to get there yet. I’m trying to find out.”
Aenaiyah: “What do you mean you’re trying to find out!?”
Rex: “Wait-a-minute… these Werewolves we’re trying to make contact with… they wouldn’t happen to be…” points thumb towards the other game table, “those Werewolves, would they?”
Me: Shrugging in a non-committal manner “Maybe?”
Hilarity ensued.
Who Let the Dogs Out?
The Mages have a mystery on their hands. They have a body in a van, and it has drawn a great deal of attention from the mundane world. Not only is the well read though little believed conspiracy rag “Sick Sad World” reporting on this, major news outlets are reporting on it too. This is exactly the kind of thing that draws the attention of Hunters, which makes it precisely the type of thing the Guardians of the Veil are supposed to prevent from happening.
What follows, right after a certain purple haired Brit gets asked a few questions about who she is and why she’s in the city, is lots and lots of research.
WHO LET THE DOGS OUT
A ‘Sick Sad World’ Exclusive Story!
According to this article distributed by an anonymous press (download the PDF at the link above!) some art students from The Cooper Union were witness to the events of the previous evening. Both this article and the previous one, MONSTER IN MANHATTAN, seem to indicate the presence of Werewolves at the club. The van’s headlights were shining on a symbol carved into a tree that is consistent with a Werewolf Territory Marker. The thing is, the body that was found in the van doesn’t look like it was killed by a Werewolf. Werewolves aren’t exactly known for sucking the insides out of a body while leaving the candy shell intact.
Somebody must be trying to call out the city’s Werewolves!
The Mages decide that the best thing to do is split the party. Having noticed the sidebar about the “NBC Production Employee sent home after Wild Ravings”, one group (including resident FBI Agent on Sabbatical Argus Guille, and Moros Mage Rex) will be heading to the station’s offices to track down this employee and talk about what happened. One group: Mastigos Molly, Free Councillor Neils, and the Acanthus child Marissa, is heading off to the college to talk to the students who drew the artwork. The third and final group, Thyrsus Nokoni and the newly met Acanthus Aenaiyah, are off to Central Park to see if they can be not torn apart by the city’s Werewolf community.
At the TV station Argus abuses his FBI credentials to have a chat with the production manager who sent the employee home. She informs him that the employee was working on a story about illegal casinos operating in the city. It takes a while to get inside of one, or even track one down. They move around a lot, and don’t operate every night. He had finally gotten in, without smuggling in a camera because he knew he would be searched, when something happened that drove him totally over the edge. His manager’s suspicions involve drugs. She doesn’t believe he was deliberately taking any, but perhaps the operators of the casino were drugging the gamblers to loosen their wallets. Maybe her guy just had a bad reaction to something that they used. At any rate, she can give the FBI agent her employee’s home address, but obviously she can’t guarantee that he’ll be there. She advised him to see a doctor, but doesn’t know where he actually went after leaving the office.
At the college our intrepid Mages have little problem tracking down the artists they are looking for. Neils, being an academic, knows his way around a college campus and how to chat up the students. Molly, being a Mastigos Mage, can read minds. It’s a pretty potent combo in this situation. The fact the the law enforcement type didn’t tag along doesn’t hurt. The students are more than happy to talk about what they saw. “It was freaky man, they were like… Werewolves or somethin’. Pretty crazy. I mean… I know I was a little high… but this picture is like totally accurate…”
Sick Sad World of Darkness
The second session of the campaign closed with The Loquacious Grimoire happily in the hands of Mysterium Librarian Meijis (and for the record, it is both the book and the librarian that were happy), and our budding group of Mages starting to look like people you could come to trust the safety of the city to. This is why late that night (or early that morning, depending upon your point of view) resident Guardian of the Veil, FBI Agent Argus Guille, received a message indicating that he should go to CNN*s home page immediately. Upon confirmation that he granted the request of the ranking Guardian in the city, I handed him the following:
Clearly it was destined to be one of those days.
The text is as follows:
Gruesome Murder May be Work of Serial Killer, NYPD says
The body of a murdered woman was found near Central Park. The woman, who remains unidentified at this time, was found posed behind the steering wheel of an SUV wearing an evening dress. 5 More bodies found in a nearby alley.
Successful WITS+INVESTIGATION rolls would draw their eyes to the following headlines deftly inserted along the side of the picture among the actual headlines of the day by yours truly:
Naturally, since this was printed on a piece of paper (and since I didn’t actually create a website for any of this) the links didn’t go anywhere for them – nor will they for you. They were, and are, for the sake of a realistic effect only.
And so, Argus decides to rouse the rest of his Scooby Gang and investigate. The following Mages were at the Sanctum at the start of Session 3:
Argus: Guardian of the Veil – Obrimos
Neils: Free Council – Obrimos
Marissa: Apostate – Acanthus
Nokoni: Adamantine Arrow – Thyrsus
Rex: Free Council – Moros
They arrive on the scene to police putting up barricades and trying to get the lookie-loues out of the way. They also spy amid those lookie-loues a young woman with green hair and the aura of a Mage. The decision is made to keep her close since they don’t know who she is or how she might be involved. It is at this point that new player character Molly Carpenter – Mastigos – Apostate joins our intrepid group of adventurers!
Argus does some mad bluffing (MANIPULATION+INTIMIDATION) and amid many successes he convinces everyone that he is currently with the beaureau, and that he is in charge here. Since he is in charge he orders the NYPD officers present to just keep people out of the immediate area while his cracked team of Crime Scene Investigators begins the hunt for the killer!
The body is posed in a van, as can be seen in the “photo” on the website. What can’t be seen in the picture is that the keys are in the ignition, the headlights are on, and the door is wide open resulting in that godawful “ping ping ping” noise going on…and on… and on…
Rex and Nokoni are able to determine that there is no muscle tissue in the body, nor are there any internal organs. Only the skin and bones remain. As can be seen in the “photo”, the eyes are also completely gone. The skin is leathery, and it is difficult to pinpoint a time of death. The usual smell of decay is absolutely not present, but there is an acidic odor present. There is no blood in the body, and as such there is no bruising. “Forensic Gaze” reveals that the cause of death is a deep “V” shaped wound at the base of the sternum that is mostly hidden by the dress that the body still wears.
Neils and Argus detect no magical resonance, and so it would appear that this is not the work of a Mage. It didn’t really look like the work of a Mage, but it’s always important to rule that out! Getting his hands on a fingerprinting kit from the NYPD officers on the scene, Argus is able to determine that there are fingerprints inside the van and on the body, in all of the places you would expect to find them considering the fact that it isn’t bloody likely that this person happened to die while waving hello to someone.
Molly scans the mental state of the crowd of gawkers and doesn’t sense that anyone present is aware of what happened here. She also keeps an eye on young Marissa, who seems to have found something interesting lying in the street.
CNN isn’t the only ones reporting on this:
MONSTER IN MANHATTAN: A Sick Sad World** Exclusive!
(Yes, you can click this link!)
Argus arranges for the body to be removed by a police officer who happens to be in the confidence of the Consilium, and taken to a coroner who happens to be a Moros Mage. This taken care of the group heads to their base of operations at the New York Public Library to figure out their next move, where a young woman with a British accent, the aura of a Mage, and spikey purple hair happens to be sitting in their path.
(*GM’s Note: With all due respect to CNN! I asked myself, what would be the most frightening place for a story like this to turn up, and CNN’s solid reputation for quality reporting made it the only choice.)
(**GM’s Note: When challenged to come up with a name for my campaign’s conspiracy tabloid I could think of no finer tribute to some of the best people I’ve ever had the pleasure to work alongside than naming it “Sick Sad World”. Truth.)
Mage Mistress 