Demonic Trails of Cthulhu Prelude (Part One)

We worked a lot on the ambiance for this one.

Our first demonic Trails of Cthulhu session was a hefty 12 hours where we all dressed up in period costume and ate fitting foods as the day wore on.  We began with their pre-fall experiences and I read our choice sections of Gaviel's speech as description (from the core rule-book), making sure to keep good eye contact throughout so that it could be far more gripping.  We also dined on delicious raspberry pancakes during this section for morning tea.  Some of the roleplaying highlights included:

·        Shifting the focus from two humans to a very specific immortal yet reproducing race of humans meant that a lot of Asharu (guardian angels) had to be re-directed from other animals to the human race.  This meant that a messenger sub-type of guardian angels, Haruta (NPC), ended up having to protect his own tribe.  Haruta's restless boredom and urge for stimulation, the way he would almost allow his mortals to thirst to see if there was a reaction, gave good contrast to Nithriel's (PC) forthright devotion and desire to protect his tribe as well as her own.  Of course, in the days of paradise humans mingled and passed between groups fearlessly and without much comprehension that they even had swapped around.

·        Abaddon (NPC), herself, confronting Nithriel when she withered and removed some thorny bushes so that mortals could sleep in the shade, thus slowly destroying that species (as all the other Asharu did the same for their tribes).

·        Protecting humans while allowing them to largely wander where they may could prove quite difficult, such as when an Annunaki (landscape crafting angel) called Gipontel (PC) had to tunnel a hole in the side of an about to erupt volcano so that humans could cross it without fear.  The trouble was that the lava was directed into a valley where Abaddon had been storing plants and animals considered too problematic by the other angels, thus ensuring their deaths and, in some cases, extinction.  Since Abaddon is to be an Arch Duke of the ultra-violent Ebon Legion, this should prove interesting indeed.

·        Finally understanding the Ebon Legion's creation in a time before true hatred and violence when Haruta (NPC) saw little point in continuing to protect mortal humans since they would die soon anyway.  Instead he wanted to win the war against god to remove mortality from humans and saw fixation on that goal as a better path.  In other words good intentions could still lead to the Ebon Legion.

·        Seeing early days Nithriel (who doesn't change much through her fall) and Gipontel (who does) is quite interesting.  Early Gipontel has all the social awkwardness of his kind and none of the political grace he will later obtain.

·        Humanity were hidden in a number of cave networks around the world by the Annunaki (angels of the material world) while the Namaru (angels of power and originally the word of God) created a defence against radiation and heat when God smote the Earth (actually a solar flare).  The Asharu (angels of the wind and life) then had to rush off to separate carbon from oxygen and recapture oxygen lost to space to re-form the correct atmosphere.  Within a week humans were back on the world.

July 1923

I had dressed as Gwen Ashburn (NPC).

Then we moved to the human prelude where Master Theodore Ashburne of Astley (PC) and his family are being entertained at the Mogens Estate, New York, as part of a business venture with his father.  Ambrose Mogens is not in attendance (or so they thought) but a number of his investors and other important figures are, though the Earl of Astley finds the whole thing rather humiliating since Ambrose (reclusive millionaire as he is) didn't come out of hiding to see him.

Ingrid Kensington (PC), daughter of Jonah and Julia Kensington of Prospero Press, and student pathologist is also in attendance as she had been invited along by her supervisor, Mr. Rupert Harper, as his Plus One.  Mr. Rupert Harper misunderstood the timing on the invitation and arrived for dinner rather than the gathering afterward but the staff managed to flawlessly include them in the dinner.  Miss Kensington spoke mainly to an alleged medical engineer working of new plastic surgery techniques involving skin grafting - a Mr. Maximillian.  Later she determines that he is a conman, though he declares himself a financier in disguise, because she notices how much he searches the room for angles and opportunity.

Little did she realise that Mr. Maximillian was none other than Ambrose Mogens himself!

We celebrated this dinner with a well-laid table and a variety of yummy sandwiches.  These included such surprisingly tasty fillings as:

·        Two slices of lettuce with condensed tomato soup in between.

·        Sliced cucumber, salt, pepper and dill, with cream cheese on one slice.

·        Mashed banana with raspberry jam spread.

·        Raspberry jam and cream cheese.

·        Sliced tomato, lettuce and cream cheese, with pepper.

·        And then two different types of little tarts, bought from Woolworths.

Later Master Theodore and his sister, Miss Gwen, moved out of the busier main rooms during the main party and came across a partially opened trophy room filled with all kinds of strange relics.  Naturally Miss Gwen became enamoured with a carved silver skull with a key between its teeth and a book of Latin above it.  She asked Master Theodore to read it out to her, since she could understand spoken Latin better than written Latin.  Poor boy soon realised that once he started reading, he couldn't stop, and with nothing more than a glance her way before his eyes were ripped back toward the book, he unleashed hell.

Miss Gwen was slain instantly, dropping dead at the feet of that dread book, while Master Theodore was knocked across the room and laid up by the door (quickly possessed by Gipontel).  Feeling a strange calling sensation, Ingrid Kensington hurried their way and upon discovering the dead girl, having never previously met the owner of the corpses she dealt with, she was utterly horrified.  And in her moment of weakness, Ingrid was slain as Nithriel slammed into ownership of her body.  Nithriel immediately set about resurrecting Miss Gwen as the body was quite fresh, but the poor sixteen-year-old twin remained unconscious.

This allowed Nithriel and Gipontel to speak and realise their true identities.  Gipontel peeled back the marquetry flooring and hid both skull and book underneath, shortly before Mr. Maximillian opened the door and took the three of them (Miss Gwen, he carried) into a sitting room.  There he opened some cognac (which one of my players brought along) to discuss matters and introduced himself as Belphigor.

Both players chose to spend a point of Legacy so we had a flashback to their first encounters with Belphigor.

·        Nithriel wished to heal those mortal followers of God (their enemy) of the wicked disease that another of her kind, an Asharu called Riyazagor, the Black Wind, had wrought upon them.  None of the other Iron Legion were willing to risk his wrath and enter his land … except for Belphigor.  Once they arrived a few mortals tried to signal God's angels, but instead Riyazagor arrived with his squad, and threatened to slay them both for treasonously healing the enemy.  Haruta, one of Riyazagor's subordinates, stepped forward for he didn't want to be responsible for either of their deaths (though he namely pointed out that it was a poor day to kill the Radiant Champion, Belphigor).  So instead the two duelled while the others watched and Belphigor put on a good show while Nithriel smuggled the humans out.  Later when she returns to help him, the others have gone and Belphigor is limping weakly toward her, one damaged wing fluttering.

·        Gipontel had been tricked through political machinations into assisting Belphegor (twin soul of Belphigor and Lady of Sighs) in the cruel citadel-fortress of Ninatan (Palace of Sighs) built in the bowels of a volcano.  We played through his conversation with Belphegor as she eagerly mentions that her brother has offered himself to her so long as she released her mortal test subjects, but she simply took him in and kept the others.  She now needs Gipontel to reinforce the fortresses defences.  Though she betrayed him, Belphigor remains for the full year and a day out of honour and doubtless also out of hope that she might at least release the mortals with him at the end of their time.  She does not.  When he leaves, though, he leaves with three converted fallen and then assaults the fortress using weak points that Gipontel had cunningly hidden among its defences.  It's during their conversations that Gipontel becomes more politically astute, learning how to influence through words alone, and how to identify such influence.  The training isn't formal, more subtle revelations seeded through Belphigor's words, as it seems the Radiant Champion knew from the beginning what Gipontel would do.

Nithriel asks if there is a job she could do for the important and influential figure, this Radiant Champion, this Fell Knight of her Faustian Faction, and he is pleased to accept.  Belphigor offers to distract Theodore's parents and claim that he is convalescing and needs time alone.  He seems confidant that he can manage to do that, so Gipontel assumes he has some sort of mind controlling power, as befits a Devil of Radiance.

Anyway, the mission is long enough to require its own article so I'll type it up later.

Demonic Cthulhu Character: Zipacna

Fallen Name: Zipacna

Titles: Sculpter of the Fleshy Form (Malefactor).

Sub-House: Forge (Mummu).

Legion: Crimson Legion (Honourable War).

Faction: Faustian (Schemer)

Demonic Personality Traits:

Zipacna Personality Traits: A curious and utterly naïve fallen angel who could become very excited by a new proposition without thought to the potential long-term repercussions.  She was also quite secretive on her various projects, a trait that became her downfall.

Zipacna History: Initially she was designed to help craft animal flesh out of base matter and thus knew a little of the Devourer's craft.  Zipacna chose to enlighten humanity for no other reason than because she could see the potential there and because the highest of the angels said it was a good idea so it had to be.  She likewise followed Lucifer directly into the Crimson Legion, supposing he must be correct.  She learned her craft alongside many others under Nemere's tutelage and grew to love enchanting relics.  She was convinced to secretly assist Abaddon himself with plans to create a relic that would allow demons to mate with mortals to create children, turning their spiritual bodies into flesh.  She invented the Stone of Fecundity and Limitation that would clothe one in mortal bones and blood and anchored their immortal essence to mortal seed.  Several score of these stones were created and from them were made the Nephilim.  At the time she was incredibly pleased, later she was mortified.  Once she reached the Abyss, she saw that perhaps the issue wasn't the Nephilim but those who were entrusted to raise them.

Host: Emily Probst

She was granted a host by Ambrose Mogens who devised a ritual to summon her out of the pit with the assistance of his cult.  Her host is the biologist Emily Probst whose mind was thoroughly fractured after being raised as a fifth generation cultist and thus being exposed to strange truths from an early age.  She now performs startling research into human fertility and cloning, mainly ethically shaky, and is invaluable in helping discover new chemical compounds that can help drive the flesh warped creatures kept in the Mogens Institute.  With mortal science and demonic magic, she plans bring forth a new human race, combining the best features of mortal and demon.  Nominally the Minister of Lions as she is involved in the defence of the place.

Physical Form and Powers

Annunaki Power (Enchant Device ):Zipacna has the rare ability to imbue items with flesh warping energies, however, without a Rabisu of the right lore she has no control over exactly what power is imbued or how it will manifest.  These devices, most often bracers which are attuned to an individual or stones which are swallowed, will produce a particular flesh warping power whose effects are unknown until it is tried.  It is a potential 8 Stability loss per use of these unchained devices.  There are no known methods of reversing these effects.  Zipacna doesn't know of this new limitation yet and so is experimenting with multiple artefact combinations on Mogens' patients.

If she works with the right Rabisu she can spend 1 point of Faith to imbue a limited version of that Rabisu's power into the device (i.e. if the Rabisu can buff themselves with a floating pool of extra general ability points as their central power, she can instead put a +5 permanent boost to a single general ability into the devices).  With an additional point of faith she can ensure there is no flesh warp when such a device is used.  Fallen can only use a number of these devices equal to their permanent Faith rating and must spend a temporary faith each day to empower them.  Mortals may only use one such device.  Further devices *will* instil an Appearance Defect on top of any Benefits.

Roll twice on both tables to get the result of a particular artefact:

APPEARANCE DEFECT

1.      Facial features warped in a hideous and inhuman manner.

2.      Skin covered in blisters, rashes, raised fleshy scales or simply peeling.

3.      Enlarged body with inhuman or twisted limbs, strange gait.

4.      Hair thickens and becomes semi-mobile, like tentacles, growths on face and body.

5.      Tumours appear sporadically about the body, benign but weeping pus.

6.      Symbiotic insects live and grow within special sacs in host body, swarm over skin.

 

BENEFIT

1.      Gain 5 points of Health (may raise the cap beyond 10).

2.      Gain a venomous attack which deals +1 damage over five rounds to the victim.

3.      Increase the target number to hit them to 5.

4.      Gain

5.      Gain 3 points in Athletics and Fleeing, and a dog-like sense of smell.

6.      Gain a 0 damage natural weapon used with Scuffling, or simply enlarged fists.

Annunaki Form Ability (Iron Skin): When using her revelatory form which costs a point of faith, Zipacna gains 2 points of armour and can suppress encountered poisons for the duration of her apocalyptic form.

Mummu Form Ability #1 (Tremor Sense): Zipacna can feel the approach and movement of people and devices within thirty feet by simply making skin contact with the ground or a wall.  Her Alertness Modifier goes up to +2 in a low-vibration area, though this can be reduced to a +1 if there is a lot of vibrations in the area.

Mummu Form Ability #2 (Relentless): Zipacna can physically work without need of rest, and is able to cover superhuman distances without pause.  As long as she stays in motion, she is unaffected by fatigue or hunger.  She can work relentlessly in a workshop so long as she is in her revelatory form.

ACTUAL STATS

Abilities: Athletics 6, Health 10, Sanity 5, Scuffling 8, Stability 6, Weapons 6

Faith: 3; spells - Enchant Cane, Enchant Knife, Enchant Whistle.

Hit Threshold: 4

Alertness Modifier: +0 / +2

Stealth Modifier: +0

Weapon: +0

 

Armor: 2

Demonic Cthulhu Character: Haruta

Fallen Name: Haruta

Titles: Demon of the Scouring Wind (Scourge).

Sub-House: Wind (Elil).

Legion: Ebon (War At Any Cost).

Faction: Ravener (Destruction).

Demonic Powers

Haruta History: Always eager for stimulation and adventure, when he was moved from his duties as an Elil to fill the role of a Dagan (guardian angel) for a tribe of unaware mortals he tended to not take his responsibilities so seriously and would provide little tests to entertain himself.  Nothing cruel but quite shocking to some of the Dagan.  When they were made mortal, he vowed to do nothing but war against Heaven until they could be re-gifted their immortality and passed his own tribe over to Nithriel's protection.  He ended up in Riyazagor's squad after the First Murder showed him so many other roads to excitement, and would scour the enemy while his boss, the Black Wind, inflicted the mortals with dread diseases.  Since Haruta became rather disruptive and insubordinate when bored, he was later sent to a squad of rejects under Shaitan within the Ebon Legion.

Host:  Lettice (Letty) Hennington is the daughter of a Lord who has been sent to the same boarding school as Gwen Ashburne, daughter of the Earl of Astley and twin to Theodore Ashburne.  When Theodore accidentally unleashed the demonic PCs from the silver skull, she simply fainted against her dancing partner and then recovered her stance as a demon at the tender age of sixteen.  Letty had been weakened by the glitter of the dance party, knowing the suffocating boredom of her home and the cold disciplinarians that were her parents who had quietly institutionalised her brother for his socialism.  She couldn't stand the idea of going back to them and had actually considered suicide if she couldn't snag an American husband who could keep her in glitz and glamour.  Haruta chose to keep his situation quiet because he knew who else had been packed into that skull and didn't want to be Gipontel's servant again (as he had during the Victorian era, a time they can't remember).

Physical Form and Powers

Elil Power (Speed of Wind): Haruta can move at an incredible speed  (up to 100km/h) for a human beings and can use that momentum to get thirty feet up a wall before having to grab onto anything.  This additional speed also means that Haruta acts as though his relevant skill is double what it actually is in terms of initiative - in other words, he almost always acts whenever he damn well chooses to act.  When coupled with Fist of Air, or using two handguns, he can fire both guns in the same round at a +1 Hit Threshold.  Finally he can cover thrice as much ground when swimming or climbing per turn.

Asharu Form Ability (Wings): A pair of eight-foot-long wings extends from her shoulders that allow her to take off from a standing position and glide up to three times her running speed.  Even without using these wings she is lifted a few inches above the ground by a non-existent breeze which runs through her hair, allowing her to pass through an area without leaving any prints.

Elil Form Ability #1 (Whirlwind): Haruta is harder to hit and gains a +1 bonus to Target Number to hit due to the pressure of the wind enveloping her form.  Enemies must also spend an additional point of Scuffling to grapple her and that point doesn't otherwise count toward their rolls.

Elil Form Ability #2 (Fist of Air): Haruta can blast a person with wind as though he were always carrying a heavy revolver, even when unarmed and uses the Firearms skill to do it.

ACTUAL STATS

Abilities: Athletics 9, Firearms 12, Fleeing 8, Health 12, Sanity 9, Scuffling 8, Stability 9

Faith: 3; spells - none known.

Hit Threshold: 4

Alertness Modifier: +0

Stealth Modifier: +0

Weapon: +1 (blast of wind)

Armor: 1 (in apocalyptic form).

Demonic Cthulhu Character: Ezurial

Fallen Name: Ezurial

Titles: Angel of Wild Diversity (Devourer).

Sub-House: Wilds (Aruru).

Legion: Crimson (Honourable War).

Faction: Faustian (Schemer).

Demonic Powers

Ezurial Personality Traits and History: A wild-eyed and curious fallen angel who tended to be overcome by her passion for the biodiversity of the world, eagerly recounting and reciting the very many different plant and animal species which she had seen across the world.  She sought to preserve the biodiversity of Eden even before the war and actually fell due to a desire to instruct humanity on how to behave in a way that wouldn't adversely affect it.  She continued her obsession during the war and yet found herself strangely drawn to some of the Silver Legion's works in changing plants, going so far as to preserve dozens of samples during the Long March which caused her to be publicly shamed by her liege lord, Grifiel, due to the nature of those plants.  She avoided him forever more and ended up in the Faustian Faction as it was her second best fit.

Host: Kalpana Bhatia was a student of plant and animal diversity who used to explore the fringes of local jungles, using her parents wealth, in her desire to find something that will mutate freely across generations.  An interesting early success she has had involves a species of dove found in Sri Lanka, which seems to have a lot more information found within its chromosomes than might otherwise by expected.  She was possessed after being paralysed by a rare species of orchid at a distance of six inches, and dying after several days in the wilds glimpsed only by animals moving through the woods.  Her host suffers the effects of racism whenever she attempts to branch out from under Mogens' wing so she typically stays behind.  Nominally the Minister of Eagles as she whispers information into the ears of her doves.

Physical Form and Powers:

Aruru Power (Mutation): Ezurial can mutate plants with a touch and will them to have changed characteristics which can include anything found in the plant kingdom, whether thorns, poisons, sleep-inducting pollen, gas release, or minor movements like Venus flytraps.

Alternate Rabisu Ability (Natural Weaponry): Her fingers are tipped with claws and thin painful hairs lie upon her skin which - unless suppressed - are +1 lethal weapons which he can use to attack people with Scuffling and which do an additional 1 point of damage per Scuffling attack against him (for when they strike him they rip their hands on his thorns).  While in this form she is also immune to poisons encountered while in apocalyptic form and poisons encountered beforehand are suppressed for the duration (including alcohol) though damage caused by the poison remains.  Dangerous gases are likewise ignored so long as the required amount of oxygen is still available.

Aruru Form Ability #1 (Sleeping Breath): Ezurial can emit a poison cloud of sleep-inducing vapours which prevent the use of any General Abilities unless a point is spent, i.e. to use Fleeing you *must* spend a point of Fleeing on the roll to do so and this initial spend doesn't add to the roll.

Aruru Form Ability #2 (Chameleon Skin): Ezurial can blend in by taking on the guise of plant matter that roughly matches human size but does not have a human's shape.  This includes patches of mould if indoors.  This provides Ezurial with an extra 8 stealth points that may only be used in apocalyptic form and which do not refresh until 24 hours have passed.  If this trait belongs to an NPC this becomes a +2 Stealth Modifier.

ACTUAL STATS

Abilities: Athletics 9, Health 12, Sanity 6, Scuffling 6, Stability 7, Weapons 2

Faith: 3; spells - none known.

Hit Threshold: 4

Alertness Modifier: +0

Stealth Modifier: +2

Weapon: +1 (claws)

Armor: 0

NOTE: Feel free to comment on the custom mechanics here involving powers and abilities.  I'm not too worried about balance since there's only two PCs but I am interested to hear about your thoughts on what might be broken or weak-sauce even for NPCs.

Demonic Cthulhu Character: Belphigor

Fallen Name: Fell Knight Belphigor

Titles: The Radiant Champion, The Black Man (cult title).

House: Namaru (Devil)

Sub-House: Radiance (Qingu)

Legion: Iron (Champions of Humanity).

Faction: Faustian (Schemer)

Fallen Appearance: His skin, teeth, gums and the whites of his eyes are jet black while the irises and wings are pure gold.  His body, even armour, feels silky smooth and gently warm to the touch.  He smells of a warm spring day and evokes the sensation of hopes and dreams. 

Demonic Personality Traits:

House Personality Traits: Namaru are used to being obeyed by other angels and see them as the first among many.  This expectation has led them toward arrogance and a need for power and control.  Even at its best they often create a level of distance between themselves and other Fallen so that the others don't see them vulnerable.

Sub House Personality Trait: The Qingu were a development that occurred during the war against the Great Entity where the Namaru had to learn to guide humanity to safety and to war.  All Namaru were initially created to use their power over magic itself (Celestials) to guide the other angels in their work to create according to the Great Entity's plans.  This means that the Qingu are used to special treatment and though many tried to approach humanity with kindness their closeness to perfection would often unsettle and frighten them.

Belphigor Personality Traits: Pride lies in the heart of every Devil.  The virtue that made them the greatest of God's angels is the sin that led them to reject the Creator's wisdom in favour of their own.  Pride gives a Devil the conviction she needs to fight for her goals and to inspire others follow her example.  Taken too far, pride becomes an overwhelming arrogance that puts her desires and personal goals above all things.  This certainly sums up Belphigor.  Devils were also creatures of honour, responsibility and dignity but unfortunately Belphigor has moved beyond honour toward personal empowerment.  Unfortunately he hasn't moved beyond the passion and energy of his House, which is why he gravitate toward a mortal who had felt passionate, destructive urges - Ambrose Mogens - and who had felt terribly wronged by the world and the petty insects within it.  While a cruel and callous Fallen, eager to empower himself, he is still an improvement on the original Host.

Belphigor History

His creation was different to most in that he had a twin sister (Belphegor) from another House.  They were created as a duality because it was his role, primarily, to enhance and weaken her powers as the Hurricane's First Kiss Upon The Shore according to the needs of Creation.  As a Devil, he'd presumed he would lead her forever and was shocked when she gleefully ran off into the Silver Legion without a backward glance.  The Iron Legion seemed a more natural fit and so he joined that legion, unaware that his sister had assumed that they were so alike their mutual decision was guaranteed without conversation.  Thus both felt equally hurt and betrayed and they fell out of touch with each other.

After the First Murder, he fought his own fellows to save humanity who were currently under the yoke of the Ebon Legion (though it wasn't lethal at this point) and by the time he returned to check on his sister he saw that she had created Ninatan (Palace of Sighs), a citadel of eugenics experiments upon the very humans that Belphigor had sought to protect.

When the Long March finally happened, Fell Knight Belphigor led an expedition to her door to demand the release of the tortured mortal flock.  Lady Belphegor agreed on one condition - that he surrender himself to her and allow her to experiment upon him for a year and a day.  The rest of his squad of thirty rejected her terms, but Belphigor accepted and walked alone into the gates of the Silver Citadel.  When Belphegor broke her word and refused to release her human prisoners, her forces beat back his squad.

He remained her obedient prisoner for that year and a day, stunned by the horrors and atrocities working their way around them and forced to suffer things he had never thought possible.  After the year and a day, she released him and he returned with troops to raze the Silver Citadel to the ground, yet accepted her surrender with nobility and respect.

In the Abyss, his experiences of powerlessness ate away at his core.  He had never had the power to prevent the actions of his twin nor sculpt his own destiny and so he turned to the Faustian Movement for that promise of power.  On a terribly stormy day, he felt himself pulled through the cracks in reality and found himself in the body of Ambrose Mogens, will-worker and sailor of ill-repute aboard the Half-Moon ship navigating what would be called the Hudson River.  A man who believed in his own great destiny, pressed into service by debt.  He escaped the ship with a few other sailors whom he commanded and set up shop in what would later become New York, pieced together occult knowledge, and summoned a demon into himself.

During his centuries upon this land he has learned quite a few spells which he uses carefully, lest he lost sight of his true desires.  He has also obtained a few nifty relics including bullets which sever a Fallen's connection to their hosts (Storyteller's Companion) and Marchocias' chimes (Houses of the Fallen).  Later, once Nuriel is released she will eventually wish to steal it from him.  He has also consumed the spirits of two fallen -- in one instance it was to remove an enemy so that he couldn't find a new host and in the other instance it was to hide his own secrets and the knowledge of his True Name.  In both instances, he stole their core power.

He drew out Zipacna and Ezurial through special rituals he has painstakingly researched over the past century but for Nithriel he had to find a special Aztec artefact -- a carved silver skull with a key trapped between its teeth.  He thought it housed  Nithriel alone but it turns out Nithriel was bound into the key while Gipontel was bound into the skull itself.  He left the skull in the hands of some rich young lords, wanting access to their wealth and connections, as well as the information required to activate it. 

Physical Form and Powers:

Qingu Power (Exalt): Each round Belphigor may spend points of his own skills to bolster other people's rolls for non-magical checks (i.e. on General Skills).  He may also spend points of his own stability to assist others as well to pass their own stability checks.

Halaku Power (Step Beyond The Veil): Belphigor can move across distances with great speed by stepping across into another sliver of reality (akin to that which can be glimpsed using certain machines in Lovecraftian tales) and then reappearing on this side.  It happens so quickly he never really sees the other side unless he moves across long distances.  Unfortunately, if he were to materialise in the same space with a solid object that isn't easily shunted out of the way (i.e. edge of a table), he would materialise with that piece of table inside of him, causing him damage.  Technically he could linger across the veil but that isn't a wise idea either.  He can't bring more than a cubic foot or two of equipment or creature across with him.

Asharu Power (Find the Faithful): So long as he has their name (celestial name or human name) and has met them before he can trace where they are as though possessing an internal compass that will direct him to them.  He can find anyone within the space of a hundred miles.

Namaru Form Ability (Wings): A pair of eight-foot-long golden wings extends from his shoulders which allow him to take off from a standing position and glide up to three times her running speed.  These wings have long pinions that are sharp as razors and quite flexible (+1 damage), which allows the Devil to attack opponents in the middle of a movement which will likely leave them out of reach of melee opponents.

Qingu Form Ability #1 (Affirm): By making eye contact and spending a point of faith, Belphigor can reaffirm a person's place in the overarching plan and their faith in their Sources of Sanity which allows them to also regain 2 points of Sanity.  He may only do this once a year per person.

Qingu Form Ability #2 (Liar's Ear): Belphigor can spend a point of Faith to automatically tell when someone lies to him in the current conversation.

ACTUAL STATS

Abilities: Athletics 6, Fleeing 12, Health 10, Sanity 3, Scuffling 9, Stability 8, Weapons 9

Faith: 6 (12); spells - Cloud Memory, Death Spell, Deflect Harm, Enthrall Victim, Evil Eye, Flesh Ward, Mind Blast, Power Drain, Stop Heart, Summon / Bind Byakhee, Summon / Bind Dimensional Shambler.

Hit Threshold: 4

Alertness Modifier: +0

Stealth Modifier: +0

Weapon:.32 revolver (-1), Sword Cane (-1); Wings (+1)

Armor: 0

Languages: Dutch, English, French, German.

Dark Before Dawn Session Summary: The Last Express

The Maid and Gary Dodd.

It all begins through an online play-by-post scene with Gary Dodd trying to escape the Mirror Realm and being herded by the Angel Faced Killer into the National Railway Museum.  Gary Dodd uses his sigil stone to open a Doorway so that he can escape and it crumbles between his fingers.  As it does so, an onyx train chuffs silently to the platform and a skeletal hand reaches out and beckons him onboard.  He enters...

.....

 

A few days later, the LARP session begins with all of the players waiting outside the front door of my house in the dark.  Gary Dodd's "Train Summoning" has caused several of the vampires to be brought to the train though Dodd doesn't yet know they will be coming.

So Gary Dodd (and his player) arrives before everyone else to my front door.  The Conductor NPC goes forth to speak with him and he does so, striding enthusiastically and making demands in a very loud and officious voice while carrying a clipboard.  He read out the thirteen rules quite loudly and then called for the Maid to provide him with Gary Dodd's tokens (used as currency).

The Maid came rushing down, waving a hand vigorously as she went to catch his attention (as she was mute).  She carried one of those poker chip cases with her and then stood to one side in the corridor, drawing the tokens out one at a time with wonderful flourishes and dropping them into Dodd's outstretched hand before letting him move further in while she awaited the next "guest".

I stayed out-of-character, describing what he saw in terms of sleeping car compartment doors, and he ended the Bar Car first where he ordered a drink from the bartender.  I had divided up the living area into a Lounge Car, Dining Car and Smoking Car using couches and we had a side room set up as a Library Car as it was lined with bookcases.

Our venue thankfully has one of those wide counters (all-in-one living / kitchen / dining area) which worked a treat for this with four chairs pressed up against it.  While he chatted to the bartender, I dropped into character and came rushing down the corridor to berate the Conductor for taking so long in reading out the rules to each new passenger currently waiting at the doors.

The Conductor reading out his list.

Since we all had one Rival that we had to undermine (the Cast, that is), I was waved away by the Maid as I, the Doctor, was her Rival.  My own Rival was the Oracle and I made a point to describe him as a Charlatan here and there to the various PCs.  I did that so often that some people started to think that was his name and started calling him the Charlatan.

 

The Cast were fantastic.  I told them to really go to town with their characterisations and gave them all quite brief summaries of who they were and their motivations so they built on it quite a bit.  The officious Conductor took the first line directly beneath the header and really ran with it:

THE RULES

All may be disobeyed.  You have free will.  Disobedience is ill-advised.

 

So he kept making up new rules to suit himself and the situation.  Only three people in any one of the compartments at once - which was good because the compartments were separate rooms and it made it more interesting to keep them moving and force them to negotiate who could remain in any particular situation.

The Oracle ended up in the Dining Car, running his Secret for a Secret games in a quiet corner.  I'd given him a large Halloween porcelain pumpkin full of optional questions he could ask to obtain secrets as well as a few sheets with PC names listed on top that held up to 7 secrets they could gather by giving him a few of their own.  Funnily enough people generally respected the privacy of that car and it was mostly the Cast who occasionally tried to listen in.

I had a large Doctor's Bag with me that had a few ink blots and some of the Dr. Kaupfmann puzzles (Dead or Sleeping? and Pairings) from Silent Hill: Shattered Memories.  I only really got to use one (Pairings) before the Maid convinced someone to throw the doctor's trunk (and my fetter) out the window into the bleak Underworld as part of our rivalry.  She didn't know my fetter was inside (we weren't playing for that kind of high stakes ICly) but luckily I got chosen at the end so got to survive.

At least Gary Dodd gave me some interesting hints into his psychology from the Pairings angle, so that's something.  Rather than putting them into pairs of two, he spread them out so they were all alone.



The Maid at the Candle Puzzle.

It took awhile but eventually the PCs learned that each one of them could obtain one of us for the price of a stone (Gary Dodd would get first pick as he'd already spent one) and that we could ease resurrect a newly dead human being, simply fettering ourselves to them so we could see the world.  We weren't Geists, but something different.  Something called a Rider (custom creation).

Without my Doctor's Bag I basically just went around trying to convince people to use up their Stones, explaining that there's no real catch to the resurrection of people into mortals, and also trying to get suitable characters to bed her.  At one point, Prince Saeed used my NPC as a foot stool and I happily got on all fours for five minutes before the player felt so bad he insisted I get up and rejoin the others.

The Conductor soon came around to each of the Riders to convince us to lie (again, a Cast Member decision and a good one) but my NPC wasn't too sure of trying her hand at that.  Instead she would deflect certain questions or encourage people to seek out the Conductor for the truth.

The Bartender lit people's marijuana joints on fire, set the table when the Dinner Bell rang and gave a listening ear to those who wished to drink.  He did really well at spending most of his time behind the counter so I applaud him for his patience.

Finally there was the unnamed Skull NPC who was literally a floating skull.  Naturally we had a Cast Member who was responsible for carrying the Skull around and talking for it.  Funnily enough it became very easy indeed to ignore the person in favour of talking to the skull who gestured, and flirted, and tried to prostitute the Maid (who fainted dramatically at the very idea!).

The Skull got the name Skully and people advised him to seek out Mulder for a dynamic duo.
Eventually they solved all of the puzzles, and it was time for them to select which Rider they wanted in exchange for a sigil stone.  Since the vampires only had one sigil stone each, and they could use them for other purposes they weren't too sure about doing it at first.  They could use their stones to open doors into inter-dimensional places, abjure an area from spirits and ghosts or to gain five exceptional successes on the next five vital actions.  But they could only use them once....

As the clock ticked toward the end of the session, the characters started stepping forward to take a Rider.  Gary Dodd took the Maid.  Seamus took the Oracle.  Yzador took the Psychologist.  Talitha took the Bartender.  Jonathon Williams took the Conductor.  Since all five were taken, Gary got to keep Skully as well.  Something he later regretted as Skully could be very annoying when it wanted to be.

Each of them then got to exit the train, clutching a large crystal (to be placed over the heart of a corpse), two onyx stones (to be placed over the eyes of the corpse), and a small fetter (to be placed in the right hand).  And that's where we left it, with them leaving the train.