Friday, December 29, 2017

Digestif: Four is a Significant Number (CofD)

First off, I hope everyone had a pleasant holiday season (which may still be ongoing for some folks, depending on when this goes up). In this session, John finally brings his character into the group and hopefully now we can charge forward into plot, unfettered by concerns of when/how to work him in and whether he'll be too far behind.

Before I get into it here, I also want to point out that it might be a little longer before the next Starfinder write-up. Player schedules being what they are around the holidays, it'll be some time next month before we'll be able to play again (and I can't guarantee there'll be a write-up after that session, since I'm doing those based on how far the plot moves more than time played).

Anyhow, here we go.





So where we left off, Derrick is standing over the rapidly-decomposing body of Scott in a dueling ring made of velvet ropes. Derrick turns to Alberto and they have a brief exchange confirming whether or not they're 'good' for now (or at least whether or not Alberto's going to try and kill him by proxy again). Alberto reassures him that if he were to decide something needs to happen to Derrick, it would be because he was provoked -- and he would come in person. And he probably won't come back up to the surface for something like that unless so provoked, or unless Derrick is dead and the monster inside him is free. Which, y'know, is a reassuring line of thought. On a semi-related note, he also passes along a place where they can leave messages if they need to get ahold of him without barging into the tunnels and hoping for the best.

Alberto explains, as he gets ready to leave, that he doesn't know exactly where the portal in the tunnel goes. It might go to different places at different times. He says it's like doors in a hallway, where one door might lead to where the strix came from and the next door over leads to someplace worse. He thinks that it's the 'someplace worse' that has its hooks in Derrick. At one point[0], he refers to the place as the 'Realm of the Unshaped.' But on the subject of Derrick possibly coughing up a new strix, he says that if what he has to do is eat a strix, puke it back up, and kill and eat it again he's fine with that.

Before Alberto leaves, Otis asks him what the last thing he saw was before he lost his eyes. After a moment's thought, as he hasn't had to call up that memory in a long time, that the last thing he remembers seeing was a Tuscan sunset, slightly older than the US. Otis, amazed at that, says that at some point he would like to have a conversation about the things Alberto knows and how he wound up coming to the US. The Baddacelli elder says that would be nice and he leaves. And because he feels like people are looking at him, Otis is like "What? Vampires like me."

At this point, that bit of business resolved, Derrick asks Leland if he can help out replenishing the blood he spent in the fight with Scott. Leland agrees as long as Derrick takes care of the mess that left on his floor. So Leland goes out to make a call or two (after Derrick specifies he needs 'clean' blood), while Derrick uses Obfuscate to haul the body out to his car. He and Otis smuggle it into the hospital morgue disguised as medical waste for later disposal. While they're there, Otis finds a hospital employee sneaking a cigarette somewhere outside and startles him, making him afraid he's been seen, to get a bit of a charge (in other words, a point of Willpower) from his Legend.

Weaver stays behind to talk to Leland as they wait on whomever it is Leland called. He asks when he came into town (a couple years ago), what he thinks of Derrick as a prince (Morgantown isn't 'particularly challenging,' so Leland isn't sure he's seen enough to form a noteworthy opinion), and if Leland is scared of Derrick (he's more concerned, than anything else). While they talk, a young man arrives and Leland sends him upstairs to the second floor to 'wait for the interview.'

Derrick and Otis return and Leland tells Derrick there's a guy waiting for him upstairs. A low-level drug dealer in town who's looking for a job and wouldn't be missed if he were to vanish. Derrick winds up having a discussion with the others about whether or not he's going to kill him, and Weaver starts making preachy little suggestions like 'You don't have to kill him, you know, you can just drink from him and whammy him afterwards.' Derrick, understandably, is less than pleased about the mage daring to lecture him about how to feed, and just goes up there to feed on the guy. (He only takes what he needs to top off, not enough to kill the guy, and mind-wipes him after.)

While he's doing so, Otis asks Weaver about how he knows about the 'whammying' thing. Weaver says that he can sense certain phenomena, and figured out what he tried to do when Derrick tried to do it to him.[1] This winds up segueing into a conversation about the different branches of magic (namely, the Arcana of Death and Mind and such), and that in turn leads into Otis and Weaver having a larger discussion about mage study, mentors, and then Atlantis and the Fallen World, while Otis shares some details of just how beasts work. Derrick comes back downstairs and makes a big show of taking notes of their conversation just to annoy Weaver (in a "how do you like it" sense), while Otis expresses an interest in finding the spot where Weaver first made contact with the Supernal Realms to see if he can re-open the way there from any sort of residual portal.

But now that Derrick has fed, he's considering taking a walk around downtown to sniff around a bit, and Otis and Weaver come along. Otis becomes one with Derrick's shadow to ride along subtly for this.

Meanwhile, outside the club, a new challenger approaches:

John's new character, a Psychopomp demon going by his cover's name of Joshua Grodden, a journalist and reporter who investigates and studies supernatural phenomena as part of his role as an Inquisitor to understand the God-Machine -- and to a lesser extent, a machine that ties into the weirdness in Morgantown.

Joshua (before he went by that name) Fell in an event connected to the disturbance a year and a half ago when Derrick ate that strix.[2] A contact of his going by the name of Euler tipped him off that there's been a renewed disturbance in line with what happened in those tunnels, and has given him some coordinates (two sets, one in the tunnels and one downtown) and some equipment to run a couple of tests. He decides to check the downtown coordinates first since they should be easier to reach.

Those coordinates? For reasons that should be obvious if you've followed the story thus far, they lead to Chemical Reactions, the club run by the city's vampires. So Josh is sniffing around the club and finding out by listening in on a conversation about the club's early closing for the 'private party.' So he starts noting security cameras, considering the possibility of breaking in, and such. He goes around back to the private parking area and makes a note of the plain black SUV back there.

So he heads back around front just in time to catch Derrick and Weaver coming outside. He asks if Derrick is part of the private party, and Derrick tells him the party's over but the club's closed for the rest of the night and that he should talk to Leland for more details. While this is going on, Otis perceives Josh and senses that he's something that does not perceive as some sort of supernatural kin[3], which is a thing that as far as he knows Does Not Happen. He is able to briefly sense the 'flavor' of Josh's true nature -- a biomechanical swarm of some variety. And Josh senses that something is poking at his cover slightly. The two connect for a brief moment, and Josh manages to steal a bit of data from that connection -- an email address -- and Otis can sense that.

Josh is freaking out slightly, and tries to excuse himself, but at one point asks Derrick's name. Derrick, paranoid after everything that's happened and still on-edge, says that's a little personal and comments that Josh seems to be a little out of it. Josh tries to pry, the group tries to blow him off, and before Josh can get huffy and leave, Derrick uses his unnatural senses[4] to find out one of Josh's Aspirations -- 'Learn about the Machine.' He speaks up and tells Josh that he wants to discuss the Machine with him someplace private, and after Josh activates Aetheric Resonance to determine there aren't any active angels nearby agrees to talk with him in the parking area behind the building.

They go back there and Josh explains he's looking for residual energies involving a thing in the club. He asks the group, again, what their names are. And we have this exchange:

Weaver: "I go by 'W.'"
Derrick: "Pfft. 'Weaver' isn't even your real name."
Weaver: "Thanks, Derrick."
Derrick: "Not my real name either."

But Derrick just out and out asks if it matters that, in the club the previous night, he became a shadow monster and drained a suicide bomber's blood. That throws Josh a little bit. And Derrick explains that as near as he can tell, his spirit was transported to a void underground where a voice spoke to him. Josh explains that he's here because there's a disturbance that existed in two places at once, and now people are getting onto the same page. Derrick mentions that one of those places was where the portal is, in the tunnels beneath the city which is also filled with weird vampires. (During this conversation, Otis jumps into Josh's shadow.)

Derrick, at this point, says that now he needs something from Josh before they can continue, some sort of explanation of his deal. Josh pulls out a business card with his name and contact info -- the group recognizes his name as a blogger and investigator into the supernatural, someone basically harmless but knows more than most mortals. But Derrick has an issue with this, concerned that Josh is a Masquerade breach at this point, and the conversation comes up asking who gets to decide what 'mortals' like Josh are and aren't allowed to know. Josh is reluctant to give up more details than he has to regarding what he is, trying to pass himself off as an occultist, but Weaver is up-front about the fact that he can sorta tell that Josh isn't a mage. Josh just keeps insisting that he needs to get into the club to see what happened and that's it, and Derrick calls Leland to unlock the door and let them in.

Josh heads upstairs and pulls out some weird gadget made out of a hardcore survivalist's compass with some manner of metal shavings in it. He uses it to confirm that this is the same breach as the one from the tunnel, and that it definitely existed here as well for a brief time. And that there's something tethered here. Derrick confirms what Josh already knows, and this goes back into the conversation about what Josh is 'allowed' to know and not know. Otis quietly slides out of Josh's shadow and looms behind him, and at an opportune moment Derrick asks Josh what that is behind him.

Josh turns around to see Otis looming while Derrick pulls the machete. Otis asks more about the breaches, and Josh starts confirming where and when the breaches happened. Otis tries to tell Derrick to put the machete away, but we break down into a bit of a tense moment where Josh is insisting he's human because he doesn't trust these people. Otis, however, can tell that he's not human (and says that he thinks that Josh is a mechanical swarm of insects wearing a human suit), and Derrick doesn't believe Josh's claims. Josh cuts his arm to prove that he bleeds and isn't a swarm of insects. He offers to let Derrick feed from him to prove it, but Derrick refuses -- but Otis accepts. He chomps down on Josh's arm, leaving behind bite marks that don't match a normal bite pattern. Derrick is starting to put torture on the table to find out what's going on, and the others don't want it to come to that, and Otis insists that he tastes like a human but he might not know he's something else.

Derrick's reaching the end of his rope -- if Josh is insisting he's human, then that means that at this point they either need to kill him or memory-wipe him. Josh suggests that if Derrick trusts Otis, like he says he does, that he should maybe take Otis' word for it. Otis pulls Josh aside for a private conversation where Josh has to basically spell out what his deal is, doing so in private and wanting Otis to simply vouch for him. But the only way he can convince Otis to do this is by revealing his true form: a glowing, flickering swarm of insects covered in runes and shifting in various patterns.

Josh proceeds to explain the basic nature of the God-Machine and its angels, leading Otis to the obvious conclusions about what Josh is, but Josh still doesn't want Otis to tell the others that he's non-human -- but he doesn't want to lie, either, so coming up with a compromise is difficult. They eventually settle on 'free AI-driven android created by something unknowable,' which is basically true.

Otis relates some of this to Derrick, who is reminded of the time he encountered an angel at the PRT station (and, when asked, Josh does confirm he's 'kinda' related to it). Derrick is obviously concerned, but Josh quickly reassures the group he's on the run from those things. (At one point, Derrick casually dropped the term 'angel' when talking about the PRT station incident, but when asked where he knows that term, he just says that 'a little bird told [him].')

Derrick now tells Josh that a strix tried to open the portal a couple of years ago, and that he subdued it and drank its soul. And now it's inside him and the portal can't be completely shut until the link is severed. Josh offers to help fix this and sever that link, because every time that portal reopens there's a chance that something could go horribly wrong. Derrick says they've got a long, hard road ahead of them, then. Otis wants to know more about the strix and what it could have wanted from that portal. Otis and Derrick consider the possibility of trying to communicate with whatever's linked inside him. Unfortunately, even if Weaver can go into his head, the mind of the strix should have 'digested' by now so it should be unreachable even if it ever was a presence in his head. Otis kinda wants to open the portal and talk to what's on the other side directly. Josh us still intrigued about what the strix wanted in the first place.

Weaver has an idea to magically return Derrick to the state he was in right after he diablerized the strix to see if they can talk to its essence inside him. Otis loves this idea. Derrick does not. The group tosses around a couple of ideas on how they could do this, and Josh discovers that Weaver is writing all this down. And he gets paranoid again and we go through all that rigmarole as Derrick tries to reassure him. Josh is also confused, as he assumes that humans have a memory like he does.[5] But they drop the subject for the moment, and we leave off on the group having to explain to Josh what a strix is.

But now the entire group is together. Finally.

[0]-- I kinda mangled parts of this conversation in my notes somehow, so forgive me if some details are shaky or if I lost track of in what order certain statements happened. If any of my players read this and can do so, feel free to correct me.
[1]-- Apparently I was out of the room during an early part of Weaver's introduction to the story during which Derrick tried to use Dominate to memory-wipe the mage.
[2]-- Just for the record, John and I have Josh's backstory worked out in some detail, but I'm consciously deciding to keep all of the details of his backstory and Fall out of the blog because they'll likely become more relevant over time and I'd rather not infodump something the other characters are going to be learning as the game goes on.
[3]-- Beasts are descended from the Dark Mother, and as far as they know other supernaturals are in some way descended as well. So Beasts find other supernaturals to be cousins of a sort, regardless of 'species,' with one exception. For reasons unknown to either side, the God-Machine's creations are completely 'other' from the Children -- the only things like that, as far as we know -- and so there's a bit of a clash there.
[4]-- In-character, Derrick assumes this is a function of Auspex. Out of character, we all know that this is in fact a strix power he's absorbed after what happened.
[5]-- Demons, having literal computer brains, have eidetic memory with perfect recall.

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