Mary has been puttering about, doing practically everything she could possibly find to do to keep her mind off going to sleep. She's done the washing up, cleaned the bathroom, folded the clean laundry, and even had another go at learning the plus-que-parfait. She wishes she could have had Cat round, even after the... awkwardness of the last visit. She's sure it won't happen again, but she also can't drink that much wine before work the next day. Not again, at least.
Some time after 1am she drifts off in front of the telly, and dreams.
[Scene 12 : the Event rolled in the last post
Event: Horror - PC (Mary) - draw / Lady
Fleshing it out (1d10): 1-3 same as earlier, 4-6 ghost of victim, 7-8 both, 9-10 something else: 8]
She's in her flat, which is attached to her parents' house in Guildford. It's so smoky in her room. Someone is moving outside the door -- she's got to hide her fags. The door bursts inward, but instead of her angry parents there is only the shadowy suggestion of something malevolent. It's found her again.
[Evasion saving throw=natural 1]
She feels it close round her, heavy and foul. It throws her to the pavement, rips her open again, claws tearing for her liver. [1 damage in the waking world]
Then another presence, cold but calm. A diaphanous woman appears clad in spectral white, and banishes the thing with a word. She pulls Mary up, and they waft into a deserted shop. [Divide / Danger]
"I wouldn't let the First Knower of Scorn destroy you."
"Th-- thank you."
"That pleasure shall be mine."
[Magic Save to get away: d20=18!
+1d6=4 Madness (to 9)]
Mary screams herself awake. She immediately fumbles for her mobile and tries to ring Cat, but it goes straight to voicemail. She only leaves one message, but it's tearful and rambly. [Mental save 13+: d20=13, just succeeded]
2 December 12:48pm
Amit, Cat, and Elgin sleep very late.
Cat listens to Mary's message when she wakes up and turns on her phone. She rings at once to apologise for being unavailable, and they make a plan to meet after Mary gets off work. Cat is on very good behaviour, and Mary (as expected) doesn't want to be alone. Cat says it's finally time she met Amit and Elgin. She'll talk to them tomorrow about it, when Mary's at work. But for tonight, all talk of madness and monsters is banished so they can focus on more important matters, namely beer, pizza, and their sci-fi marathon.
Elgin wakes up on the settee and lets himself out quietly. He needs to get back home to work on the manuscript, with the help of his personal library.
Amit rings Angharad to let her know they have the manuscript. He asks if she reads Sanskrit (she doesn't). He says they have a guy working on it, but not to worry, he's trustworthy [using Folie à deux class ability so she doesn't get peeved]. They arrange to meet the following evening to make the handover. With Cat and Elgin both gone, he plays video games the rest of the day.
. . .
The bulk of the treatise is a ritual for consecrating the Chamber of Desires Effulgent, and the specifications for constructing said chamber, including the blessings to be said over the sacrificial knife to ultimately be used in the Ritual of the Mirror, which calls forth a Deva to grant the desire of the officiant. This Mirror of Red Depths is also described. The preparations are manifold and perverse, requiring the sacrifice of a loved one, a new initiate, and an entirely sanctified building (the Silver House) located amongst isolated ruins, inter alia. The manuscript is sadly incomplete, lacking the rituals to consecrate the Silver House, and, most frustratingly, the instructions for using the Mirror.
[There were many die rolls to figure all that out.
Manuscript is (1d4-1 x100)+(1d100) = 12 pages
Wis/Language 8+ to divine meaning: 2d6+1=7, fail. Spends a point of Expertise for Deep Gnosis (auto success).
Magic Save (11+) to avoid Curse: 15, success
I used the Dark Sorcery tables to determine what the ritual needed: 1d2+2=Grand, requiring 1d4+3=7 things. The rolls (7d6 & 7d8 produced:
3x location (A site of a terrible massacre, Fresh ruins of a human community, An isolated elevation)
2x object (An entire sanctified building, An intricately-crafted focal object)
1x sacrifice (A family member or loved one)
1x action (Initiation of a new believer)
Q: Any general spell in the manuscript? 50/50 (4+): O4 C5 - yes.
The Silvered Blade of Sacrifice (L1, takes 1 week to learn)]
Elgin decides to photograph the manuscript...
[Q: Actually, can he? unknown 1d6=3: O2 C8 - no]
...but his digital SLR camera refuses to focus. He tries his mobile's camera, but it has the same problem. [+1d4=1 Madness (to 29)]
He begins a quick transcription for himself, and a rough-but-serviceable translation to hand over with the original.
[Q: Does anything happen before the meeting with Angharad? Unlikely (5+): O4 C3 - no, but... Elgin has his Horror Event that night. This was rolled in the first post of the adventure (Event: Horror - PC - think / conversation) so the 1d6 Madness for is already on his character sheet.
Q: How does it start? perceive / power]
[Scene 14]
3 December 1:06am
As Elgin goes over and over the manuscript, he feels a sort of electric current in the room. The air gets heavy and difficult to breathe. The lights dim and shadows crawl further from the dark corners. They coalesce into several near-humanoid shapes and detach themselves from the walls to surround him.
"Searching, searching," they whisper. "Wanting, hoping? Whence your desire, Whither your intention?"
"Who are you? What are you? Egregores? Tulpas? Acid flashback?"
"Know you not? Yet you would call, yet you are calling."
"I did not summon you. I only sought wisdom."
"The Chamber beckons. All you seek is within."
"If I perform the rites?"
"The rights have been performed. The Chamber has been prepared."
"How?"
"The Fuligin Compact. They have set up the Mirror of Red Depths."
"Who are the Compact?"
"All who perform the rites, all who seek the Chamber, all who surrender to the Mirror and offer sacrifice, all who are perfected."
"And if I wish to close the Chamber?"
"Foolishness and cowardice! Whosoever would repudiate desire lacks the vigour to oppose the Compact. Give up the ritual to your betters, and do not interfere, lest their desires sweep you away..."
3 December 3:00pm
Angharad arrives at Cat and Amit's flat in a floor length crimson velvet coat. Elgin can barely suppress a smirk as Cat and Amit rush to help her off with it, ever the attentive hosts. When their eyes go wide as she reveals the dress she's poured herself into beneath it, he must feign a cough to hide his laughter.
But when they get down to business, their demeanours are soon serious. They'd not heard Elgin's account yet either. He sums up everything the manuscript said, and what seemed to be missing. He omits mention of his subsequent spectral encounter, but Cat can still tell that he'd been greatly unsettled. The stranger account becomes, the broader his accent.
"It's seriously dark stuff," he concludes. "Mebbe tha should reconsider. Nowt good ever comes of this sort of shite."
[Cha/Persuade 10+ : 2d6-1=9 partial success, someone else can roll]
Angharad pauses, obviously considering his words, but seeming unconvinced.
"How many people you think died over this already?" asks Amit. [2d6+2=9]
"I'll think about everything you said. But I doubt anything could change my mind now."
Elgin reluctantly hands over the archive box. She hands over a wad of cash.
Angharad leaves.
"So that's it?" asks Cat. "We just let her go?"
"It's her funeral," says Elgin.
"What about the manuscript though? asks Amit. "She can't even read it."
"I included a translation! And there's something really wrong about it. I didn't want it near me any longer."
"Maybe we should make some enquiries about it with the Cult. She'd only heard about the Silver House because one of her clients was talking out of class; and she was a member of the Circle."
"Really? Who?"
"Marjorie."
"With the ankh...?"
"The same."
[Q: Did Elgin know her? 50/50 (4+): O4 C6 - yes.
Q: Does he have any idea what happened to her? Unlikely (5+): O1 C7 - no]
"Hm. Haven't seen her for ages."
"Angharad thought she disappeared because she wouldn't share the manuscript with them."
"Then we'd best not let them know we've seen it, either."
"Huh. Yeah, you've a point. What about tapping the Star for information, then?"
Elgin launches into a lecture about the Star not being much better than the Cult, and to never forget it.
next post: a most unlikely alliance
Some of the best gems are hidden in the mechanics. You devise a mildly intricate equation to randomly determine the size of the manuscript, a potentially massive tome up to 400 pages, and you end up with a measly 12. Don't know why, but I found that a bit amusing.
ReplyDeleteI wasn't sure how much information it should actually contain, so I wanted to give it a good range of possibilities.
DeleteI suppose I could have just said roll 1d400, since that's essentially what I did. I'm not sure why I decide to overexplain it!