At Your Door Session 5 & 6 – Dawn Biozyme

It’s been a busy fall….  All through October there was never more that one (or maybe two) players available on any given weekend, so we haven’t played this campaign since mid-September (At Your Door – Session 4)?! I have to admit, I’d totally forgotten what was going on and what was to happen next and didn’t have a lot of time to reread the entire campaign module… Nevertheless we forged ahead! Amanda (Dr. Sarah Berenstain), Rick (Lord Stang),  Patrick (Joey Roberts),  and Dave (Leonard Tipple) were all able to make it out the past two evenings….

WARNING: SPOILERS CONTAINED WITHIN - If ever you think you might play the Cthulhu Now adventure At Your Door, read no further! 

Saturday Afternoon – 21 July 2012

After their meeting with Det. Sgt. Joe Macklin, Agent Van Alden was called away on some other business and the rest decided to follow up on some leads involving Peter Tait’s ex-girlfriend and co-worker, Jenny Armbruster. They went by the address they had listed for her to find it had been rented out for the last couple months. They also checked out the gym where she worked out and found they hadn’t seen her either for a few months.

Next they planned to see if they could get a tour of the Dawn Biozyme facility on Monday and took Sunday off.

Monday morning Dr. Sarah Berenstain phoned up DBZ to see if they could get a tour of the facility and after being switched around a few times and sitting on hold for a while she was eventually told they could have a tour on Wednesday. With a very (VERY) successful (unskilled) persuasion roll she was able to get in Monday afternoon.

Before heading over to DBZ they checked in with Det. Sgt. Bolling to see if he had any leads on Jenny Armbruster – perhaps through the DMV? a new address?

In the afternoon they drove out to the DBZ facility and had a rather extensive tour (though they were not allowed into the P7 Lab area – for safety reasons). They also got to meet Dr. Howard Finely and asked some very pointed questions about the nature of the nature of the “Special Projects” going on in the P7 facility – including asking about the missing tentacle creature from the lab. When he denied knowing anything about any tentacle creatures, they showed him pictures they had taken of it. He explained matter-of-factly that he head no idea what they were talking about and asked where they had found the creature and who had indicated that it had come from his facility. They told them that it had come from Peter Tait. He told them that Peter Tait had never been involved in the P7 facility and was likely disgruntled after have been given notice a couple weeks back and trying to get back at DBZ with this elaborate hoax.

Afterwards they convinced their tour guide to show them the warehouses where they discovered some odd stuff. A foul-smelling, large room that had a chain-link fence within in closing over the central area that was covered with a tarpaulin… rooms full of foul-smelling carboys and drums all labeled with biohazard symbols… A locked room at the back…

They decided they must break in that night…

Without much planning or forethought they drove off a highway across the field from the rear of the facility and hid their truck among some bushes. They hoofed it across the field and went over the wall cutting the wire and disarming the alarms.

They broke into warehouse two and went directly to the locked room at the back. Within they discovered more of the tentacle creatures in the same Plexiglas containment cylinders they had see the previous one in. There was some large equipment that was determined to be some sort of large electromagnetic filed generator and a computer that operated in and seemed to be running some automated timing program.

Then the cops arrived.

Then the field generator sparked up on its own and some other automated machined kicked, lights came on in the big room, video cameras monitoring the room showed they tarpualin being rolled up exposing a large cylindrical pit.

The investigators tried to pass themselves off as researchers running an experiment and told the police to come in and shut the door as they suspected bad stuff was about to go down in the next room. Unfortunately the players with the most convincing arguments had NO PERSUASION SKILL and they were so busy trying to talk to the cops that the player WITH persuasion couldn’t get a word in edgewise… They were unconvincing.

Then some other automated deviced kicked in and Shub-Nigguarth appeared in the other room. Leonard Tipple had a heart attack, Lord Stang was terrorized and suffered a new Major Phobia (Darkness… MWA-HA-HA-Ha-Ha-ha-ha-haaaaa…). Joey Roberts was unfazed – he’d seen scarier stuff in video games. Dr. Sarah Berenstain was also unfazed. The cops, however completely lost their shit…

At this point we had to call it a night.


The following week we started "in media res"…

As things were at the beginning of Session 6; Leonard Tipple on the ground suffereing from a heart attack. Lord Stang shaken and suddenly not liking the dark any more. All the  cops shaken (except one).

We’ve started using the Adventure Deck. It just so happened that Dave was dealt a card that allowed him to immediately heal one wound – but suffer some permanent scar – so I said he pounded himself in the chest and got his heart started but was no longer incapacitated – but still suffering three wounds. Someone else had a Rally card that allowed all allies to no longer be shaken…

The Dr. Finley appeared with a whole bunch of short Asian guys (Tcho Tcho) armed with assault rifles.

I forgot to take pictures of the action. I meant to at least get a picture of when Finley bustred in with the Tcho Tcho… alas… Here’s what it all looked like at the very end:

To make a long story very short there was some resistance, but in the end everyone ended up having their hand zip-tied behind their backs with bags over their heads – then they were jabbed with a needle…

Roberts, Stang, and Tipple awoke some time later, individually, and alone in a cell of some sort. A windowless room with a concrete floor (which they were laying on) with a drain in the middle. A single bulb in the ceiling dimly lit the room. The only entry/exit was a large heavy steel door. Roberts was missing a leg, Stand was missing his left arm below the elbow and Tipple no longer had any toes…. The wounds were roughly sewed up and bandaged – soaked with blood and smelling terribly.

Dr. Sarah Berenstain woke up in the woods… naked… covered in blood and vomit… with a whole bunch of new deep horrific-looking scars…

Aaaaaaand that’s where we left it….

Hopefully Sheriff Carter Jones and Agent Van Alden will be able to return to the case next week to figure out what exactly has happened to these guys!? 

At Your Door Session 4

Christian is back from Bordern and joined us this evening with Agent Norman Van Alden of the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defence. Amanda (Dr. Sarah Berenstain), Rick (Lord Stang),  Patrick (Joey Roberts),  and Dave (Leonard Tipple) were also able to make it out this evening….

I’ve been a little distracted by the arrival of Force on Force and so a bit too much of my hobby-reading time was taken up by that and thus I wasn’t as prepared for this evening as I might have liked. Fortunately Christian is a fantastic role-player and much of the evening was “bringing him up to speed” through his characters interview of the others when he arrived on the scene…

WARNING: SPOILERS CONTAINED WITHIN - If ever you think you might play the Cthulhu Now adventure At Your Door, read no further! 

Thursday Night – 19 July 2012

The investigators began the session in the town of Delilah, awaiting the arrival of the authorities. A 9-1-1 call had been placed to report the dead body they’d found on Peter Tait’s recently acquired farm.

Sheriff Carter Jones got an urgent call from his own deputy insisting that he return immediately as there was a situation in town that required his immediate presence (Curtis couldn't make it out tonight).

The local deputy arrived first and, after questioning the characters about the nature and location of the body and their involvement in it, suggested that they wait for the arrival of the State Police that were also on the way so they could show them the way to the farm.

When all had arrived (it was now well after midnight) they proceeded to Tait’s farm. The police refused to allow them to drive out into the field as it might upset any evidence. The player characters were unwilling to walk out into the field in the dark – covered as it was in the red plants. So the police proceeded on their own.

 The player characrers watched them walk – or rather their flashlights bob about – expecting them to be attacked at any moment. They heard oaths being issued (as well as some vomit) when they arrived at the “scarecrow” and the police beat a hasty retreat back to the cars on the road by the gate entrance to the farm.

It was decided that it would be best to call in the Feds on this one. One of the State Troopers was posted guard over the farm and the rest drove back into town to make calls and find a place to stay for the rest of the night.

Friday – 20 July 2012

It was about noon when a pair of FBI agents arrived from Samson. After a brief q&A they also proceeded out to the farm. Found a state trooper still on guard (a different one as the previous one had been relieved). The FBI agents took a brief look around, looked at each other and decided it was time to call “The OTHER Bureau”…

Around suppertime Agents Van Alden and Mackie of the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense arrived in Delilah. Van Alden questioned the PCs extensively (bringing him up to speed on the investigation so far…). This was a lot of fun to play out… Agent Mackie was dispatched into Samson to recover the “sample” Peter Tait had provided and start looking into a few leads.

While they were talking however they heard sirens in the distance coming quickly toward Delilah. Apparently when the FBI Forensics team, which had arrived in the afternoon and proceeded to record the scene)=, had tried to cut the body down from the posts they were attacked. It wasn’t quite clear what they were attacked by. The body?  The plants!?

Everyone quickly made it out to the farm where they found a few of the FBI team and the State troopers in a panic – mostly hiding behind their cars witht their guns drawn – but not entirely sure who or what to shoot at. There was a member of the forensics team lying in the field looking like they were tangled in assorted plant material and darkness was quickly falling around them.

At this point Agent Van Alden started making plans to have the place razed by fire and called in a BPRD sampling and containment team. After those plans were made Agent Van Alden, Lord Stang, Leonard Tipple and Joey Roberts decided to drive out into the field to try and recover the FBI forensics team member. Hanging out the back of the rental Hummer, Agent Van Alden was liberally sloshing gasoline about from the cans they’d brought along and started lighting fires.

When they were able to approach the FBI forensics team member they could see that he was clearly dead and looked as though he’d been strangled to death. Agent Van Alden made the call that they would not try to recover the bodies but burned them right there.

The BPRD team arrived took samples and burned the rest of the place down after Agent Van Alden had a look around at the Greenhouse and farmyard. Though it seemed rather creepy in the dark – it seemed far less… active…?

 Saturday 21 July 2012

In the wee hours all drove back to Samson. During the drive back they learned of the Theatre shooting in Colorado...

Sarah realized she'd missed a number of anxious text messages from Jatik wanting an update and wondering why federal Agents had shown up at Zymotek, confiscating the "speciman".   She called him back to give an update and ask how to proceed.  Jatik said to continue the investigation into Tait's disappearance as he might still have useful information about what it was. 

Later in the morning they met at the Hotel for brunch and were contacted by Det. Sgt. Joe Macklin who requested that they attend the Samson Hall of Justice to answer a few more questions. Upon their arrival they were informed that when Det. SGt. Macklin contacted Dawn Biozyme he had been informed that there was no such “specimen” missing from their laboratory. Agent Van Alden assured the detective that, whether it had originated from Dawn Biozyme, a “specimen” of the description offered by the other characters was delivered to Zymotek on the afternoon in question and was now in the hands of the BPRD.

It was at this point Agent Van Alden found out that some of the attackers were in custody and requested that he be able to interview them…

At this point we had to call it a night.

Next week I am running a Savage Worlds: Wierd War Two game at ToonCon2012 - stay tuned for a report of that action. Hopefully the following week we’ll be able to get back to this adventure!

At Your Door - Session 3

Just about everyone was actually in attendance this evening…. Rick (Lord Stang), Patrick (Joey Roberts), Dave (Leonard Tipple), Amanda (Dr. Sarah Berenstain), and Curtis (Sheriff Carter Jones) were all at the table - only Jackson (Dr. William Blake) was absent.

WARNING: SPOILERS CONTAINED WITHIN - If ever you think you might play the Cthulhu Now adventure At Your Door , read no further! 

Noon, Wednesday,  18 July 2012

Picking up from our previous session, the investigators met at the Hotel Crocker for lunch. Joey Roberts and Leonard Tipple had spent the morning sleeping in after having spent most of the previous day in the bathroom after eating some bad burritos on Monday (Dave and Patrick missed last session).

After lunch they headed back to Peter Tait’s house (the missing microbiologist from Dawn Biozyme that had supplied Full Wilderness with the “specimen” that started this whole invstigation). Leonard Tipple spent the next twelve hourse or so hacking into Tait’s home computer – which turned up a whole lot of not much - other than extenseive contact lists of friends and co-workers and a name and address for a phone number they had found printed on a piece of paper they’d found in Tait’s car.

They tried phoning the number that belonged to a Harold Gall, at 2AM – they’d tried a number of times during the day with no answer. A rather abrasive and rude individual answered and, after a very brief conversation, hung up. Wanting to know a bit more from Mr. Gall they headed to the address.

Mr. Gall turned out to be a thoroughly foul individual, but the investigators managed to talk their way in and attempt to get some information from Gall. They discovered that he had previously owned the farm that Tait had recently purchased, that Gall had also worked for Dawn Biozyme, and that, according to Gall, Tait had been taken by the Sewer People? Gall apparently was working on something to “deal with” the Sewer People, which he showed them. In a laboratory in the rear of his house the investigators were treated to a mass of animal parts heads and legs of all manner of critters (dogs, cats, skunks, rats, etc, etc…) all roughly sewn together – that Gall seemed to be under the impression that he’d be able to animate and send into the sewers to deal with the Sewer People!?

 The following day (Thursday, 19 July 2012), after sleeping in a bit they Investigators made their way out to Tait’s farm after picking up all the items on his “list of things to take to farm” that they had also discovered among the personal affects left in his car. They stopped in the nearby town of Delilah and talked to the locals about Tait and Gall and the farm.

At the farm The found evidence of someone leaving in a big hurry torn up bits of the yard and skid marks on the road and the gate blown off the hinges from within. The chicken coop seems to have recently been destroyed, but otherwise there was no immediate sign of anything untoward in the farmyard itself. In the field, however, they discovered a great many red plants growing out of the carcasses of many critters scattered about the fields. There was also a greenhouse that was absoloutly crammed with plants exhibiting some bizarre and unnatural grown.

Sheriff Jones was positive that one had moved for him and filled it full of lead. He was quite convinced that the plants on the farm were the unnatural byproducts of aliens fornicating with plants and advocated that the whole place be burnt to the ground! (I say we get us 10 canisters of Round Up, roll them in there and defoliate the whole Effing mess…” or something like that…)

Dr. Berenstain, however, insisted that none of the “evidence” be disturbed. She was convinced that Jatik at Full Wilderness would want to know about this place and have a chance to study it… “Clearly this is an important species we’re dealing with and I don’t think you or I or anyone has the right to arbitrarily exterminate it…” (or… something like that…)

I believe Sheriff Jones may have muttered something about taking off and nuking the site from orbit…

They decided that Tait wasn’t here and things best be left alone and turned over to Full Wilderness or the police or someone other than themselves and it was time to go… It was getting dark… Bad things happen in the dark…

Just as they were pulling out of the yard, however, a couple of them noticed a reddish tinge to the scarecrow off in the field… could it be the light of the setting sun…? or was it more of those damned plants!? No one wanted to get out of the vehicles so they droved the rented Hummer over the field to the scarecrow which they discovered to be a teenage boy, held to the crosspiece by more of those unnatural red vined growing out from his ribcage, eyesockets, mouth, ears, etc… They took pictures and sped out of there as fast a s they could!

As there was no cell phone coverage in the valley they drove all the way to Delilah and called 9-1-1. The County Sheriffs office and State Police were notified and on there way. While awaiting their arrival to show them the farm, the investigators asked around town if there were any missing children and discovered one of the local farmers sons had run away a few months back.

And that’s where we left it for the week – awaiting the arrival of the authorities….

The Investigation Begins…

After over a month off we’re finally back at it… sort of… As Amanda was away in Vancouver when last we played she had to make up a character (Sarah Berenstain). Rick (Lord Stang) and Curtis (Sheriff Carter Jones) were also in attendance, Dave (Leonard Tipple), Patrick Joey Roberts) and Jackson (Dr. Blake) were MIA…

WARNING: SPOILERS CONTAINED WITHIN - If ever you think you might play the Cthulhu Now adventure At Your Door , read no further! 

Picking up from where we left off… play began Tuesday morning (17 July 2012) when Lord Stang and Sheriff Jones received a call asking them to attend the Samson Hall of Justice and answer some questions for Detective Sergeant Joe Macklin about the previous day’s shooting. They were met by Sarah Berenstain, a Full Wilderness employee, who would be replacing Richard Slakes as their liaison. Slakes had suddenly taken a leave of absence citing extreme anxiety over the previous days shooting! Berenstain would also be taking a more active roll in assisting the investigators (being a Player Character, and all).After some considerable questioning – which were all answered straight up and truthfully  and giving the police a bit more to work, with they were allowed to leave.

Before leaving, however, they were able to talk to Detective Sergeant Jack Bolling about the missing researcher, Peter Tait. As they were very forthcoming with their own information, Det. Sgt. Bolling was willing to share some of the information he had (Note – I gave Det. Sgt. Bolling a bunch of the stuff the Tait’s brother was supposed to have – I didn’t think the police would give up evidence to a next of kin less than a week into the investigation…?! Especially if there was a chance foul play might be involved). He even allowed them to look at Tait’s car – which turned up some more evidence – Tait’s journal, which was secreted in a slit in the mat under the drivers seat. As they provided this valuable evidence to the police, Det. Sgt. Bolling allowed them to make copies and read the journal, which provided a few new leads.

In the evening Lord Stang and Co. interviewed Tait’s brother - a big-shot corporate lawyer.

In the morning they met with Det. Sgt. Bolling to view Tait’s house.  After a search of the premises we called it a night. 

At Your Door

The Saturday Savages started At Your Door this week. Curtis and Jackson actually showed up this week and made characters (Sheriff Carter Jones and Dr. William Blake, respectively). 

WARNING: SPOILERS CONTAINED WITHIN

If ever you think you might play this adventure, read no further! 

The game started Friday, 13 July 2012, with Lord Stang receiving an e-mail from Robert Jatik of Full Wilderness (an environmental organization dedicated to the maintenance and expansion of protected wilderness reserves) who claimed to have an unusual and sensitive situation requiring his particular skills… so, over the weekend, Stang and his most trusted advisors (Joey Roberts, Leonard Tipple, and Dr. Blake) flew to Samson California. Before leaving however, Stang made a call to Sheriff Jones, to let him know they would be in the country and if he could help out they could pay him handsomely.

On Monday morning (16 July 2012) they met with Jatik who explained that he had reason to believe a company his organization funds research at was actually using their money to conduct illegal and potentially very dangerous genetic research (not what they were hired to do!). His evidence turned out to be some sort of strange, almost alien creature with many mouth-like orifices and tentacles…

Unfortunately the researcher that provided them with the specimen has also disappeared…

The first task, however, Jatik required of them was to escort the specimen to another laboratory to determine what exactly it was that they HAD!?

Along the way they were ambushed. Two truck and two motorcycles cut them off and a dozen, heavily armed men jumped out and demanded that they open up the back of the truck containing the specimen.



When Lord Stang made a move to go for cover and pull out his pistol the man covering him shot – everyone else went for their guns and an extremely short, extremely violent gun-battle broke out on a downtown street of Samson, California. Six of the attackers were wounded in the battle, and miraculously NONE of the players characters… Dr. Blake shot three of them himself!?

With half their number down the remaining baddies skedaddled.

The players' characters spent the rest of the afternoon answering questions for the police – who seemed more than a little suspicious… Their weapons were seized and they were told not to leave town… They were eventually able to deliver the specimen to the lab… and that’s pretty much where we left off.

Unfortunately we won’t likely be playing again for a couple weeks… 

Leonard “Tips” Tipple

Leonard “Tips” Tipple – Wild Card Forensic Accountant/Investigator (Dave)

Ag d4, Sm d10, Sp d10, St d6, Vg d6,

Pace 6, Parry 4, Toughness 5

Skills: Fighting d4, Shooting d4, Notice d4, Stealth d4, Intvestigation d10, Streetwise d8, Accounting d10, Knowledge (Computers/Hacking) d10

Edges: Investigator, Luck

Hindrances: Anemic, Bad Eyes

Gear: Clothes, Trench Coat, Cell Phone, Shotgun (Range: 12/24/48, ROF 1, Damage: 1-3d6) , Knife (Str+d4), Laptop

Since starting to work for Lord Stang six months ago, Leonard Tipple has been trying out some new lines … “They call me Tipple. Leonard Tipple. But you can call me Tips.“ He never imagined that accounting could be so cool. Well, actually, he had imagined it plenty, but never thought it would actually happen. Leonard is thrilled with his new job – a huge pay increase, top of the line computer equipment, control of a huge portfolio, and the opportunity for plenty of adventure. Compared to his years working at Grant Thornton in downtown London, this was like being in a James Bond movie.

  

Tipple had been one of several accountants assigned to Lord Stang’s portfolio at Grant Thornton. His deep knowledge of computers and a passion for reading fraud and commercial crime case histories led him to quickly uncover systematic skimming of hundreds of thousands of pounds from Lord Stang’s accounts. When Tipple contacted Stang privately and brought these irregularities to his attention, Stang was so impressed that he immediately hired Tipple as his personal accountant/investigator. Now, Tipple works full time looking into anything Stang invests money in and acting as a general get-information-for-me-guy. Stang turned out to be a bit of a gun aficionado, and had insisted on weapons training for Leonard and all his other staff. Despite his best efforts, Leonard’s complete lack of coordination and poor eyesight made him completely ineffective with anything except a shot gun.

  

Little Lenny Tipple had grown up in London, and though a bit scrawny and easily winded, he’d spent a lot of time in back lanes exploring with his buddies. His parents, Martha and Terrence, live in a 3rd floor walk-up apartment, and both work in retail in downtown London. They are proud of Leonard, their only child, though they are a little worried that at 29, he still hasn’t had a serious girlfriend. Martha is eager for grandchildren.

Joey Roberts

Joey Roberts – Wild card Streetwise Teen (Patrick)

Ag d10, Sm d6, Sp d8, St d6, Vg d6,

Pace 6, Parry 5, Toughness 5

Skills: Fighting d10, Shooting d6, Notice d6, Stealth d6, Streetwise d8, Lockpicking d6, Knowledge Electronics d6, climbing d4

Edges: Quick, Acrobat

Hindrances: Enemy (Minor: London Street Gang), Wanted (Metropolitan Police: Outstanding warrants for various crimes)

Gear: Clothes, Skateboard (run=d10, Improvised weapon Str+d4, -1 to hit), Submachinegun (Range: 10/20/40, ROF 3, Damage: 2d6, AP: 1)

TEEN KILLED AFTER GANGLAND PARTY SHOOTOUT

 Bob Smith

London Tribune

Late last night members of the gang the Peckham Boys attacked and killed Daniel Thompson, 17 years of age. Thompson had been at a party where tension between two factions of youth led to violence. Shots were fired, but no one was seriously wounded. The use of weaponry sparked panic and people quickly fled the scene. Thompson took shelter from pursuers in a store but then decided against it, leaving the building through a back door; unfortunately the group that was searching for Thompson was just outside and assaulted him at the nearby bicycle racks. The attack lasted no more than a minute but in that small amount of time Thompson suffered multiple stab wounds. Bystanders tried to help Thompson but he perished despite their efforts.

The press got it mostly right I guess, but there’s more to it than that. I’m Joey Roberts, and if the Peckham Boys had done what they’d set out to do, I’d be the one dead in an alley. Here’s why…

The story starts before I had even heard of the Peckham Boys. My mother, Mary, is a very loving woman. At one point, February in 1994, most, if not all, of this love was directed to one man.  He loved her like she deserved for that month but then he left, no goodbye, no money, no anything. I had scared him away. I was born on October 18th that same year. My mom was busy with me and had a lot of difficulty finding hours that she could work but managed to get on as a nighttime janitor with various businesses on Lye Avenue and to secure a flat on Bournemouth Close. Between raising a child and working nights she didn’t get a lot of sleep but regardless of how tired she was she always put lots of love and care into both duties. This was noticed by her employers over the years, and by the time I was five the owner of a small grocer, Mr. Stanley Roberts, had offered her a much better paying job as a full time employee in his store.

A few weeks after my seventh birthday Mr. Roberts came and found me to ask me a question. He told me that my mother had been working for him for two years now and that it was going quite well. I told him that I already knew this, I wasn’t oblivious to what my mom did during the day and Mr. Roberts son Gabriel, who was two years older than me, and I often talked when we played football with the other kids. Then he told me that he was going to ask my mother to marry him. Mr. Robert’s wife had died a quite a few years ago from and he seemed honestly interested in being married again. I gave him a lame lecture about how he had to treat my mom nicely, lame because I didn’t believe that he would. I was right.

Five years later it was 2006, and my twelfth birthday. My parents Stanley and Mary and my brother Gabe got me a skateboard. It was awesome, and a lot of afternoons and evenings from then on were spent riding back and forth on Bournemouth close, attempting various stunts. I donated quite a lot of skin to the Bournemouth Asphalt Foundation.

Over the next few years other grocery stores moved into the area and were gaining popularity. By 2010 business was declining for my parents so it was mutually agreed that I get a job. Gabe was unable to work because he was studying Business Administration at Greenwich University. I couldn’t find work at first and I didn’t want to let my family down, so I turned to crime, none of my offences were more than petty theft, just enough to make it look like I had a minimum wage job. It was during this time that I got to know the Peckham Boys, who was involved and what their territory was, I had to be careful where and who I stole from.  I had a few close calls with the police and it was only a matter of time until I got caught. Luckily for me I had kept looking for work.

I was hired by Hermes Couriers, and started work quite promptly. Within six months I had risen through the ranks and was getting more difficult but more rewarding jobs. I carried important documents for various businesses in central London and eventually was even carrying messages and documents for nobility. There was this one man, Lord Stang, who often had papers and packages delivered to and from obscure locations. He’d need a document delivered to an apparent drunk at King’s Cross station one day and then an amazingly heavy package would be sent to him from an accountant the next. I never asked questions, though I did wonder. I just rode between destinations and dropped off the package or envelope. Though sometimes it took a little work and a few questions to find the places Stang sent and received stuff from. Anyway, Stang took notice to my punctuality and offered me a job. He wasn’t specific on the job details, but it was a good offer and I needed the money.

Now, the reason that the Peckham Boys don’t like me. Stang is eccentric, he likes the superhero save the day kind of stuff, and he was looking into some gang activity in central London. So, I told him what I knew about the Peckham Boys. With this information Stang was able to uncover a major drug house and put a few people in jail, which is great. The only problem is that the Peckham Boys found out it was me who told him. Now, they’re on the lookout for me. Stang’s been able to arrange pretty good protection for my family so they’re safe for now.

What I’m really saying is maybe Daniel Thompson was at the wrong party, but that’s not why he’s dead. He’s dead because he was going to hide in a grocery store owned by the parents of an ex-criminal who ratted out some of the Peckham Boys and looks a lot like him.

Lord Stang

Lord Stang – Wildcard Playboy, Millionaire British Lord (Rick)

Ag d10, Sm d4, Sp d8, St d6, Vg d8,

Pace 6, Parry 6 (+1) , Toughness 5, Charisma +2

Skills: Fighting d10, Shooting d10, Notice d4, Stealth d6, Investigation d4, Persuasion d4, Driving d8, Knowledge: Occult d4, Piloting d4

Edges: Filthy Rich, Noble

Hindrances: Code of Honour

Gear: Clothes, Hat, Glock (Range: 6/12/24, ROF 1, Damage: 2d6, AP: 1), ‘Brolly Sword ( Str+d4, Parry +1), cell phone, fancy cars, etc, etc…

Lord Stang is a playboy, multi-millionaire British lord (Filthy Rich, Noble) that fancies himself a British Secret Agent type (like John Steed or James Bond). He also identifies with Bruce Wayne, although he finds the Batman costume a little gauche.  But he's really a bit of an airhead - not the sharpest knife in the drawer. 

Not that that's slowing him down.  He's thrown his not insubstantial financial resources behind his investigative fancies.  Luckily for him, he's been fortunate enough to have some more capable associates - Leonard Tipple and Joey Roberts - who carry him (and keep him alive) through their various (mis)adventures.  Of course, Lord Stang thinks (incorrectly) that he's played a major role in leading their successes, and lets the press know about it regularly.

He's also put significant effort into acquiring a few of the gentleman sports.  He's put a lot of money into shooting, fencing, fisticuffs, and driving expensive cars.  His success in those pursuits is definitely due more to a certain natural agility - not due to mental abilities.

Lord Stang is a member of the British Paranormal Society - though his membership was granted more because of his wealth and title than because of any genuine knowledge of the occult or supernatural, which (so far) is superficial, at best.  As a member, in the early 1990's he actually met Professor Trevor Bruttenholm - a past society member of note (and founder of the Bureau for Paranormanl Research and Defense). 

A New Campaign for the Summer

For those that have been paying close attention to the Other Blog  might have noticed I’ve been reading a bit of Hellboy lately and even painting up a few BPRD type characters… while it’s mostly inspired me to want to get the 1920s Cthulhu Campaiogn going again going again… but I probably won’t be prepared fro that until fall.. but in the meantime I thought I’d run a series of Modern adventure-scenarios perhaps inspired by Hellboy and the BPRD… Though the players characters weren’t really told that to begin with…

So for our first session we made a few characters. “Modern Investigative types” I told them. And then a ran a quick scenario to “try them out”…

Now it’s been a long time since I’ve run anything modern-ish… so they didn’t even think of taking stuff like DRIVING… (I allowed them to make a few modifications to their characters afterwards… probably could have done with a bit more tweaking… but… oh well…)

The players are to provide more detailed character backgrounds by next week, but here’s brief intro to the group so far…

Lord Stang (Rick’s characrter) is a playboy, millionaire British lord (Filthy Rich, Noble) that fancies himself a British Secret Agent type (like John Steed or James Bond) but is really a bit of a thicko with no real skills at all, except that he’s a remarkably good shot (Shooting d10)

Leonard Tipple is a Forensic Accountant/Investigator that works for Lord Stang. (Investigator, Knowledge: Accounting, Anemic, Bad Eyes)

Joey Roberts is a rough and tumble streetwise teen with a bit of a criminal record and some outstanding warrants… (Enemy, Wanted, Quick, Skateboard, Uzi, and a lot of d6s…)

For our quick introductory scenario I told them that Edward Jones, a thug from an Organized Crime Syndicate, that they had helped put behind bars had escaped custody and was on the loose again. With Roberts streetwise and Tipples investigation they tracked him to a hide out on a lonely moor in the Scottish Highlands.

They decided to drive up in the middle of the night, break in and capture the fellow…

This didn’t work out so well for them…

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)

It was overcast and nearly pitch black out on the moor… They tried pulling the door off with the Land Rover’s winch… this didn’t work… so they tried bashing the door in WITH the Land Rover… which only succeeded in damaging the Land Rover….

Also Jones had been alerted to the possible arrival of some visitors. When he heard (and saw) them driving up the road to his hide out he scarpered.

When Jones saw that it was that blasted fool Englsih Lord that had put him behind bars, decided to start sniping them…

Jones had a sniping rifle and night vision equipment…. The other’s had a pistol, a shotgun, and uzi and no idea where Mr. Jones was at…

Stang was shot – TWICE – and took two wounds… The flailed around in the dark trying to comw up with a new plan, but realized very quickly they were in over their heads. They bundled back into the busted Land Rover and escaped with Jones shooting holes through their truck as made their get-away.

An inauspicious beginning, if ever there was one…