IC: 13: Victory is Ours!

[DrVendetta]

"I like that idea" says Richard "Do you ladies feel safe enough to go get the car and drive it as close to the seashore exit to the caves while Eddie anbd I haul it down to there through the tunnels?"

[BenTheRat]

The ladies agree and head to the car. "See you boys soon," Alyssa says.

[DrVendetta]

Richard takes a deep breath then starts helping Eddie to move the statue towrds the seashore entrance of the tunnels.

[Mr. Handy]

"I'm looking forward to it," says Eddie with a smile. He helps Richard carry the massive statue towards the shore exit from the tunnels.

[BenTheRat]

You manage to get the heavy statue out of the tunnels and into the car. A wave of relief washes over the 4 of you. That simple job, to go retrieve the stolen statue, had turned into so much more. So many deaths, even a friend.

[DrVendetta]

After gettingthe statue in the car Richard gets into the back seat to relax and reflect a little on the drive back to MAPS

[Mr. Handy]

"Let's get this back to MAPS," says Eddie, driving his car back. "Whatever it's supposed to be for, I hope it's worth the price we paid."

[BenTheRat]

The four of you sat quietly as you sped through the night. With the exception for a small murmur of a chant from the back seat only the wind noise from the car kept it from being too quiet. The cursed statue was weighing down the back end of the car, but no one mentioned moving it out of the trunk. How many people had died, how many more would have if not for your efforts? You look back on the things you could have done differently. Why did Norman have to play the hero, rushing into face the beast buying time for Alyssa to get away from it?

Maybe that was what was blocking Alyssa's mind. She didn't want to believe, couldn't believe he would rush that monster to save her. For now Alyssa doesn't remember the act. Everything that happened before right now is more a vague memory, like a bad dream. These people in the car with her seem to know her and call her Alyssa, but even that doesn't feel right. The man next to her obviously likes her, were they a couple, had she kissed him, were they lovers? Something was missing, she just couldn't put her finger on it. It's like her mind was jumbled and she doesn't know how to find her thoughts, her memories, herself.

Aunt Loosa was sitting in the back seat working on some sort of charm, murmering a chant to herself. It was having a calming effect on the rest of the group. She hadn't seemed herself since Norman's death. Then again who was. Thoughts of her nephew Sonny kept reoccuring. Was that how he died, to some horrible beast in a damp cave, trying to be the hero?

Richard had fallen asleep next to Aunt Loosa in the back, her murmering was acting like a lullaby. He'd wake up on a really bad bump, his hand reaching for his pistol, as he let out a small yelp. That would startle the others, but they didn't mind. Bad dreams haunted his sleep, perhaps they would everyone from now on. But it was all he could do to stay awake a few minutes and then doze off again.

Eddie was driving, the roads deserted this time of night. He was quickly approaching Boston. Would MAPS already know? They always seemed to. Would they just mark it up as a win with acceptable losses? Hang a portrait of Norman on the wall. No fan fair, no recognition of the sacrifice, no medal or parade. The thoughts chewed at Eddie, pissed him off. How long till he was just one of those portraits? They were lucky, he know that. That hip shot as he ran to do the killing blow, was a one in a hundred, he wasn't even sure how he had managed it. Eddie reached over and slipped Alyssa's hand into his, she smiled at him, but there was a vacancy in the eyes. Over the last week his feelings for her had grown, but she looked at him like a nice stranger after you helped her with her bags. Would her memory ever return?

As you pull into the parking lot, and entered the office, Ms. Patton was up and around her desk before you could say hello. Giving each of you a warm hug. Hot tea, coffee and stronger drink was in the lounge. Dr. Chambers told you not to worry about the statue, as a couple young men in overalls hurried out to your car to retrieve the heavy piece of granite. Sure enough a new painting of your friend Norman hung proudly next to Sonny and the others. The only acknowledgement of the sacrifice they had paid.

Money was pressed into your hands, but to be honest, whatever it was didn't matter and it surely would not be enough for what you went through. This was a somber time, not a time for celebration of victory.

[BenTheRat]

OOC:   You guys are free to roleplay how you like, either in the car ride back or in the MAPS Lounge where I left you off. Wrap Up: Defeating the Cultists: 1d8 Sanity Points Defeating the Deep Ones: 1d6 Sanity Points Defeating Rev. Thomas (Deep One Hybrid): 1d3 Sanity Points Defeating the Star Spawn: 1d10 Sanity Points You are free to keep these characters, roll for skill increases and sanity point increases. All wounds will be healed up in time and Alyssa will eventually regain her memory over time, but not for awhile. Thanks for playing this to the End. I hope you enjoyed it. Be sure to check out and join my next mini-module where you return to Rockport - 'Key to the Abyss' This was written as a mini-side mission to go with the Star on the Shore. But can be run as a stand alone.

[Mr. Handy]

OOC,Thank you, I did enjoy it! Do you have a list anywhere of which skills we used? Sanity gain (current level 29): [dice]0[/dice]+[dice]1[/dice]+[dice]2[/dice]+[dice]3[/dice] Sanity increased to 43.

[BenTheRat]

OOC:   I did not keep detailed records on what skills you used. I know everyone used their weapons, spot hidden, explosives, throw, first aid, medicine & dodge. Most people used a persuade at one point, psychology, navigate & library use. I think some of you had to make a Drive Auto roll early on. I know Aunt Loosa used occult a lot, some of the rest of you did some. Thats all I can think of off the top of my head. Not sure exactly who used what. Everyone also pick up 5 points in Cthulhu Mythos. I'd also be happy to answer any questions you had regarding the scenario. And I would love to hear what you liked, what you didn't like. I've changed a lot of what is going into the final book based on this game, so you guys helped write the book.

[Mr. Handy]

OOC,I'll have to go through the posts and see which skills I successfully used when I have time, which won't be until at least the weekend. One thing is that I felt that the Star-Spawn is way too tough. Yes, I used one myself (and a tougher than average one, thanks to the die rolls when I "spawned" it) in The Shadow Over Dunwich, but the players had UNIT's modern (circa 1985) firepower at their disposal, as well as plenty of UNIT soldiers to act as cannon fodder. Two of them ended up killing it in one round by both rolling 01 when shooting it using assault rifles on full auto. We had shotguns and dynamite, which did the job, but we were extremely lucky to get off with only one character death and not a TPK. Was there a better way to defeat it other than through combat?

[Silver Priest]

Thoughts,Thanks, really enjoyed it! Shame about Norman, but that is why I enjoy this game. At the very least, he died saving the woman he harbored some affection for. There are less worthy causes. I don't really have any complaints. The Star Spawn was pretty tough. Based on your own anecdotes I feel like we got really lucky with killing it. But if we all had had Tommy Guns or shotguns it might have gone better. Or even more dynamite. The only thing that struck me as even a little odd was how easily Phil went down. But at the end of the day he was a squishy human, so maybe I should not be surprised. ;) If you'd like to share, I'd like to learn how the other groups you ran for did. Were we the most successful?

[BenTheRat]

Spoilers,Yes, you are the first ones to actually kill the Star Spawn and have most of the party live. You really aren't supposed to win with guns, but so many impales with shotguns can blow that out of the water. (/Pun). One other group managed to collapse the pit tunnel and only lost a couple players, but that is only a temporary fix as the Star Spawn is still down there. One group managed to kill it in a suicide run. They went exploring the lower tunnels and got trapped in the main room below. They tried to fight it straight up, and 3 died in the first round, 2 more in the 2nd, it was a slaughter. So the last character who had a bundle of dynamite, lit them and ran at it to give him a big hug. It was wounded pretty bad already and the 5 sticks of dynamite at point blank range did it in. There are several ways to deal with him, but you didn't really investigate any of those possibilities. I won't go into too many details, but there was a spell in town to banish him, there were a couple ways to get weapons that bypassed his massive armor. So combined with shotguns, that would work. Tommy guns don't do so well, because only the first bullet can impale, the rest are pretty useless, doing 1 or 2 points max. I have come up with an "accidental" way to deal with him as well involving the 2 statues. Didn't really apply to you as this was added after you were in it. Sorry the module changed as you played. You could collapse the tunnel, but you had to go down into the pit, and plant the dynamite in the walls to cause them to collapse. Dropping it from above would never work. To do this properly you probably have to send someone down to distract the Star Spawn long enough to get it planted and get back up the ropes. You could use some quick pulley rope system with counterweights, but that would involve a lot of work and engineering, but could be done. Dynamite really won't do that much ecspecially individual sticks because of their fuses. All he has to do is get a little bit away from it, and odds are it won't even hurt him. When you heard the footsteps running away, that was him getting away from the dynamite. The best use of it, besides collapsing the tunnel, would have been to set a trap with it, using an electrical detonator with several sticks. Lure him there with lamb chops (his favorite) and set it off. The girl at the hardware store has a high demolitions skill and could rig it up for you and is willing to help. While the Colonel bugged out when he saw the deep ones, he is an expert on military tactics and could have drawn up the plan to do it. Phil wasn't designed to be too tough, but in every playtest he went down like a cheap whore. So I've added an NPC to the book to give him a bit of protection. A backer from Kickstarter helped design her. You never went to the Pigeon Cove chapel. If you had you would have run into Rev. Sardonicus. He maintains the chapel and is the front man, being charismatic and a slick salesman. But has no real power. Given enough interogation, he flips on Phil and the whole cult as to what's going on. In the book, Sardonicus is married to Raven "Shadowz" Alexis. She is seriously attracted to power and will do whatever it takes to get it. She originally thought Sardonicus was the power behind the cult, when she found out she was wrong, she has started having an affair with Phil and was planning to kill Sardonicus. She has a couple spells to manipulate shadows she can use to make him harder to hit and gives him a chance to escape if he gets hurt but not killed. Phil is actually a pretty powerful wizard, but is using all his magic to keep the artists coming to town as sacrifices and to keep the Star Spawn pacified and not running rampant. He only has enough magic to call his spirit animal (the crow) to spy on you or attack you. There is so much to do an see in the town, you only hit maybe 20% of it. But spread out over 2 years its hard to remember everything. So many back stories you just barely touched on or didn't follow up on. The chapel, the witch house, the cage behind the hardware store, the names on the list you found. I know you found the tunnels and went for the win, which was the right move. But I like my worlds to have a bit of depth to them. I am changing up a few things. Getting rid of the illusions from the first scene, nice idea but can be so abused. So instead of the flat and the 2 boys turning into cyclops, your cars are attacked by a swirling mass of crows, which can cause you to wreck your cars. It works much cleaner and fits with the crows watching you all the time. A bunch of names are changing due to a special backer level to allow people to pay to have their name be an NPC. So Phil is actually changing to Gabriel in the book. I actually like it better. I am so use to calling him Phil it seems strange, but Gabriel I think is a better evil NPC name. I am providing the players with a map of the city. I should have done that from the beginning. Not sure what I was doing with the whole, no maps, it just makes things harder to understand. In the book, there will be a Keeper map with all the important info on it. And then a player map with only a few buildings marked. The Woods House, the Police station, the Library, Railroad station, and the Post office/telegraph office. that will be perforated so the Keeper can remove it and give it to the players. It's really nice. Any other questions.

[Mr. Handy]

OOC,One reason we didn't explore and discover as much was that we didn't have a chance after a certain point. We were trying to retreat back to Boston and regroup when the entire cult came after us. Once we killed them, there was nothing holding the Star-Spawn in check, and we had to deal with it.

[BenTheRat]

Yea I know once you kill off the deep ones, its designed to set things in motion to kick off the end game.

[BenTheRat]

Handy, I think we are done with this module if you want to move it into the Hall of Honor category.

Sorry I haven't got the next one started yet, I had 2 Kickstarters at the same time, and a big Con, where I'm writing 2 adventures, 1 CoC and 1 Paranioa. So this is eating up a lot of my time.