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Well then. After four or six weeks off thanks to finals and illness and the holiday season, we finally had another session of Dresden on Monday, something to round out the old year. Everyone was excited to play, but everyone was also sort of out of touch with their characters. I knew I had to make it good, so I planned something I hadn't actually done yet this game: a combat. ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
innocent_man mentioned that when he had to deal with a long break, he found it useful to just start off in the middle of the action and let people figure it out from there. The group I have is pretty flexible and I knew that they could handle this, so I started them off 6 hours ahead, in a dark, dead-end alleyway, confronting a potential ambush, with no information about how they got there or what was going on. Tally ho!
As the group stood there, Mary stepped forward a bit, talking to Zeke. She thanked him for showing up and bringing everyone along -- she said she wanted to talk. The group could see she had five people behind her, but they weren't doing anything threatening other than standing in the dark, next to the building, where it was hard to see them. As the group got closer, Mary got snarky and the rest of her group moved forward, revealing that they were not, in fact, the rest of the group of college students, but five naked women... or sort of women... with horns, and fur, and goat heads, and really large breasts. They cast an incite lust power at the group, and three out of the six were affected. Zeke's angel kept him strong, so that while he could feel the attraction, he didn't have to act on it -- the ick factor kept him safe. Dylan resisted, as did Uno. Danny, Adia, and Oscar were all affected, though.
Oscar reacted by freaking out and going all Lethal Weapon on the nearest goat-woman-thing. Uno did a quick check for any fae resonance and rolled Legendary, and thus determined that these were demonic in nature, not fae, which added another level of "ew" to the mix. Danny spent a bennie to roll again and this time made it, conquering the effect. Adia started to approach them, and so to help out, Dylan supercharged a superball and sent it pinballing around the alleyway, pinging off all the goat-demons and distracting them. The bleats as they got hit (it didn't hurt them, as it happened) were unanticipated funny in the whole thing. He used his kinetomancy to have it speed up as it collided, rather than slowing down. It continued this until it hit escape velocity, from the alley at least.
Danny cast a force wall and used it to pin half the goat critters and Mary against the wall. She missed a couple, though. Oscar took on one of them, while the other headed for Danny. Uno intercepted it, pulled out his sword, offered it the chance to talk, and then when it didn't respond started whacking on it with his blade, cleaving it in twain. The body fell into ectoplasmic goop and evaporated, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief that these things weren't human in any way.
Mary got free from the wall along with another goat person. Oscar dispatched the one he was fighting with, and then made a grab for Mary, who was trying to get through the garage door on the shipping dock at the end of the alley. The loose goat-demon made a beeline for Danny, only to be intercepted by Zeke. He grappled with it, only to have it make an attack... it had addictive milk, you see (it's a demon goat -- it's reasonable). So it squirted milk at him and succeeded, and so the grapple changed from trying to hold it down to trying to hold on as the demon tagged the ADDICTED aspect.
Dylan saw Zeke was in trouble, so he stepped up and pulled the goat-demon away, Uno stepped forward and held onto Zeke, and Oscar stepped up, throwing Mary aside, and instead finishing off the goat-demon for Dylan, who isn't as good at killing barehanded (go figure). Adia during this had tried to sneak around and wall crawl to get close to the trapped goat-demon, thinking she would get close and free it somehow, but couldn't figure out a way to do it -- and upon getting close, asked if she could make a roll to resist after she realized she couldn't touch it. She successfully resisted and moved away, squicked.
During all this, Mary is calling out for Lucas, with no answer. Suddenly, though, Zeke has a wave of nausea pass over him, and Mary bursts into flames, screaming. The nausea kills off the remainder of the attraction, thank goodness. He cuts his thumb and runs over to Mary's body, which is burning at a pace no natural fire could equal. He draws a circle around them both with his blood and powers it, cutting off Lucas's magic. She's still on fire, mind you, but the flames are far more normal now. He throws his coat over her to smother the flames, and then calls on Sauriel to help him heal her. Her burns are really bad, but under his hands, they begin to heal. Mary is still alive, but unconscious.
In the meantime, with Danny nearing exhaustion from keeping up the spell, goes over to the remaining goat-demons. With his Wall of Death stunt, he neatly takes out all the rest of them, who collapse into goo that quickly evaporates. Everyone looks for Lucas, but he's nowhere to be found.
From there, we jump back in time to earlier that day. Zeke got a call from Mary referring to their conversation outside the rave that night, and says that she wants out. She asks him to meet her behind the student union on campus. He agrees, and everyone plans to come along.
In the meantime, there's a meeting with Mickey to go to. Everyone shows up at the chosen hotel and gets a room, which Adia texts to Mickey. Oscar waits outside, hidden, looking to retrieve his tracking device. Mickey arrives and the group gets down to business. They negotiate for a time, with finally both Dylan and Danny offering future favors, with the caveats that they will not break laws of any kind--magical or otherwise. Adia is prevented from offering anything and neither Uno nor Zeke have any interest in doing so. Zeke is only barely civil, and negotiating with the demon-ridden ex of Adia's who completely scares/creeps her out is pretty much jumping on his last nerve.
In return, Mickey reveals that Lucas Smith is actually one of the Fallen -- Azael, to be exact. There are demonic forces who don't want Azael to set up shop in Baltimore, and that's where their warnings are coming from through Mouthpiece. Azael has been in his current host for about 30 years, but Mickey's sources believe he's looking to change hosts. That's where the kids come in. Azael is the original scapegoat... he is affiliated with those who are cast out. Goats are his animal/totem, and in addition to that, he's one of the original seducers -- he prefers rabbis, priests, mages, etc. He uses magic himself, obviously, and is a pretty nasty character. He wants a new host, though, and he's got his eye on someone whom he wants to convince to take up the coin.
Zeke deduces he means Adam. Mickey has no additional information on that, but is always willing to do what he can -- for a price. No one takes him up on it. Mickey indicates his interest in relocating back to the Baltimore area, and with that, bids the group adieu. No one is thrilled to hear this. Oscar gets his tracking device back without a problem. With that, the group takes off to go see Mary, hoping that she's the break they've been waiting for. And thus we have closure!
Next time, Uno has to fulfill an obligation, things ramp up with Lucas, and the group tries to divine a way forward from here, before it's too late!
innocent_man mentioned that when he had to deal with a long break, he found it useful to just start off in the middle of the action and let people figure it out from there. The group I have is pretty flexible and I knew that they could handle this, so I started them off 6 hours ahead, in a dark, dead-end alleyway, confronting a potential ambush, with no information about how they got there or what was going on. Tally ho!As the group stood there, Mary stepped forward a bit, talking to Zeke. She thanked him for showing up and bringing everyone along -- she said she wanted to talk. The group could see she had five people behind her, but they weren't doing anything threatening other than standing in the dark, next to the building, where it was hard to see them. As the group got closer, Mary got snarky and the rest of her group moved forward, revealing that they were not, in fact, the rest of the group of college students, but five naked women... or sort of women... with horns, and fur, and goat heads, and really large breasts. They cast an incite lust power at the group, and three out of the six were affected. Zeke's angel kept him strong, so that while he could feel the attraction, he didn't have to act on it -- the ick factor kept him safe. Dylan resisted, as did Uno. Danny, Adia, and Oscar were all affected, though.
Oscar reacted by freaking out and going all Lethal Weapon on the nearest goat-woman-thing. Uno did a quick check for any fae resonance and rolled Legendary, and thus determined that these were demonic in nature, not fae, which added another level of "ew" to the mix. Danny spent a bennie to roll again and this time made it, conquering the effect. Adia started to approach them, and so to help out, Dylan supercharged a superball and sent it pinballing around the alleyway, pinging off all the goat-demons and distracting them. The bleats as they got hit (it didn't hurt them, as it happened) were unanticipated funny in the whole thing. He used his kinetomancy to have it speed up as it collided, rather than slowing down. It continued this until it hit escape velocity, from the alley at least.
Danny cast a force wall and used it to pin half the goat critters and Mary against the wall. She missed a couple, though. Oscar took on one of them, while the other headed for Danny. Uno intercepted it, pulled out his sword, offered it the chance to talk, and then when it didn't respond started whacking on it with his blade, cleaving it in twain. The body fell into ectoplasmic goop and evaporated, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief that these things weren't human in any way.
Mary got free from the wall along with another goat person. Oscar dispatched the one he was fighting with, and then made a grab for Mary, who was trying to get through the garage door on the shipping dock at the end of the alley. The loose goat-demon made a beeline for Danny, only to be intercepted by Zeke. He grappled with it, only to have it make an attack... it had addictive milk, you see (it's a demon goat -- it's reasonable). So it squirted milk at him and succeeded, and so the grapple changed from trying to hold it down to trying to hold on as the demon tagged the ADDICTED aspect.
Dylan saw Zeke was in trouble, so he stepped up and pulled the goat-demon away, Uno stepped forward and held onto Zeke, and Oscar stepped up, throwing Mary aside, and instead finishing off the goat-demon for Dylan, who isn't as good at killing barehanded (go figure). Adia during this had tried to sneak around and wall crawl to get close to the trapped goat-demon, thinking she would get close and free it somehow, but couldn't figure out a way to do it -- and upon getting close, asked if she could make a roll to resist after she realized she couldn't touch it. She successfully resisted and moved away, squicked.
During all this, Mary is calling out for Lucas, with no answer. Suddenly, though, Zeke has a wave of nausea pass over him, and Mary bursts into flames, screaming. The nausea kills off the remainder of the attraction, thank goodness. He cuts his thumb and runs over to Mary's body, which is burning at a pace no natural fire could equal. He draws a circle around them both with his blood and powers it, cutting off Lucas's magic. She's still on fire, mind you, but the flames are far more normal now. He throws his coat over her to smother the flames, and then calls on Sauriel to help him heal her. Her burns are really bad, but under his hands, they begin to heal. Mary is still alive, but unconscious.
In the meantime, with Danny nearing exhaustion from keeping up the spell, goes over to the remaining goat-demons. With his Wall of Death stunt, he neatly takes out all the rest of them, who collapse into goo that quickly evaporates. Everyone looks for Lucas, but he's nowhere to be found.
From there, we jump back in time to earlier that day. Zeke got a call from Mary referring to their conversation outside the rave that night, and says that she wants out. She asks him to meet her behind the student union on campus. He agrees, and everyone plans to come along.
In the meantime, there's a meeting with Mickey to go to. Everyone shows up at the chosen hotel and gets a room, which Adia texts to Mickey. Oscar waits outside, hidden, looking to retrieve his tracking device. Mickey arrives and the group gets down to business. They negotiate for a time, with finally both Dylan and Danny offering future favors, with the caveats that they will not break laws of any kind--magical or otherwise. Adia is prevented from offering anything and neither Uno nor Zeke have any interest in doing so. Zeke is only barely civil, and negotiating with the demon-ridden ex of Adia's who completely scares/creeps her out is pretty much jumping on his last nerve.
In return, Mickey reveals that Lucas Smith is actually one of the Fallen -- Azael, to be exact. There are demonic forces who don't want Azael to set up shop in Baltimore, and that's where their warnings are coming from through Mouthpiece. Azael has been in his current host for about 30 years, but Mickey's sources believe he's looking to change hosts. That's where the kids come in. Azael is the original scapegoat... he is affiliated with those who are cast out. Goats are his animal/totem, and in addition to that, he's one of the original seducers -- he prefers rabbis, priests, mages, etc. He uses magic himself, obviously, and is a pretty nasty character. He wants a new host, though, and he's got his eye on someone whom he wants to convince to take up the coin.
Zeke deduces he means Adam. Mickey has no additional information on that, but is always willing to do what he can -- for a price. No one takes him up on it. Mickey indicates his interest in relocating back to the Baltimore area, and with that, bids the group adieu. No one is thrilled to hear this. Oscar gets his tracking device back without a problem. With that, the group takes off to go see Mary, hoping that she's the break they've been waiting for. And thus we have closure!
Next time, Uno has to fulfill an obligation, things ramp up with Lucas, and the group tries to divine a way forward from here, before it's too late!
