Griffin O'Callahan (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
icastsword) wrote2021-10-07 10:21 pm
icastsword) wrote2021-10-07 10:21 pm
Entry tags:
Session 86: The Plot & Exposition Thicken
Holt explains about his science Zone of Truth that deals consequences instead of compelling the truth.
Holt:How come you look like this?
Serra: How come you look like that?
Holt isn't sure - he can explain genetics but -
In the middle of all of this, Crimeny is in the corner. They've already dropped their glamor. Now they're just walking around looking at stuff.
Serra takes off her glamor and manifests her wings. Holt reacts theatrically - An angel!! ANGELS ARE REAL!!!!
Griffin leaves to go join Kug in the waffle house. If Crimeny and Serra have dropped their glamors in front of this excitable old man, Jericho and Nellie probably will too, and he is not here for this.
Holt has a refrigerator full of red bull. Shane offers him tea. He doesn't want tea. He wants his red bull.
There is some discussion about species. The crew bruises Jericho's ego. Also he is very confused, because apparently he can't be trusted with farm animals.
Shane: Have you met Bigfoot? Because I haven't, but I want to.
Is Bigfoot magic?
Holt invites the crew to sit, because he feels like there is a lot to discuss. There are surfaces to sit on. Holt decides to approach Crimeny first.
Holt: You're not just an automaton, are you? You feel things, don't you?
Holt extends his hand to shake.
Crimeny is not sure how to answer this. There are two conflicting feelings. Scott rolls to determine how gremlin-y Crimeny reacts to this. 10+ is a normal handshake. Scott rolls a a 19, and Crimeny shakes Holt's hand.
Holt is fascinated by the whole crew except Shane, because Shane is human. He wants to know why we hide what we are. Nellie explains that there's a government group that won't let us share. Holt realizes she's talking about Interplay. He demands to know if we were followed. Crimeny assures him that we were not followed, but he's in panic mode - he starts gathering papers and whatever shit he can. He looks like he's planning to leave town.
Jericho puts a hand on his shoulder and Holt whips around with the Nintendo Light gun. He's a little wildeyed right now. Jericho reassures him.
Holt: You know about Interplay.
Jericho: We do, and we're not real fond of them either.
Crimeny and Jericho explain that we made sure Interplay didn't know Holt was at the sculpture garden. Holt looks all teary-eyed and grabs Jericho by the face. "They've been after me for thirty years! And I don't know what they want"
Inky, OOC: Don't worry about it, buddy, because I'm going to destroy Ant's little organization.
Jericho, IC: They're persistent bastards.
Holt explains that he can't leave the country - if he tries, Interplay will stop him.
A few months ago, one of Holt's substations picked up something. He pulls up data on a computer to show off. He shows us pings of extra-planar activity from October from the previous year, which is consistent with the Axeman Case.
Then he advances the record a little further. We can see that ever since Bargomoth made the scene, there's been a pretty significant uptick in whatever this thing is searching for. Based off of the readouts, the crew can't ascertain what he's looking for.
After a lot of OOC discussion, Jericho asks what the pings are.
The planar membrane is between the planes. These pings are showing where something is passing through the planar membrane into our world.
It's obvious that the pings on Holt's screen are not Gates. It looks like whatever passes through doesn't leave a hole after - it closes up. It's impossible to tell whether things are coming in or leaving, it's just noting that something has breached the planar membrane. The events have been increasing since October.
Jericho rolls 15 Insight on this map. The amount of occurrences has increased. He can't ascertain mass or magnitude of what's coming through, but they seem steady. If something big came through, it would be a much bigger event. All of these readings are about the same magnitude of whatever this change is. It's random - there's no set pattern.
Holt is watching Jericho. "Tell me, what are you getting from these readings?" He sounds kind of suspicious but he's more interested in Jericho's thoughts for research purposes.
Holt has a very large map of New Orleans Parish that he's scribbled all over. He's fascinated by Jericho's input - Jericho doesn't think there's an invasion at all. Jericho thinks that whoever's punching through is just taking the path of least resistance.
Holt asks Jericho to explain magic. Jericho defers to Nellie. Nellie has to figure out how to explain magic to someone who has no basic knowledge of magic.
Nellie explains that she has attained mastery of magic through study. Jericho's just come by it naturally.
Shane claims he's not allowed to disclose the name of his patron deity.
There's a lot of cultural, scientific and religious reckoning coming down on this man's head, and he's simultaneously trying to process it and be an amicable host.
Inky points out it may be a good idea to tell Holt to stop fucking around with gates, because that's how Interplay finds you. So Jericho does that.
Who do you think gave Interplay the technology for gates?
It was Holt. He taught them about gates, and then Interplay removed the knowledge from his head somehow. Every time he gets close to recovering that knowledge, Interplay comes back to fuck with his head some more. Holt's goal is to get free of this plane and away from Interplay.
Shane suggests burning down Interplay. Holt counters that unfortunately, with his assistance thirty years ago, Interplay is too powerful. He regrets signing a deal with the devil. As soon as they got what they wanted, Holt was blacklisted.
Crimeny: You signed a deal with someone worse than a devil, you signed a deal with a capitalist.
Jericho asks if Holt remembers who he made that deal with. Holt remembers the name Cyril.
Jericho asks Holt what he knows about the transmigration of souls.
Holt isn't sure, he's never heard of it. He has a theory that the planar membrane is sustained by some type of energy source. Something has to give the planar membrane energy. It's not inert, it doesn't just draw power from nothing, since that's physically impossible. In order to sustain a barrier this powerful, then a charge or something would have to be circulating through it.
Inky is angry about membrane potential. She gives us a big science lecture.
So the planear system is basically like a bunch of individual cells that make up a larger organism.
If something is able to pass through the planar membrane sporadically, it means that the membrane is weakening. It's not getting charged for some reason.
This blows Jericho's mind. I'm glad Griffin is in the waffle house with Kug, because if he were here his eyes would be super glazed over right now.
Things will start to meld into each other if the membrane loses too much power.
Does Jericho's asshole scythe have something to say about this? He's going to ask his asshole scythe if any of this shit sounds familiar. What does Danny Devito have to say? Roll persuasion to get Danny Devito to talk. Jericho rolls a 30.
Danny has his own shit to handle, he hasn't been paying attention to us.
Scythe: IDK if you're ready for that information
Jericho: Did those statues have souls in them?
The Planar Membrane is known as the Sea of Chaos. So what happens when the Sea of Chaos starts breaking down? You just got Chaos. Jericho wants to know how the chaos manifests. Without the barrier, there's nothing separating the different planes, which means they all try to exist in the same space at the same time. We've never seen what happens when the Sea of Chaos dries up. Imagine an Extinction Level Event.
What usually pushes the souls across? How do they usually go across?
They scythe says we call it the Grim Reaper. They're the custodians of the Sea of Chaos. You know, Psychopomps. Every world in the planar system has their own custodians.
What happened to the psychopomps, did they just take a vacation?
The scythe says he's not omniscient. Jericho wants to know if he was previously owned by a psychopomp? The Scythe doesn't want to talk about it.
Jericho wants to know how to find a psychopomp. Scythe doesn't really have the answer to that. Psychopomps aren't really in the habit of getting in touch with one another. So there's nothing overseeing each psychopomp, they're all independent agents? Basically.There was a need, and the psychopomps coalesced.
Jericho: Jesus christ, are you made out of belief?
Scythe: Would you BELIEVE it if I said yes? :D
How to find a psychopomp? Jericho asks what if he died, could he find one then?
If something happens to the wielder of the scythe, it's BAD.
The scythe suggests that, instead of Jericho trying to die to talk to a psychopmp, maybe ask Nellie to poke a dead guy. Eeeyyyy.
The entire time Jericho was having this heated conversation, Shane was talking to Holt about Mothman. Jericho rolls a 23. Everybody else rolls Perception. Crimeny rolls a 27 to Perceive. Crimeny sees all. Jericho appears to be mumbling rather emphatically, and it's not his normal "Goddammit Shane" grumbling.
Crimeny knows something's up, but they're no snitch. They're not a fucking narc. They just file that observation away for later.
Shane rolls Performance to tell Holt about Mothman: 22; Shane has a very theatrical way of talking about Mothman. He's captured Holt's attention and somehow also everyone else's.
Is Mothman real or is he just a figment of Shane's imagination? Due to Shane's time in Interplay, he does know for a fact that Mothman exists, but he's never met him. Meanwhile, Bigfoot also exists. He does recon for Interplay. He doesn't like it, but they feed him hotdogs. Bigfoot is actually just a really lanky bugbear.
Holt actually gives Shane his notes on Mothman - The Mothman Chronicles. Shane has made a friend.
Holt realizes that he and Shane have gone way off track. If this isn't an invasion, what is it, and what can we do about it? If Interplay gets involved, any chance we have of understanding what's going on is lost.
Shane points out that Interplay might already know something is up?
Hey, can we get Holt a glamor? We can get him an emergency glamor. Maybe we can get one from Griffin's moms.
Jericho and Crimeny ask Holt how his security is. Do his cameras work? They do. The lenses on the cameras can actually peer through glamors, so if any non-human entities show up, he is alerted. He assures Jericho he is well fortified.
Holt shows the crew a Nintendo Power Glove. Nellie says to try it on Shane. Holt holds his power gloved hand out to Shane as if offering a handshake. Shane says fuck it and shakes Holt's hand. He is immediately electrocuted. He has to roll a STR save. He rolls a Nat 20 and manages to yank his hand away. If he had failed he would not have been able to let go. He takes 18 Lightning Damage. Holt has invented Shocking Grasp, except it's more like a Shocking Grapple.
A lot of Holt's devices are old Nintendo peripherals.
Crimeny asks if Holt got any alerts last night. Holt DID spy a very odd-looking lumberjack through some video footage, but he decided not to investigate because he figured he needed to recalibrate his cameras, because...lumberjack.
Crimeny nods in understanding, as though this were a perfectly normal thing to see.
Holt: Are lumberjacks magic?
Holt would very much like to examine Shane's brain. He holds up a Virtual Boy. Shane refuses - he has standards. The Virtual Boy was Nintendo's biggest folly!
Holt: You don't know? You've never heard of Nintendium?
Shane is so angry, he pulls out his phone and begins texting Kojima.
SHANE: IS NINTENDIUM REAL
PLEASE GOD HELP ME
KOJIMA: Shane!
Yes, of course it's real
why do you ask?
SHANE: met an old man you know how it goes
KOJIMA: Ah yes, I do. Is everything alright?
SHANE: Everything is perfectly fine
KOJIMA:I picked up some new horror movies today, I'm eager to watch them
8)
SHANE: Oh good you'll have to tell me about them later
KOJIMA: I would love to! But yes, to answer your question, Miyamoto-san created Nintendium centuries ago. He's been distributing the mythical ore through his products for years now
I'm shocked you didn't know
SHANE: That's
lovely
duty calls I'm afraid, I'll be in touch later
KOJIMA:
Good luck, Shane! Try not to kill any more of your friends
SHANE: I'll do my best
He puts his phone back in his pocket. "I'll be goddammned, Nintendium is real."
Shane swipes the Virtual Boy and throws it on the ground. It cracks the ground.
Holt just smiles and says, "Nintendium."
How hard is Shane's mind blown right now?
Holt: The magazine was called Nintendo POWER, I mean, it was right there?
Shane: HOW OLD ARE YOU?
Holt: Why does it matter?
Now everybody is awkwardly looking at each other. One of Holt's devices starts making an alarm sound. Holt rushes over to one of the consoles. Jericho wants to know where. It takes a moment, but it finally returns coordinates. At the New Orleans Museum of Jazz.
Whatever this is seems to be targeting tourist attractions.
Holt will stay here. Holt asks if there's any way to take it alive.
Crimeny wants to know if Holt has Nintendium handcuffs. No, but he does have a Nintendo Super Scope.
Holt: Take this.
Crimeny: (:
Ant refuses to tell us what it does until Crimeny goes to use it.
The crew walks down the road to the waffle house to pick up their driver and their tank. It is nine million degrees but they walk there anyway. Kug protests that we need to pay the bill.
Jericho puts down a 50. Kug says that's not going to be enough. Crimeny puts down a 100 on top of Jericho's 50. It's time to go.
Jericho gives Griffin a cliff's note version. He rolls 24 Deception vs Crimeny's 30 Insight and Serra's 27 Insight to dance around the subject of suddenly knowing so much about soul migration.
Griffin rolled a 15 Insight, which actually isn't terrible, but is nowhere close to beating a 24. He trusts Jericho implicitly, and is carb-loaded and ready to go.
Jericho referenced his "inference" about psychopomps along with his summary of events.
Nellie rolled a 7 Insight, and she's too distracted thinking of her father's research to suspect Jericho is being duplicitous.
Jericho's not stupid, but he's pulling a lot of this info out of thin air. Crimeny is starting to get the feeling that Something is Up here, but once again, Crimeny ain't no snitch. Serra also notices that Jericho seems to be pulling knowledge out of his ass that he maybe shouldn't have. She'll be keeping a closer eye on him from now on.
We get to the NO Museum of Jazz. We immediately see what's up, but before Ant can describe it, Crimeny gives Griffin their crowbar. Nellie gives Jericho Morte's Tome of Terminal Velocity. Serra gets out the Clue-by-Four.
Note to self: The crowbar damage die is 1d6.
As we pull up, we notice what all of the hullabaloo is about. There is a large crowd of people standing in front of the New Orleans Museum of Jazz. Jutting out of the front, just above the front door is a large steel obelisk that looks like it's been Bethesda-clipped through the building. It looks like the building has a unicorn horn.
We roll Investigation to look for shit that will attack us. We look around and don't see anything. Shane casts Detect Magic. Nothing in the immediate vicinity is magic except the obelisk, which lights up like a fucking christmas star. This one is also glowing with Transmutation and Conjuration magic.
Griffin rolls to Grapple.
Jericho gives it some Sudafed.
Actually, Griffin wants to know what else is around here. Because the Toynbee Tile didn't attack us, the sculptures did. Crimeny doesn't find much of note on their google search for potential museum-adjacent exterior threats.
Shane walks inside, and notices that the obelisk is clipping through the wall. He takes a picture of it. Something catches Shane's attention when he takes a picture of it. He sees what appears to be an English letter etched into one side of the obelisk. As he looks it over, there are a bunch of letters etched all over it in random places. Just that one letter is English. The rest appear to be Sylvan.
The translation amounts to a bunch of gibberish letters.
EIB R ETH RTEAWF
Shane wants to touch the obelisk. He touches it. There is some sensory dissonance. This thing looks like it should be made of smooth metal. This feels like shark skin, but it still has the same structural integrity of metal.
Griffin also touches it. When he touches it, it feels like leather.
Nellie says the obelisk feels like stone.
Jericho thinks it feels like carpet.
Serra thinks it feels slimy.
Crimeny is the only smart one in the group and looks to see if there are other people in the building right now. They do see some people, but they're keeping their distance. Crimeny reaches into their bag and pulls out the crank drill. They're going to try to take a core sample. They roll Stealth with Disadvantage because they're using a crank drill, but they still roll a 19.
Crimeny starts to crank it - heyooo - and is required to roll Nature: They roll another 19. Crimeny understands how the tip of a metal drill on metal would react with scrapes and sparks. Cognitively they are aware of this. As they drill they're getting the scraping sounds and the sparks, but once it's punctured and they extract a core, when they try to dislodge it, the core almost looks like - it's got the metallic surface, but every other part of the sample looks like static.
Now Crimeny touches it. They touch the staticy bit. When their finger makes contact with it, they have a bit of a sensory overload. Their mind is trying to parse what this feels like without having any kind of idea structurally. Their brain is trying to fill in the blank. It's like changing channels rapidly. First it's hard, then soft, then hard then cold, then dry then slick, etc.
Crimeny: Oh this'll be USEFUL
Ant: OH NO D:
Crimeny wraps it up in a towel. Now they have this Core of the Unknown.
Shane rolls Arcana - 26. This is not a naturally occurring thing, but he can't figure out why everyone feels something different.
Serra rolls Nature - 19. She knows there's a medical condition where some people can't see faces. She can gather that since everyone is feeling something different, our minds are trying to fill in the blanks. It seems like whatever was trying to communicate was learning a language for the first time. Now it seems like someone is learning sensation for the first time.
Griffin rolls Science - 15! Our minds are trying to fill in the blanks about the sensation. This is not metal, it's like an illusion made manifest, which might explain why it's clipping through the building.
Griffin wonders if one of Nellie's little dudes is around.
"I guess we could unleash Crimeny?"
We hear a scream. We hear a number of screams. There are people running toward us and then away, out of the building. We go see what made them scream. There's a large exhibit toward the back that has cleared out, but right now nothing appears to be moving.
Shane attempts to gather information from one of the running NPCs. Shane rolls a 26 Persuasion. The man says "I dunno man, it just came to life!" That's all a 26 Persuasion is good for in this instance; this man is fleeing for his life.
We approach the empty exhibit to look for the plaque to tell us what the exhibit is.
It's an exhibit dedicated Duke Ellington. Off to one side is a piano.
As we enter the exhibit, we are rushed by Duke Ellington's famous piano. Everybody saves on Dex except for Shane, and he takes 14 Bludgeoning damage halved from 28. Now he needs to roll a Strength Save. He rolls a 5.
This piano launches itself at the group. Everybody dives aside except for Shane. He gets slammed in the gut and is pushed along with it. It bum-rushes a large picture window and explodes out of it. Shane takes additional glass damage - 4 Piercing damage halved from 7.
The piano lands on the lawn, and gallops off into the distance with our good friend Shane.
Griffin and Crimeny immediately run after it. Time to roll Initiative.
Shane Damage Counter: 51 missing HP
30 total Lightning damage from Holt;
18 Bludgeoning & Piercing from pre-fight Piano
3 damage from eating shit after falling out of the Piano
1.) Crimeny
2.) Shane
3.) Piano (15+7)
4.) Jericho
5.) Nellie
6.) Serra
7.) Griffin
Holt:How come you look like this?
Serra: How come you look like that?
Holt isn't sure - he can explain genetics but -
In the middle of all of this, Crimeny is in the corner. They've already dropped their glamor. Now they're just walking around looking at stuff.
Serra takes off her glamor and manifests her wings. Holt reacts theatrically - An angel!! ANGELS ARE REAL!!!!
Griffin leaves to go join Kug in the waffle house. If Crimeny and Serra have dropped their glamors in front of this excitable old man, Jericho and Nellie probably will too, and he is not here for this.
Holt has a refrigerator full of red bull. Shane offers him tea. He doesn't want tea. He wants his red bull.
There is some discussion about species. The crew bruises Jericho's ego. Also he is very confused, because apparently he can't be trusted with farm animals.
Shane: Have you met Bigfoot? Because I haven't, but I want to.
Is Bigfoot magic?
Holt invites the crew to sit, because he feels like there is a lot to discuss. There are surfaces to sit on. Holt decides to approach Crimeny first.
Holt: You're not just an automaton, are you? You feel things, don't you?
Holt extends his hand to shake.
Crimeny is not sure how to answer this. There are two conflicting feelings. Scott rolls to determine how gremlin-y Crimeny reacts to this. 10+ is a normal handshake. Scott rolls a a 19, and Crimeny shakes Holt's hand.
Holt is fascinated by the whole crew except Shane, because Shane is human. He wants to know why we hide what we are. Nellie explains that there's a government group that won't let us share. Holt realizes she's talking about Interplay. He demands to know if we were followed. Crimeny assures him that we were not followed, but he's in panic mode - he starts gathering papers and whatever shit he can. He looks like he's planning to leave town.
Jericho puts a hand on his shoulder and Holt whips around with the Nintendo Light gun. He's a little wildeyed right now. Jericho reassures him.
Holt: You know about Interplay.
Jericho: We do, and we're not real fond of them either.
Crimeny and Jericho explain that we made sure Interplay didn't know Holt was at the sculpture garden. Holt looks all teary-eyed and grabs Jericho by the face. "They've been after me for thirty years! And I don't know what they want"
Inky, OOC: Don't worry about it, buddy, because I'm going to destroy Ant's little organization.
Jericho, IC: They're persistent bastards.
Holt explains that he can't leave the country - if he tries, Interplay will stop him.
A few months ago, one of Holt's substations picked up something. He pulls up data on a computer to show off. He shows us pings of extra-planar activity from October from the previous year, which is consistent with the Axeman Case.
Then he advances the record a little further. We can see that ever since Bargomoth made the scene, there's been a pretty significant uptick in whatever this thing is searching for. Based off of the readouts, the crew can't ascertain what he's looking for.
After a lot of OOC discussion, Jericho asks what the pings are.
The planar membrane is between the planes. These pings are showing where something is passing through the planar membrane into our world.
It's obvious that the pings on Holt's screen are not Gates. It looks like whatever passes through doesn't leave a hole after - it closes up. It's impossible to tell whether things are coming in or leaving, it's just noting that something has breached the planar membrane. The events have been increasing since October.
Jericho rolls 15 Insight on this map. The amount of occurrences has increased. He can't ascertain mass or magnitude of what's coming through, but they seem steady. If something big came through, it would be a much bigger event. All of these readings are about the same magnitude of whatever this change is. It's random - there's no set pattern.
Holt is watching Jericho. "Tell me, what are you getting from these readings?" He sounds kind of suspicious but he's more interested in Jericho's thoughts for research purposes.
Holt has a very large map of New Orleans Parish that he's scribbled all over. He's fascinated by Jericho's input - Jericho doesn't think there's an invasion at all. Jericho thinks that whoever's punching through is just taking the path of least resistance.
Holt asks Jericho to explain magic. Jericho defers to Nellie. Nellie has to figure out how to explain magic to someone who has no basic knowledge of magic.
Nellie explains that she has attained mastery of magic through study. Jericho's just come by it naturally.
Shane claims he's not allowed to disclose the name of his patron deity.
There's a lot of cultural, scientific and religious reckoning coming down on this man's head, and he's simultaneously trying to process it and be an amicable host.
Inky points out it may be a good idea to tell Holt to stop fucking around with gates, because that's how Interplay finds you. So Jericho does that.
Who do you think gave Interplay the technology for gates?
It was Holt. He taught them about gates, and then Interplay removed the knowledge from his head somehow. Every time he gets close to recovering that knowledge, Interplay comes back to fuck with his head some more. Holt's goal is to get free of this plane and away from Interplay.
Shane suggests burning down Interplay. Holt counters that unfortunately, with his assistance thirty years ago, Interplay is too powerful. He regrets signing a deal with the devil. As soon as they got what they wanted, Holt was blacklisted.
Crimeny: You signed a deal with someone worse than a devil, you signed a deal with a capitalist.
Jericho asks if Holt remembers who he made that deal with. Holt remembers the name Cyril.
Jericho asks Holt what he knows about the transmigration of souls.
Holt isn't sure, he's never heard of it. He has a theory that the planar membrane is sustained by some type of energy source. Something has to give the planar membrane energy. It's not inert, it doesn't just draw power from nothing, since that's physically impossible. In order to sustain a barrier this powerful, then a charge or something would have to be circulating through it.
Inky is angry about membrane potential. She gives us a big science lecture.
So the planear system is basically like a bunch of individual cells that make up a larger organism.
If something is able to pass through the planar membrane sporadically, it means that the membrane is weakening. It's not getting charged for some reason.
This blows Jericho's mind. I'm glad Griffin is in the waffle house with Kug, because if he were here his eyes would be super glazed over right now.
Things will start to meld into each other if the membrane loses too much power.
Does Jericho's asshole scythe have something to say about this? He's going to ask his asshole scythe if any of this shit sounds familiar. What does Danny Devito have to say? Roll persuasion to get Danny Devito to talk. Jericho rolls a 30.
Danny has his own shit to handle, he hasn't been paying attention to us.
Scythe: IDK if you're ready for that information
Jericho: Did those statues have souls in them?
The Planar Membrane is known as the Sea of Chaos. So what happens when the Sea of Chaos starts breaking down? You just got Chaos. Jericho wants to know how the chaos manifests. Without the barrier, there's nothing separating the different planes, which means they all try to exist in the same space at the same time. We've never seen what happens when the Sea of Chaos dries up. Imagine an Extinction Level Event.
What usually pushes the souls across? How do they usually go across?
They scythe says we call it the Grim Reaper. They're the custodians of the Sea of Chaos. You know, Psychopomps. Every world in the planar system has their own custodians.
What happened to the psychopomps, did they just take a vacation?
The scythe says he's not omniscient. Jericho wants to know if he was previously owned by a psychopomp? The Scythe doesn't want to talk about it.
Jericho wants to know how to find a psychopomp. Scythe doesn't really have the answer to that. Psychopomps aren't really in the habit of getting in touch with one another. So there's nothing overseeing each psychopomp, they're all independent agents? Basically.There was a need, and the psychopomps coalesced.
Jericho: Jesus christ, are you made out of belief?
Scythe: Would you BELIEVE it if I said yes? :D
How to find a psychopomp? Jericho asks what if he died, could he find one then?
If something happens to the wielder of the scythe, it's BAD.
The scythe suggests that, instead of Jericho trying to die to talk to a psychopmp, maybe ask Nellie to poke a dead guy. Eeeyyyy.
The entire time Jericho was having this heated conversation, Shane was talking to Holt about Mothman. Jericho rolls a 23. Everybody else rolls Perception. Crimeny rolls a 27 to Perceive. Crimeny sees all. Jericho appears to be mumbling rather emphatically, and it's not his normal "Goddammit Shane" grumbling.
Crimeny knows something's up, but they're no snitch. They're not a fucking narc. They just file that observation away for later.
Shane rolls Performance to tell Holt about Mothman: 22; Shane has a very theatrical way of talking about Mothman. He's captured Holt's attention and somehow also everyone else's.
Is Mothman real or is he just a figment of Shane's imagination? Due to Shane's time in Interplay, he does know for a fact that Mothman exists, but he's never met him. Meanwhile, Bigfoot also exists. He does recon for Interplay. He doesn't like it, but they feed him hotdogs. Bigfoot is actually just a really lanky bugbear.
Holt actually gives Shane his notes on Mothman - The Mothman Chronicles. Shane has made a friend.
Holt realizes that he and Shane have gone way off track. If this isn't an invasion, what is it, and what can we do about it? If Interplay gets involved, any chance we have of understanding what's going on is lost.
Shane points out that Interplay might already know something is up?
Hey, can we get Holt a glamor? We can get him an emergency glamor. Maybe we can get one from Griffin's moms.
Jericho and Crimeny ask Holt how his security is. Do his cameras work? They do. The lenses on the cameras can actually peer through glamors, so if any non-human entities show up, he is alerted. He assures Jericho he is well fortified.
Holt shows the crew a Nintendo Power Glove. Nellie says to try it on Shane. Holt holds his power gloved hand out to Shane as if offering a handshake. Shane says fuck it and shakes Holt's hand. He is immediately electrocuted. He has to roll a STR save. He rolls a Nat 20 and manages to yank his hand away. If he had failed he would not have been able to let go. He takes 18 Lightning Damage. Holt has invented Shocking Grasp, except it's more like a Shocking Grapple.
A lot of Holt's devices are old Nintendo peripherals.
Crimeny asks if Holt got any alerts last night. Holt DID spy a very odd-looking lumberjack through some video footage, but he decided not to investigate because he figured he needed to recalibrate his cameras, because...lumberjack.
Crimeny nods in understanding, as though this were a perfectly normal thing to see.
Holt: Are lumberjacks magic?
Holt would very much like to examine Shane's brain. He holds up a Virtual Boy. Shane refuses - he has standards. The Virtual Boy was Nintendo's biggest folly!
Holt: You don't know? You've never heard of Nintendium?
Shane is so angry, he pulls out his phone and begins texting Kojima.
SHANE: IS NINTENDIUM REAL
PLEASE GOD HELP ME
KOJIMA: Shane!
Yes, of course it's real
why do you ask?
SHANE: met an old man you know how it goes
KOJIMA: Ah yes, I do. Is everything alright?
SHANE: Everything is perfectly fine
KOJIMA:I picked up some new horror movies today, I'm eager to watch them
8)
SHANE: Oh good you'll have to tell me about them later
KOJIMA: I would love to! But yes, to answer your question, Miyamoto-san created Nintendium centuries ago. He's been distributing the mythical ore through his products for years now
I'm shocked you didn't know
SHANE: That's
lovely
duty calls I'm afraid, I'll be in touch later
KOJIMA:
Good luck, Shane! Try not to kill any more of your friends
SHANE: I'll do my best
He puts his phone back in his pocket. "I'll be goddammned, Nintendium is real."
Shane swipes the Virtual Boy and throws it on the ground. It cracks the ground.
Holt just smiles and says, "Nintendium."
How hard is Shane's mind blown right now?
Holt: The magazine was called Nintendo POWER, I mean, it was right there?
Shane: HOW OLD ARE YOU?
Holt: Why does it matter?
Now everybody is awkwardly looking at each other. One of Holt's devices starts making an alarm sound. Holt rushes over to one of the consoles. Jericho wants to know where. It takes a moment, but it finally returns coordinates. At the New Orleans Museum of Jazz.
Whatever this is seems to be targeting tourist attractions.
Holt will stay here. Holt asks if there's any way to take it alive.
Crimeny wants to know if Holt has Nintendium handcuffs. No, but he does have a Nintendo Super Scope.
Holt: Take this.
Crimeny: (:
Ant refuses to tell us what it does until Crimeny goes to use it.
The crew walks down the road to the waffle house to pick up their driver and their tank. It is nine million degrees but they walk there anyway. Kug protests that we need to pay the bill.
Jericho puts down a 50. Kug says that's not going to be enough. Crimeny puts down a 100 on top of Jericho's 50. It's time to go.
Jericho gives Griffin a cliff's note version. He rolls 24 Deception vs Crimeny's 30 Insight and Serra's 27 Insight to dance around the subject of suddenly knowing so much about soul migration.
Griffin rolled a 15 Insight, which actually isn't terrible, but is nowhere close to beating a 24. He trusts Jericho implicitly, and is carb-loaded and ready to go.
Jericho referenced his "inference" about psychopomps along with his summary of events.
Nellie rolled a 7 Insight, and she's too distracted thinking of her father's research to suspect Jericho is being duplicitous.
Jericho's not stupid, but he's pulling a lot of this info out of thin air. Crimeny is starting to get the feeling that Something is Up here, but once again, Crimeny ain't no snitch. Serra also notices that Jericho seems to be pulling knowledge out of his ass that he maybe shouldn't have. She'll be keeping a closer eye on him from now on.
We get to the NO Museum of Jazz. We immediately see what's up, but before Ant can describe it, Crimeny gives Griffin their crowbar. Nellie gives Jericho Morte's Tome of Terminal Velocity. Serra gets out the Clue-by-Four.
Note to self: The crowbar damage die is 1d6.
As we pull up, we notice what all of the hullabaloo is about. There is a large crowd of people standing in front of the New Orleans Museum of Jazz. Jutting out of the front, just above the front door is a large steel obelisk that looks like it's been Bethesda-clipped through the building. It looks like the building has a unicorn horn.
We roll Investigation to look for shit that will attack us. We look around and don't see anything. Shane casts Detect Magic. Nothing in the immediate vicinity is magic except the obelisk, which lights up like a fucking christmas star. This one is also glowing with Transmutation and Conjuration magic.
Griffin rolls to Grapple.
Jericho gives it some Sudafed.
Actually, Griffin wants to know what else is around here. Because the Toynbee Tile didn't attack us, the sculptures did. Crimeny doesn't find much of note on their google search for potential museum-adjacent exterior threats.
Shane walks inside, and notices that the obelisk is clipping through the wall. He takes a picture of it. Something catches Shane's attention when he takes a picture of it. He sees what appears to be an English letter etched into one side of the obelisk. As he looks it over, there are a bunch of letters etched all over it in random places. Just that one letter is English. The rest appear to be Sylvan.
The translation amounts to a bunch of gibberish letters.
EIB R ETH RTEAWF
Shane wants to touch the obelisk. He touches it. There is some sensory dissonance. This thing looks like it should be made of smooth metal. This feels like shark skin, but it still has the same structural integrity of metal.
Griffin also touches it. When he touches it, it feels like leather.
Nellie says the obelisk feels like stone.
Jericho thinks it feels like carpet.
Serra thinks it feels slimy.
Crimeny is the only smart one in the group and looks to see if there are other people in the building right now. They do see some people, but they're keeping their distance. Crimeny reaches into their bag and pulls out the crank drill. They're going to try to take a core sample. They roll Stealth with Disadvantage because they're using a crank drill, but they still roll a 19.
Crimeny starts to crank it - heyooo - and is required to roll Nature: They roll another 19. Crimeny understands how the tip of a metal drill on metal would react with scrapes and sparks. Cognitively they are aware of this. As they drill they're getting the scraping sounds and the sparks, but once it's punctured and they extract a core, when they try to dislodge it, the core almost looks like - it's got the metallic surface, but every other part of the sample looks like static.
Now Crimeny touches it. They touch the staticy bit. When their finger makes contact with it, they have a bit of a sensory overload. Their mind is trying to parse what this feels like without having any kind of idea structurally. Their brain is trying to fill in the blank. It's like changing channels rapidly. First it's hard, then soft, then hard then cold, then dry then slick, etc.
Crimeny: Oh this'll be USEFUL
Ant: OH NO D:
Crimeny wraps it up in a towel. Now they have this Core of the Unknown.
Shane rolls Arcana - 26. This is not a naturally occurring thing, but he can't figure out why everyone feels something different.
Serra rolls Nature - 19. She knows there's a medical condition where some people can't see faces. She can gather that since everyone is feeling something different, our minds are trying to fill in the blanks. It seems like whatever was trying to communicate was learning a language for the first time. Now it seems like someone is learning sensation for the first time.
Griffin rolls Science - 15! Our minds are trying to fill in the blanks about the sensation. This is not metal, it's like an illusion made manifest, which might explain why it's clipping through the building.
Griffin wonders if one of Nellie's little dudes is around.
"I guess we could unleash Crimeny?"
We hear a scream. We hear a number of screams. There are people running toward us and then away, out of the building. We go see what made them scream. There's a large exhibit toward the back that has cleared out, but right now nothing appears to be moving.
Shane attempts to gather information from one of the running NPCs. Shane rolls a 26 Persuasion. The man says "I dunno man, it just came to life!" That's all a 26 Persuasion is good for in this instance; this man is fleeing for his life.
We approach the empty exhibit to look for the plaque to tell us what the exhibit is.
It's an exhibit dedicated Duke Ellington. Off to one side is a piano.
As we enter the exhibit, we are rushed by Duke Ellington's famous piano. Everybody saves on Dex except for Shane, and he takes 14 Bludgeoning damage halved from 28. Now he needs to roll a Strength Save. He rolls a 5.
This piano launches itself at the group. Everybody dives aside except for Shane. He gets slammed in the gut and is pushed along with it. It bum-rushes a large picture window and explodes out of it. Shane takes additional glass damage - 4 Piercing damage halved from 7.
The piano lands on the lawn, and gallops off into the distance with our good friend Shane.
Griffin and Crimeny immediately run after it. Time to roll Initiative.
Shane Damage Counter: 51 missing HP
30 total Lightning damage from Holt;
18 Bludgeoning & Piercing from pre-fight Piano
3 damage from eating shit after falling out of the Piano
1.) Crimeny
2.) Shane
3.) Piano (15+7)
4.) Jericho
5.) Nellie
6.) Serra
7.) Griffin
ROUND 1
At the top of the order is Crimeny. The piano has galloped a good 40 feet away. Crimeny jumps out the window after the piano. They take out the Super Scope. Ant laughs while Crimeny makes a morality roll. Shane is on it. If they roll above 10, they'll think better of trying an experimental weapon with a friend in the crosshairs. They roll a Nat 20 on Morality, so they don't shoot the experimental gun. The piano is running keys forward - the keys are its face. Shane is plastered to the front. The piano is running on grass, but is about 5 feet away from some concrete. Crimeny uses a bonus action to dash to get ahead of the piano and slaps a vial of oil all over the concrete. This Dickensian Waif terminator runs to get ahead of this piano, and bystanders are absolutely recording this on their phones.
Has Shane seen what Crimeny's done? Yeah, he can kind of see in his periphery. He wants the piano to go into Crimeny's crime trap. Shane wants to cast Eldritch Blast into the ground to make the Piano turn to run into the oil. Shane rolls a 19 Sleight of Hand +5 to block the NPC's view of his magic spell. He fires his two Eldritch Blasts into the ground. The spell explodes the dirt, causing the piano to rear up on its hind legs. Shane rolls a 2 Athletics/Acrobatics to climb away. The Piano turned hard, and the lid opened up a bit. As it makes its way around, Shane tries to get along on its side and it bucks really hard and knocks Shane onto its strings and soundboard. The lid shuts on top of him.
The Piano rolls a 16 Dex Save to avoid the Grease Crimeny split. Then it makes another roll to determine its next action.
1 - 5 = piano crashes down hard
6 - 10 = piano spins and heads toward the crowd of people
11 - 15 = head back to the museum
16 - 20 = head for the open road, where there are cars.
Ant rolled a 13. The piano scrabbles on the oil, trying to get some traction, and it spins around and takes off back towards the museum.
1 - 5 = piano crashes down hard
6 - 10 = piano spins and heads toward the crowd of people
11 - 15 = head back to the museum
16 - 20 = head for the open road, where there are cars.
Ant rolled a 13. The piano scrabbles on the oil, trying to get some traction, and it spins around and takes off back towards the museum.
Jericho's turn. The piano is running back on the pavement, and all Jericho has is the Tome of Terminal Velocity. Jericho positions himself so that the piano will hit him, so that he can get the possible 3d6 from the Tome. For the sake of moving things along, Ant says Jericho can move into its path. He rolls an 18 STR save and just manages to not get trapped by the Piano - he is run into and rolls over the top of the piano. Jericho takes 24 Bludgeoning damage from being hit by this rampaging Piano. Morte's Tome of Terminal Velocity rockets into the sky and comes down to bludgeon the Piano with a 22 Attack roll. The piano takes 15 damage, and Jericho makes a Dex save to roll off the top off this thing - with an Unnatural 20, he's fine, and takes no further damage.
Now it's Nellie's turn. She wants to shoot one of the piano's legs so we can get our shit boy back. Nellie rolls an 8 with tiny gun Disadvantage to hit the piano, and misses.
Serra goes to smack the piano with her piece of wood. If she hits it, it'll get a clue. It'll figure out how to evade us, and take Shane somewhere far away. Serra rolls a 15 to hit the Piano. The Clue-By-Four deals 1d4 damage and its target gains Insight. Serra does 2 damage and now the Piano has secret knowledge that Ant will not share.
Griffin goes full rugby on this jerk object that's eaten his good friend Shane. He gets up his momentum running full sprint, then rolls a 26 Acrobatics to drop into a slide on the grass. He rolls to attack the legs as he and the Piano pass each other: 27 to hit one leg and a 12 to hit the second leg. He hits the first leg real good. He hooks the leg with the end of the crowbar and yanks the leg back, so that the keys eat shit into concrete. The Piano takes 7 Bludgeoning damage from Griffin's Crowbar. This thing impacts the ground hard. The back end flips up. The lid flies open and Shane has to roll another Dex save. He rolls a 6. Shane tumbles out and eats shit next to the piano. He takes 3 Bludgeoning damage. The piano's back end keeps going and it flips over and lands on top of Shane. The lid is broken, so Shane doesn't take any more damage, but he is now trapped under the flipped-over piano.