Campaign: Facets

[SionEwig]

Originally Posted by tshiggins

It was only sort of easy, and I'll raise the hood a bit to demonstrate why.

I modeled Faerie after Jim Butcher's version, in that I wanted every trip through it to be fraught with danger and require smart choices. I have a pretty clear idea of the motivations of the Faerie beings they run into, and I operate them according to that defined nature.

<SNIP>

Well, I did say relatively easy way out (snicker). But what I was primarily referring to was their opportunity to go through Faerie in the first place to rescue their grievously injured comrade. That came about I believe as a result of their befriending the little folk. Just goes to show that not all rewards are the kind you can write up on paper.

I thought that I recognized some aspects from Butcher's work there, good choice on it's use. Do they realize how high the price of that Favor could be?

[tshiggins]

Originally Posted by SionEwig

Well, I did say relatively easy way out (snicker). But what I was primarily referring to was their opportunity to go through Faerie in the first place to rescue their grievously injured comrade. That came about I believe as a result of their befriending the little folk. Just goes to show that not all rewards are the kind you can write up on paper.

I thought that I recognized some aspects from Butcher's work there, good choice on it's use. Do they realize how high the price of that Favor could be?

Bernetta has read the Dresden Files through Cold Days, Debbie has started the series, and Bennie Rae, Samantha and Gold&Appel, Inc., are all well-versed in the original fairy tales.

So, yeah. That's why Beatrice (mostly) created Rule One -- and it was Beatrice (Bernetta's character) who finally agreed with everyone the group needed to break it, and ramrodded the decision.

Samantha, Bernetta's oldest daughter (and my First Niece) -- who plays Doc Belody Bascher -- thought that was hilarious. :)

[tshiggins]

(Whoops. Accidental dual post.)

[Anders]

What's Rule One?

[tshiggins]

Originally Posted by Anders

What's Rule One?

"No deals with Faeries!"

It's in the Funny Quotes, somewhere.

[tshiggins]

We held the most recent session of Facets, a couple of weeks back. We picked up right where we left off, with the party in Faerie confronted by a perilously cute little green dryad, with a Texas accent and an agenda.

Characters Present:


Trooper Frank Moses -- A former Marine currently working as a trooper with the Utah Highway Patrol (UHP), based out of the Section 13 office in Moab, under Lt. Lee Exeter. Moses works with 4CSAR as needed, and has an interest in Doc Bascher. -- Played by Mike H.

Dr. Henrietta "Indiana" Johnson -- A personable, age 29-and-holding Anthropologist who specializes in the pre-Columbian indigenous people of the American Desert Southwest. A Native of Apache Junction, AZ, "Indiana" is good with people and has been fascinated by American Indian religion and folklore since she was a child. Henrietta speaks Apache fluently, and not-so-secretly wishes archaeology could be more like Raiders of the Lost Ark and less like digging in a trench with a trowel and a toothbrush -- Played by Debbie S.

Randy "Random" Shoop -- a twenty-something, semi-pro mountain-bike competitor who has trouble staying focused, but is basically a good and reliable member of the team, with an unexpectedly strong moral character -- Played by Gold & Appel, Inc.

Dr. Belody "Doc" Bascher -- a local veterinarian for both large and small animals, who frequently fixates on her job and uses 4CSAR as her primary social outlet. -- played by Samantha H.

Dr. Arthur "A.J." Jamison -- a retired NASA scientist with a home in one of Moab's nicer canyon sub-developments, who volunteers for 4CSAR because he needs to do something to get out of the house. Considers himself responsible for Sunmi Jones, who is enough of a science-geek that the two of them can actually hold a conversation. -- Played by Anten S.

Sunmi Jones -- A Korean-American prodigy and student of chemistry at Utah Valley University, who spent most of her childhood with her deceased mother's family in Korea, but has come to Utah to attend college and work with her father's petroleum exploration firm. Somewhat moe, awkward-but-cute, glasses-wearing nerd girl, who only volunteers with 4CSAR because volunteer work is required for her degree. -- Played by Rebecca W. (Not present.)

Beatrice "B" Lawrence -- U.S. Army veteran who works for a local air charter service as a helicopter mechanic. A cynic about men, and accompanied by "Grunt," the biggest, best-trained pit-bull anybody has ever seen (purchased as an ally, and a totally badass dog, even before it was possessed by what appears to be a benign spirit) -- played by Bernetta W. (Not present, this session.)

Aurelia R. Lockrin -- A young woman with a shady past who teaches History at Grand County High School (Home of the Red Devils!), and volunteers for 4CSAR because she's a bit of an adrenalin junkie, and likes the companionship. -- played by Bennie Rae P. (Not present, this time).

Jimmy Ehrland – A fugitive from the 1918 Colonia de Nova España, on the other side of the portal, he had fled from his vampire mistress, only to find himself in a strange, alien world to which he must struggle to adapt. – Played by Kyle H.

NPCs Present

Grunt: Beatrice's ally, a large pit-bull possessed by a protective "foo" spirit.

Hops About: A nunnupi (one of the "Little People" from Comanche folklore) who frequently takes the form of a quadruple-sized magpie. The party has determined that she is a faerie, and as such is mischievous, rather random, inhuman and appallingly dangerous. Likes ants, ham sandwiches and Looney Tunes.

Twirls Thrice: Another nunnupi, and the sister of Hops About. More laconic and observant than her rather hyperactive sister, but at least as dangerous in her own way. Likes ants, ham sandwiches, and particularly Bugs Bunny.


##

The Fox Says, “Hey.”

The dryad checked out each of the men in the group with a speculative eye (and turned her nose up in contempt at the women), but her attention was riveted when she took a second look at Jimmy. She sidled up to the handsome, red-headed 16-year-old, ran her fingers across his chest and made a most inappropriate proposition.

The leaf-topped beauty said she’d open a gateway from her glade to the version of Dallas, they needed, as long as they paid her toll. In this case, she wanted Jimmy to spend at least six months of “real-world” time with her, “keepin’ company.”

The group immediately objected, noting that six months of real-world time could translate into years of time in Faerie, and while Jimmy would likely find the time enjoyable (if exhausting) that was simply too much of his life to spend away.

A protracted negotiation began, during which the dryad used every form of verbal seduction she knew, to get Jimmy to agree. However, with the support of the rest of the group (especially Doc Bascher, whom the dryad grew increasingly to resent), Jimmy eventually managed to get the dryad to accept that he wouldn’t take her up, on that offer.

Frustrated, the dryad made a second proposal. If Jimmy would agree to take an acorn from her, plant it in a place in the real world where an oak tree could prosper that was also rich in magic, and then make sure it was nurtured and kept safe until it reached maturity, she would open the passage twice – once to send them into Dallas, and once to return them to Faerie.

Caught between the dryad and the pursuing zips, the group agreed to accept that agreement. The pouty dryad led them through the glade to a nearby lake, and instructed them to walk out into it. Reluctantly, the group did so, and found themselves calf-deep in the water near the bank of Lake Ray Hubbard, at 2:30 a.m, less than an hour after they’d left Moab, and less than two hours after A.J.’s initial call to Sunmi.

http://rayhubbard.uslakes.info/

The group waded to shore, checked their cell-phones, saw they had bars, and called A.J. Upon his inquiry, they told him their position and, within 10 minutes the astonished former NASA engineer walked up to them.

They quickly exchanged stories and updates, and Doc Bascher decided she needed to find Aurelia, right away, and then check up on Randy’s ankle, afterwards. With that, the group split into two – A.J. led Jimmy and Frank to Randy, while Henrietta helped Doc Bascher, plus the wounded Sunmi and Beatrice, to find Aurelia.

Based on the GPS coordinates received from Wren, the group found its way to the neighborhood in Garland that Aurelia had reached, and just after 3:15 a.m. found the home with the “For Sale” sign, where she was likely hiding. They checked the lock-box and found that it had been broken into, with the key missing, and figured they’d found the right place.

Doc Bascher called Aurelia and, after a couple of tries, the badly-wounded woman answered. They asked her to bring the key down and unlock the door, but weak and in terrible pain, Aurelia broke out the bathroom window and tossed it down to them.

The group quickly made their way inside, and soon found a pale, weak Aurelia sitting on the edge of a blood-spattered tub, barely clinging to consciousness.

Appalled, Doc Bascher smacked her with painkillers and the ladies quickly removed her bloody clothes. Doc Bascher peeled back the duct-tape, and determined she needed to get the bullets out and suture Aurelia’s wounds, before the woman bled to death.

The veterinarian hauled out some saline solution and, as the only other person not wounded, said she’d need at a couple of pints of Henrietta’s blood. Bascher explained that, for a single blood transfusion, cross-typed blood was relatively safe, although a subsequent dose of mismatched blood would likely prove quickly fatal.

As such, a combination of blood and saline would probably be fine, Doc Bascher said, and it wasn't as if the group had much choice about it, anyway….

After some good rolls against Diagnostics and Surgery, Doc Bascher declared the now-thoroughly unconscious Aurelia as stable and out of danger, but in need of at least a couple of weeks of rest somewhere more comfortable than a bathtub. The group quickly cleaned up the mess as best they could, and then Doc Bascher made an executive decision.

She telephoned the Dallas Yellow Cab at about 4:30 a.m., and asked them to send around a van. It arrived shortly before 5 a.m., and Doc Bascher offered the cabbie $1,000 to drive them to Moab, Utah, no questions asked.

After some initial hesitation (the cabbie had been listening the news on the radio), he agreed. His disquiet grew as the group brought Aurelia out and put her in the back of the van, but the fact that the group consisted entirely of women who were obvious deeply concerned about their wounded friend alleviated his dismay enough that he didn’t back out.

(continued...)

[tshiggins]

(...continued)

A few minutes later, the cab stopped by to pick up Randy, and then headed over to Lake Ray Hubbard, where Henrietta got out. The driver then took the on-ramp to I-30, and headed toward the I-635 loop.

Meanwhile, Henrietta joined A.J., Frank and Jimmy at the shore of Lake Ray Hubbard. Within a few minutes, Hops About had them walk out into the lake, and then notified the dryad (somehow). Within moments, they found themselves back in Faerie, under the giant full moon.

There, the dryad looked briefly put out that the group had come up with yet another woman (although Henrietta was the only one, this time), but her demeanor brightened when she saw Jimmy, again. She sashayed up to him, did a full-body shave ‘em dry up and down, and asked the red-head if he wanted to reconsider and take her initial offer.

He resisted again and she produced the acorn out of somewhere, dropped it in his shirt pocket and gave it a pat. At that point, Henrietta stepped up and asked for clarification of the deal. The dryad tersely repeated the terms, to her, and reluctantly allowed Jimmy to leave with the rest of the group.

The amused nunnupi took up the same posts as before, with Hops About scouting ahead and Twirls Thrice bringing up the rear, a short distance back. Looking back, Frank noted that the lake they’d emerged from was pretty nice, and asked if anybody ever did any fishing, in Faerie.

Hops About replied that people did, in fact, go fishing, but had to be a bit cautious and respectful. Generally speaking, she said, if the fish verbally objected to being hooked, then it was only polite to remove the hook, apologize for the inconvenience, and make sure the fish got back into the water with minimal fuss.

Frank absorbed that bit of helpful advice as the group traveled as long through the chilly night, crunching vivid autumn leaves under their feet. They traveled as far as the exhausted Henrietta and A.J. could manage, and then found a campsite and set up watches, for the day. Frank and Jimmy took the first two, to let A.J. and Henrietta rest for a while.

Henrietta took over a bit after noon. About halfway through her watch, she saw a bright red fox with white ears, also trimmed with red, trot out of the woods. It saw her, and then sat down as she approached, cautiously. Once she got to within about 10 feet, the fox cocked its head and greeted her with a, “Hey.”

Flabbergasted, Henrietta said, “Hello,” and asked the fox’s business. He replied that he’d followed the group for a bit, figured out that they were trying to travel fast through potentially hostile territory, and had a deal to offer. The fox said he knew of a fast, hidden way through the territory, and offered to show it to the group in exchange for a favor.

Henrietta demurred, noting that the group owed enough favors to faeries for one trip. The fox spent a bit more time trying to convince her (and laid on a manipulative patter that resembled a pitch from a used car salesman…), but Henrietta steadfastly refused. At that point, the fox bid her good afternoon, and took his leave.

As soon as the fox left, Henrietta let everybody know about the rather surreal incident, and then turned in for a quick nap to end the afternoon. It was about time for A.J.’s watch, anyway.

The group broke camp and took to the trail as the moon began to rise. A few hours into the hike, Frank noted that the group seemed to be flanked by small creatures moving through the trees and brush to either side of them.

The group soon determined that they’d been found by the zips. They also noted that Hops About and Twirls Thrice had disappeared.

The group readied the weapons they could, and decided to press on at greater speed. Within a few minutes, they came upon a tiny zip, lying up against a tree, pierced by an arrow that bore the fletching pattern used by Hops About and Twirls Thrice.

Now thoroughly alarmed, A.J., Henrietta, Jimmy and Frank began to jog up the path. The trees began to thin out, fairly soon, and they found themselves moving through the chilly outer edge of the Faerie desert.

Soon, they came upon a spot where the trail appeared to go through a remarkably straight canyon that almost resembled a road-cut. Almost everyone saw that looked like zips moving up through the underbrush at the sides of the canyon, making little effort to conceal their presence from the humans.

Frank called a halt and A.J. said this looked like a great ambush spot. He questioned whether or not the group should move through it, and noted that the path they'd taken so far had been awfully strange -- almost perfectly straight, but with no signs of tool marks of any sort (Critical success on Perception!). Frank started to look for a way around the canyon, but Henrietta (who'd been struck by A.J.'s comments) stopped him.

The archaeologist and folklore expert said that many of the old stories about fairies mentioned, or even took place on, what were called “straight paths” or “fairy tracks” or "fairy traces." These magical roads allowed those who moved along them to cross vast distances very quickly, and the tracks sometimes even compressed or expanded the time that passed, during the journey.

Frank and Jimmy realized that described the trip down, pretty accurately. They’d spent most of the journey traveling along long, straight trails. The only times they hadn’t been doing so was when they walked along some meandering paths that took them from the end of one long, straight trail to the start of another.

The Utah State Trooper also said he didn’t remember seeing this canyon, on the trip down, and deduced that the nunnupi had chosen a different route back to Moab from the one they’d taken down, perhaps in an effort to throw the zips off the trail. A.J. said that made sense, as the time that passed in Faerie probably differed from the hour or so they’d spent in Dallas.

Given that they likely found themselves on such a straight path or “faerie trace,” Henrietta said, they very likely needed to stay on it. In the old stories, she explained, those who left the trails frequently found themselves facing much greater hazards, and they almost always got thoroughly lost.

Dismayed, the group remained on the trail and hesitantly advanced into the canyon. Frank and Jimmy in front, with blunderbusses at the ready and watching the sides of the canyon, Henrietta in the middle with her quarterstaff at the ready (the nunnupi had repeated their refusal to take anybody bearing iron or steel into Faerie), and A.J. bringing up the rear with his resin and aluminum crossbow cocked, locked and loaded.

Despite their caution, nothing happened until they were about halfway along, when they looked ahead and saw the fox sitting on the trail in front of them, bushy tail curled around its paws. As the group approached, not quite pointing their weapons at him, the fox looked at Henrietta and again said, “Hey.”

The archaeologist asked the fox what it wanted, as she’d already refused its deal. The fox replied that, while he’d have much preferred to make a deal with her, when she refused he was forced to go to his second option. He’d made a deal with the zips.

Alarmed, the group asked about the terms of the agreement, and the fox said he’d offered to help the zips set up an ambush of their traditional enemies – the nunnupi. Moreover, he said, he’d guaranteed the zips he’d use the humans as bait the nunnupi couldn’t help but take.

Frank pointed his blunderbuss at the fox, and said the group didn’t take kindly to being used as bait, and demanded the fox move aside and let them pass. The fox glanced up at the sky and readily agreed, saying that he’d delayed them as long as needed, and trotted off into the underbrush at the side of the trail. Looking up, the group saw Hops About and Twirls Thrice diving out of the sky toward the last location of the fox.

Frank quickly shouted a warning just as the nunnupi passed below the lip of the canyon, Hops About and Twirls Thrice immediately jinked and dodged like crazy, tiny zip javelins screamed toward them, and the party ran like hell to get out from beneath the storm of elf-stroke weapons. For the next half-mile, or so, the party continued to dash beneath occasional eruptions of whistling death and the thrum-whap of arrow-shots, praying they didn’t get hit in the cross-fire of the ancient feud.

After they cleared the canyon, the group paused to rest for a few minutes, and wait to see if Hops About and Twirls Thrice would catch up. When the nunnupi failed to appear, the party decided to continue on the trail until either daybreak, or they reached the end.

About an hour later, the fox emerged from the underbrush and ambled along beside Henrietta, for a bit. Quite pleased with himself, the fox explained that he’d figured the nunnupi had made a lucrative deal to guide the group through Faerie. A cautious Henrietta grudgingly agreed that might be true.

The fox said that, while he didn’t know the terms of the deal (and didn’t care to), the existence of the deal was enough to give him an idea. While he really would have guided them safely through zip territory, her refusal to take the offer still created opportunities for him.

Knowing that a deal almost certainly existed, at all, meant the nunnupi had a vested interest in keeping the group alive. After all, the fox said, it was awfully difficult to collect a debt from the dead.

(continued...)

[tshiggins]

(continued...)

As such, he saw the opportunity to set the nunnupi up for an ambush, using the humans as unwitting bait, in exchange for favors from the zips. While he didn't know the outcome of the ambush, his part of that had gone exactly as promised – hence the fox's pleasure at the events of the evening.

Thoroughly irritated, at this point, Frank and Jimmy told the fox to get lost, before they shot him. The foxed chuckled and started to trot away. He paused for a moment, looked back over his shoulder, and warned Henrietta that, no matter what, she needed to stay away from the coyotes. (“They’ll really screw ya!”)

With that, the fox disappeared into the predawn gloom.

The party trudged on and, as the sun peeked above the horizon, reached the end of the trail and saw several meandering paths branch off from it. The group found a decent campsite, close by, and set watches for the desert day.

About an hour into the first watch, Hops About and Twirls Thrice appeared, battered, bloody and bruised, with painful-looking rents and tears in their wings, but still looking quite satisfied with themselves. They’d said the fight had been a good one, with lots of coups counted on both sides and a fair amount of spilled blood, but they’d given better than they’d gotten.

With that, the two sisters fluttered fluttered tiredly up amongst the remaining leaves of a scrub oak, curled up and went to sleep for the day.

The next evening passed quietly, and the nunnupi soon had the group on the last of the straight tracks needed. They’d also passed out of zip territory, which eliminated that difficulty, and the group found itself back at the marsh at about daybreak.

They knew they only needed to travel a few more hours to reach the point in Faerie that corresponded to Moab, and asked the nunnupi to push on into the day. The sisters agreed, and about three hours later, the sunburned and dehydrated group found itself splashing through the stream that led to the fish pond on A.J.’s property, about a mile away.

The tired and footsore party walked another 15 minutes, and soon found themselves in A.J.’s kitchen. They took a few moments to rest and get some water, and then Frank and A.J. hopped in the trooper’s patrol vehicle parked in the driveway, and headed over to the state patrol station.

Shortly before 6 a.m., and about four hours after his initial call for help, A.J. and Frank walked into the trooper station and asked the sergeant what he knew about the engineer’s missing SUV.

Down in Texas, the Yellow Cab had yet to reach Amarillo.

With that, the session ended.

##

Funny Quotes

<GM speaks for the dryad.>
Kyle <OOC>: I can’t look you in the face when you use that voice, man!

Kyle <OOC>: Oh, hell no! I ain’t playin’ baby-daddy for some other oak trees! Don’t make a 16-year-old be a dad! That never works out, well!
<For the next five minutes, various tree and plant-related puns and sexual innuendoes get tossed around the room.>

Frank: What’s the worst that could happen? We plant the seed and it turns into that thing from Hellboy, we jump through the portal, and go play cowboys and Indians!
GM: You mean the Forest God?
Frank: Yeah, that!

GM<to A.J.>: So, you see them standing on the edge of the lake, wet from the knees, down.
Jimmy: The same as we were, back at the tree.

GM<dithers a moment, trying to figure out if Jimmy needs to make a roll to resist seduction, given that he only has the standard one-point quirk for lechery common to all teenaged boys.>
G&AInc. <to Benjamin, Sam and Mike’s five-year-old son, who attends the session with his parents>: Hey, Ben! What do you think the roll should be?

Randy: Hey, I’m not trying to play the blame-game thing.
Frank: Of course you don’t want to play the blame-game thing, when it’s your fault!

<The group discusses using Frank’s Healing spells, so the injured Randy could accompany them through the hazards of Faerie.>
Frank: I wouldn’t use it, anyway! You’re the whole reason I owe favors, now!

G&AInc <who drives a cab, IRL>: Hell, yeah! For a thousand dollars, you'd get me for anything. I'd take you home, paint your house, mow your lawn and clip your hedges!

<The group gets ready to go back into Faerie.>
A.J.: So, we’ve got to watch out for ROUSes?
Frank <doesn’t miss a beat>: I don’t think those actually exist, but there are other things you’ve got to watch out for….

<Jimmy reluctantly takes the acorn from the dryad.>
A.J.: All I can hear in my head is, “I am Groot!”
Henrietta: I just saw the little tree, dancing in the park to Michael Jackson.
Frank: Turn on some of this, dude!

<During the interaction with the dryad.>
Jimmy: “Wood” is a very hard subject for us to discuss, right now.
Frank: Yeah, it drives us nuts.
<More plant-fertility puns ricochet around the room.>

Henrietta<observing the interaction with the dryad, as it tries a second time to seduce Jimmy>: Um, did Doc Bascher say this was okay?
Frank: Splinters would be easier to deal with than the clap.

Kyle<OOC>: I still can’t look at your face when you use that voice!

A.J.: Wait. We have to keep watch, but if we see any fae deer, we’re screwed?
Frank: That’s right. As a matter of fact, let’s do the watches blind-folded, and just listen!

Henrietta: It sounds like it’s going to be a rough trip.
G&AInc <OOC>: By the standards of people who live in Moab, it’s going to be difficult.

Frank: When the fish start talking, the whole situation has already gone sideways!

Mike: Ahk! Urg! Aaah! <Other inarticulate grunts and screams of pure frustration, as he realizes the group probably has no choice but to walk into a likely ambush.>
Samantha <OOC>: What was that?!
Mike <OOC>: I don’t know! But it’s how I feel!

GM: Wait! I finally understand Mike’s character! He’s playing Jayne Cobb!

Anten <OOC>: That needs to be the title of this session’s write-up! “The Fox Says, ’Hey.’”

G&AInc <OOC>: Most of this session’s write-up is going to consist of just the funny quotes.

[SionEwig]

Good work on the players part in this last session. I can only imagine all the various 'wood' puns that went around. You really were easy on Jimmy/Kyle on the roll to resist the dryad, most red-blooded 16 year old boys I'd have put the roll at a -4 or so. Does Jimmy/Kyle know that he's looking at at least 20 years and very likely more like 40+ for caring for the tree? Oaks take a long time to get to maturity (unless this one is super fast growing), plus I don't really remember the Moab area as having the right climate (but it's been a while since I was there). But, important thing is that everyone is saved, more or less.

[tshiggins]

Originally Posted by SionEwig

Good work on the players part in this last session. I can only imagine all the various 'wood' puns that went around. You really were easy on Jimmy/Kyle on the roll to resist the dryad, most red-blooded 16 year old boys I'd have put the roll at a -4 or so. Does Jimmy/Kyle know that he's looking at at least 20 years and very likely more like 40+ for caring for the tree? Oaks take a long time to get to maturity (unless this one is super fast growing), plus I don't really remember the Moab area as having the right climate (but it's been a while since I was there). But, important thing is that everyone is saved, more or less.

He doesn't have the full-on disadvantage, Lechery, although he does have the standard 1-point quirk level disad that G&AInc insists belongs on the character sheets of any healthy teenage boy or girl. :)

He also had Doc Bascher right there, with him on the way down, and Henrietta on the way back. I've noted that teenagers tend to behave themselves, a bit better, when in the presence of an older female authority figure.

That made it a fun role-playing opportunity, as opposed to "roll-playing." No need for dice.

I did do some rolling for the cabbie, though. His reaction was good enough that, albeit somewhat reluctant, the money put him over the top and he was willing to make the trip.

As for the tree, Jimmy is aware that it's a lifetime of work, but most of that takes place, up-front. He knows that oaks don't really do well, in the Moab area, and would die quickly in Dark Canyon. Also, it must be saturated with magic (I forgot that in the write-up -- fixed!), and that means the only place he knows of that it'll work (so far, anyway) would be Denver.