[MH] Caribbean by Night

[dcarson]

I can think of two possibilities.

The PCs can restore her memories either from the ones they have from being in her mind that they can't consciously access using Path of Mind or use Path of Crossroads to get them from before she lost them since time is a Crossroads thing.

Both have lots of prep required like knowing yourself to access the memories or tracing her old life to find a suitable spot and props for the ritual.

[Varyon]

Might it be possible for the cult to steal her memories, sealing them away in something until the time is right to restore her? I’m thinking a Charm that throws her memories Elsewhere, and a ritual - probably Path of Crossroads + Path of Mind - from Indianola to reach out to Elsewhere to snatch them up and seal them away before Something can devour them. Ms Delvano might feel a “pull” toward where her memories are stored, guiding the PCs to the cult, provided they can get her away from police custody. They’ll have to maintain the fiction she is a victim - perhaps get Raul to claim there were comments by the hit men implying they wanted to murder Ms Delvano rather than rescue her (the fact she caught a bullet in all the confusion will help here) - so she doesn’t spend the rest of her life behind bars, then make the case she’d be safest aboard the Penemue. That’s a bit of a tall order, but potentially doable.

As for what is erased, again I suggest Hollywood amnesia - Ms Delvano has the same personality, mannerisms, etc as before, and the same skills, but has no conscious memory prior to waking up in the hospital. She may be able to recall snippets of her past, but it should be a confusing, chaotic jumble. Maintaining her old personality and the like can be explained by her still having a link to all her memories, but not having full conscious access due to them being Sealed Evil in a Can.

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by Varyon

An option might be to do a ritual that causes Horrible Things (tm) to occur in Indianola, convincing the pishtaco this is the beginning of the end, and leave the pishtaco to secure the site from outside meddlers, while they go elsewhere to support the ritual. The event will undoubtedly draw in whoever has been interfering, who will engage and (given their performance thus far) likely dispatch the pishtaco. Meanwhile, the rest of the cult (or at least those with the relevant skills) can scry on and watch the scene, getting valuable intel on who the OpFor is and how they operate. If they’re lucky, the pishtaco (or whatever horrors they have unleashed) will manage to maim or kill some of the OpFor, making things easier going forward.

From the perspective of the cultists, why would they assume Horrible Things happening in Indianola should draw in some rogue occultists living in Galveston?

As far as the cult is concerned, the PCs got involved by accident, because someone committed crimes in Galveston, where their yacht happened to be moored. And as far as the cultists know, the danger is from law enforcement in general and the PCs only served as a catalyst for events which brought law enforcement attention.

The news that the cultists see about the container vessel M/V Aqueronte having been stopped before it reached harbour refers to 'the United States Coast Guard and the Gulf Coast Violent Offenders Task Force of US Marshals and local law enforcement, supported by federal law enforcement, Texas Rangers and investigators from the Texas Department of Public Safety'. None of the officers involved are mentioned by name and the cultists have little reason to assume that the PCs were anywhere near.

I'd imagine that the most likely consequences of Horrible Things happening in Indianola would be a lot of cops going there, some of them getting killed and a lot of civilians dying. None of that seems helpful to the cult leaders who want to escape.

Originally Posted by Varyon

If having it happen in Indianola won’t work, while it would be harder to pull off (due to performing the ritual from Indianola) I imagine much the same could be done at the Galveston Killing Fields. This runs the risk of the LEO’s already in the area resolving the situation before the OpFor gets involved, however.

Using the metaphysical connection between Indianola and Galveston, it's possible. It might not yield a result as dramatic as the results that could be achieved in Indianola, but no doubt they could empower spirits, create a tulpa or even summon something from Elsewhere that would wreak havoc at the Killing Fields.

This would be appealing to cultists driven by petty motives, it is true, but as far as Sister María Teresa, Nando Acevedo and 'Heilong Tou' ('Black Dragon Head') are concerned, what would be the cold and rational benefits?

More police attention is a negative, but it being concentrated elsewhere than they currently are would be a plus. All in all, that one is probably a wash or a slight negative.

Harming the rogue occultists who interfered might prevent them from interfering again, which is a plus, but unless they and all of their friends are killed at the same time, it's more likely to stimulate these rogue occultists into causing trouble, when they might not have been interested in that earlier. Double-edged sword, at least.

They could learn more about these rogue occultists, which would be a benefit, but that would be complicated by the risk of their remote viewing being detected. Still, I'm calling this a benefit.

However, expending energy on causing some such event and the remote sensing, as well as spending the time it required, means time that they are not spending on supporting an attempt to neutralize 'Gwen Delvano' at the hospital and/or simply on making their escape.

It also means spending longer at Indianola, which would force them to do something about the people living there (whom they could hopefully simply ignore if they only mean to stop there briefly for one ritual).

Originally Posted by Varyon

An alternative (or perhaps an addition) would be to make use of the strong association with Loss in Indianola to cover whatever tracks they left in their rush to arrive (such as Theresa’s murder of the young clerk).

Yes, that's possible.

At minimum, Sister María Teresa is going to want to metaphysically scrub the car and also use magic to remove all physical traces from it. And get rid of it somewhere, ideally after it has taken her far away from Houston, but not leave it anywhere close to where she is eventually planning on flying out.

[Varyon]

Given what little they know about the PC’s, I agree the “lure/attack the PC’s” plan is unlikely. It’s rather out of character for Theresa, and the high risk / low benefit nature would make most of the others oppose it as well (Pedro would probably be all for it, of course). They may regret their choice as the campaign goes on, but there appears to be no way they’d realize that now.

A potential option to tie up a few loose ends would be to have someone expendable - likely whatever supporting gang member has the most adipose tissue - use the (cleansed of evidence) hearse to drive (some of) the pishtaco toward Galveston, stopping a bit outside of the island and concealing the vehicle (ostensibly to use for the return trip), after which the pishtaco slay their driver and consume his fat. If someone has the skills (or even a ritual) to alter the odometer reading, making it look like it went straight from Houston to Galveston could be an option. The police will waste time trying to find the thieves in or near Galveston (or figure it’s the pishtaco, who I assume they’ll think are drug-addled, undocumented immigrants), and anyone who has caught on to the occult nature of the clerk’s death will figure it was either the pishtaco or their master (who they appear to have turned upon and consumed) who caused his suicide. The pishtaco will attempt to infiltrate the hospital to use the charm to wipe Delvano’s memory; they’ll likely get into a confrontation with police that they won’t survive, but with any luck they’ll be able to get close enough to use the charm. The cult may be able to support them by causing a distraction at the Galveston Killing Fields (possibly supported by some of the pishtaco), potentially drawing police and occultist attention alike away from the hospital. Failing that, would it be possible for the cult to remotely empower the pishtaco shortly before their infiltration of the hospital, to give them a better chance of success? Perhaps by having the pishtaco visit the Killing Fields first?

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by Varyon

Given what little they know about the PC’s, I agree the “lure/attack the PC’s” plan is unlikely. It’s rather out of character for Theresa, and the high risk / low benefit nature would make most of the others oppose it as well (Pedro would probably be all for it, of course). They may regret their choice as the campaign goes on, but there appears to be no way they’d realize that now.

Concur.

Originally Posted by Varyon

A potential option to tie up a few loose ends would be to have someone expendable - likely whatever supporting gang member has the most adipose tissue - use the (cleansed of evidence) hearse to drive (some of) the pishtaco toward Galveston, stopping a bit outside of the island and concealing the vehicle (ostensibly to use for the return trip), after which the pishtaco slay their driver and consume his fat.

I agree with the plan, but chubby, but canny cult higher-up Nando Acevedo takes exception to basing this on who has the most adipose tissue.

Unfortunately, the most expendable people are the cultists from California, but they are just leaving and are unlikely to agree to help in any way that will potentially incriminate any of them. I expect that the other cult leaders have to try, though, but the problem is that their leader can make an excellent case that if any one of them is tied to this case, it might result in their wing of the cult becoming wanted, but if they just leave, they'll preserve all their capabilities for a future attempt.

Also, even if any of the other cult leaders can stomach sacrificing one of their own people, there is a major risk that the remains could lead investigators to known associates of the dead man.

I mean, Nando wouldn't mind sacrificing the bolder and more violent of his lieutenants, because the man is frankly a menace and will no doubt betray him sooner rather than later, but if any trace of that man is found in the United States of America, it might eventually lead American law enforcement to Nando's home town and his criminal organization there. Sure, none of the people with Nando have been convicted of a crime in any country, but speak to the right detectives in Bolivia, Peru or Chile, and they could tell you that all of these men have been suspected of crimes.

And the Heilong Tou doesn't want anyone thinking about any Asian involvement in this case at all. A dead Chinese person, even if that person can't be tied to him personally or anyone at all, would still be more information than he wants law enforcement to have about him. Better for them to believe all the suspects are Hispanic and not even consider suspects who come from anywhere else.

Something to ponder. Possibly, the best course of action would be an innocent victim, someone from Indianola who is outside his home Threshold, and can be taken. Options to make him do what they want include threatening him, taking away his will and/or having him influenced or possessed by a dark spirit. Killing him and having a dark spirit 'drive' his body might be the most reliable method, but, of course, will deprive the pishtaco of a fun meal. Still, a few dead bodies 'driven' by simple-minded dark spirits might be good to reinforce the pishtaco anyway.

Originally Posted by Varyon

If someone has the skills (or even a ritual) to alter the odometer reading, making it look like it went straight from Houston to Galveston could be an option. The police will waste time trying to find the thieves in or near Galveston (or figure it’s the pishtaco, who I assume they’ll think are drug-addled, undocumented immigrants), and anyone who has caught on to the occult nature of the clerk’s death will figure it was either the pishtaco or their master (who they appear to have turned upon and consumed) who caused his suicide.

Brilliant, love it.

The pishtaco will clearly be regarded as undocumented immigrants, yes. Until the Colombian, Ecuadoran and/or Peruvian police respond to requests for information that include Pedro Lopéz's fingerprints, when it will become clear that he's done time in all three countries and was convicted for the murder of 110 girls in Ecuador (and is strongly suspected of 300+ murders in total, in all three countries).

That will take several days at minimum (if someone actually recognizes him at the scene and moves heaven and earth to confirm his suspicions), weeks if all the identifications are fast-tracked as much as possible as part of the investigation in general and months in the ordinary course of events.*

The odometer won't matter, they could have taken the car for a joyride, on a drug deal or whatever, and it's at most a minor curiosity. No real investigation answers all the questions and trying to make anything too neat carries more risks of your cover-up being revealed through a mistake you make than if you just focus on removing any clear evidence that points to you and then get the [fornication] away from anything incriminating.

*Movies have been lying to you about the speed of international law enforcement cooperation, even in high-profile cases.

Originally Posted by Varyon

The pishtaco will attempt to infiltrate the hospital to use the charm to wipe Delvano’s memory; they’ll likely get into a confrontation with police that they won’t survive, but with any luck they’ll be able to get close enough to use the charm.

An excellent plan. Of course, the fact that numerous retired law officers who have been affiliated with Kessler's 'Night Riders' for years and live around the Galveston area are unofficially keeping an eye on the hospital means that the pishtaco won't just run into Mundane Background cops, they'll encounter what amounts to a squad of reservist Monster Hunters, complete with an occultist and a ritual magician who work in the hospital.

The one in charge is Jimmy McBride, a Vietnam vet and retired Texas Ranger, who also used to be a 'Night Rider' for Kessler for many years. McBride is 68 years of age, but while that's too old for running around the Caribbean hunting critters, it's not too [expletive] old to shoot them from a nice prepared position if they're obliging enough to come to you.

McBride's Tactics check for preparing the defences around the hospital succeeded with a critical success, but some random factor of bad luck ( I rolled a 5 on a general 'Reaction Roll' for the universe) ensures that the pishtaco will arrive precisely at a time or place when they have the best chance of not being stopped immediately. So, let's say that this means that the pishtaco get really lucky about their approach, but that McBride and his reservists perform brilliantly in coming to the rescue of law enforcement.*

More rolls needed to determine whether the Charm gets activated or not.

*Many of them are retired law enforcement and most of them are carried on the books of one or more nearby County Sheriff's Offices as Reserve Deputies. Sheriff Trochesset of Galveston County specifically authorized Reserve Deputies augment his regular men at the hospital, in case another attempt to rescue or kidnap the prisoner was made.

Originally Posted by Varyon

The cult may be able to support them by causing a distraction at the Galveston Killing Fields (possibly supported by some of the pishtaco), potentially drawing police and occultist attention alike away from the hospital.

No, I think this hurts them more than it helps. The Galveston Killing Fields are located next to the only route off Galveston island.

Sure, the pishtaco are not expected to come back, but not all of them are stupid, just savage and cruel. They'd recognize betrayal if they witnessed any ritual preparations for a course of action that would trap them on Galveston island.

Originally Posted by Varyon

Failing that, would it be possible for the cult to remotely empower the pishtaco shortly before their infiltration of the hospital, to give them a better chance of success? Perhaps by having the pishtaco visit the Killing Fields first?

It might be, yes.

I shall consider it most carefully.

That is also interesting because the PCs have encountered and captured inside a fetish a spiritual 'rat king' (an entangled mess of many dark spirits) that they think either caused or results from the murders at the Killing Fields. They mean to deal with it after they get some free time and until then, put the fetish inside a protective enchanted box inside a chest designed for storing dark magic artifacts inside a lead-lined steel safe, sunk it to the bottom next to the Penemue and surrounded it with a ring of protective Charms.

Lucien Lacoste has been working the Killing Fields case as one of his cold cases.

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by Icelander

I agree with the plan, but chubby, but canny cult higher-up Nando Acevedo takes exception to basing this on who has the most adipose tissue.

Unfortunately, the most expendable people are the cultists from California, but they are just leaving and are unlikely to agree to help in any way that will potentially incriminate any of them. I expect that the other cult leaders have to try, though, but the problem is that their leader can make an excellent case that if any one of them is tied to this case, it might result in their wing of the cult becoming wanted, but if they just leave, they'll preserve all their capabilities for a future attempt.

I didn’t mean to sacrifice a cultist, but rather one of the Nazi lowriders or similar that brought the pishtaco to Indianola in the first place, provided they haven’t yet been executed/sacrificed (assuming I’m remembering the logistics correctly). Granted, said Nazi may be hard to convince given the pishtaco were likely hungrily eying his prodigious gut on the way to Indianola, but it could be an option. Failing that, of course, an undead(-ish) driver sounds like the way to go.

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by Varyon

I didn’t mean to sacrifice a cultist, but rather one of the Nazi lowriders or similar that brought the pishtaco to Indianola in the first place, provided they haven’t yet been executed/sacrificed (assuming I’m remembering the logistics correctly). Granted, said Nazi may be hard to convince given the pishtaco were likely hungrily eying his prodigious gut on the way to Indianola, but it could be an option. Failing that, of course, an undead(-ish) driver sounds like the way to go.

Ah, yes!

Of course, sacrifice them all!

They know too much and their dead bodies won't be linked to any specific cult leader.

The problem is that they won't agree to go to Galveston, considering the massive law enforcement operations there.

But the solution to that is magical influence, intimidation and, if necessary, possession by one dark spirit or another. And/or Nazi Lowrider Zombies.

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by Icelander

Nazi Lowrider Zombies.

Regardless of what is the tactically best option, this is something that Must Be Done, particularly if you foresee the PC’s getting involved in the fight. Bonus points if the inhabiting spirits think they are the ghosts of WWII-era SS or similar.

Also, the political fallout would be darkly humorous to watch, with much of the right regarding it as violence from “illegal immigrants” (the pishtaco) much of the left regarding it as violence from “Trump supporters” (the Nazis), and everyone extremely confused as to why the two groups were working together.

[Agemegos]

Originally Posted by Varyon

Also, the political fallout would be darkly humorous to watch, with much of the right regarding it as violence from “illegal immigrants” (the pishtaco) much of the left regarding it as violence from “Trump supporters” (the Nazis), and everyone extremely confused as to why the two groups were working together.

The veil-out and general confusion might result in many people rejecting the dissonant truth that they were, and firmly concluding that they were fighting each other.

[Icelander]

• This was a new experience. The PCs spent the crucial battle asleep in their beds and were only woken up after the firing had stopped. They then called a taxi to take them to the scene where the climatic battle took place, stopping on the way for some McDonald's.
  
• Four TDCJ Correctional Officers died protecting a girl whose name they didn't know and wouldn't care about if they did. Their names were Christopher 'Chris' Meeks (b. December 21, 1991; Denton, TX), Letitia Mathis (b. September 23, 1995; San Antonio, TX), Ronald 'Ronny' Eriksson (b. January 13, 1999; New Braunfels, TX) and Richard Flagg (b. November 12, 1996; Tulsa, OK).
  
• Instead of the PCs, two NPCs named Enoch Young and Wyatt Jackson saved the day, stopping the pishtaco from reaching 'Gwen Delvano', armed only with pistols taken from the bodies of correctional officers. Their reward was being arrested for impersonating police officers, as they had somehow given the impression that they were detectives from the Galveston County Sheriff's Office, in the process of infiltrating the University of Texas Medical Branch - Texas Department of Criminal Justice Hospital.
  
• Despite their heroics, the last pishtaco to die managed to break an ivory statue of a skeletal ouroboros that was carried inside a bottle of water, while his companion broke two crystal figurines of ravens. Enough mystical energy was released to short out every single electrical device in the room.
  
• Ms. 'Gwen Delvano' is not sure how she got there, where 'there' is or who she might be. When told that she had been carrying papers in the name of Gwen Delvano, but that they had reason to believe that she was Gisella Ester Cortés Rojas, born December 2, 1984, she became quiet. After the situation was explained further and she was told that she was in Texas and the year was 2018, she immediately insisted that there was no way that she could be older than twenty eight.*
  
• PC heroics in this session were confined to policing crime scenes, talking with investigators and playing different law enforcement agencies against one another. Oh, and Lucien Lacoste attended an autopsy where he performed a necromantic ritual.
  
• Teddy Smith is odd-looking, somewhat creepy and socially awkward. However, he has now twice carried distressed young females away from danger and in both cases, they've fallen head over heels for him. In the first session, because of a 6-6-6 on a random Reaction Roll, in this session because Teddy Smith used Diplomacy to calm Ms. 'Delvona' when she awoke and to convince her that she was in no danger, she could trust him and he would take care of her, before he had to carry her out of the crime scene (which was still dark, covered in broken glass and full of dead bodies). And rolled a critical success, which we interpreted, obviously, as the innocent-as-a-newborn-babe amnesiac imprinting like a baby duck on the first person to show her kindness and affection.

*The false papers have the birth year 1990 and the PCs considered briefly whether they might have been wrong about them being fake. Then they remembered that not every woman is happy about turning thirty.