Session 3 Is Approaching

I have one week to finish prepping the next session. I have a rough outline of where I want this session to go, but I need to kick things off and get some people out of jail first. I am using the scenario “Cat’s Cradle” as a basis for the next one, I will use the children and the island to further dive deeper into the story.

Starting Off

When we left off last session, the players had just finished in the basement, now filled with police. When we pick up, the players will be ushered out without being able to collect anything, so all weapons and nothing in the possession of players will be removed by the police. The only things being left will be some handouts the players can go back and collect if they wish.

Prisoners

So 3 of my players have wound up being arrested, 1 of them wont be there this week which helps, because he was also the one that shot at the officers. I can frame it that he is more difficult to get released. The idea is that Harold Ainsworth will pull some strings and get the players out of trouble. There are some big caveats to this though, not only will their illegal weapons be confiscated and they are going to be watched. This will severely hamper their ability to cause any kind of trouble and having the weapons they want. It also means that the others will have to be careful too.

It wont be described how Harold managed to get them free, but what ever he did, it is taking a little more time to convince the release of the other one.

How The Players Will Be Hooked In

The players after being kicked out of the Corbitt House there is no planned actions I want to be pushing them into except passing the day. I was going to have things progress if they decide to go to a diner in the evening, but unsure if that is going to work out given the time of night that it will be, which at this moment in time, I cannot remember the time we left off… it was the evening though, probably 5 or 6 when we picked the last session up.

In the morning, I will push the players to go and speak to Ainsworth, tell him what happened, this can then initiate the release of the other players. The other players will be told to wait for him at the local diner - Fat Sam’s. This is where the start of the scenario will kick off, in the diner will be 2 boys who will be discussing Michael Thomas as outlined in the scenario.

Now knowing my players, there is every chance that one or more of them will try and follow the boys out of the diner and try and interact with them. This is where one of two things will happen, either the boys will run screaming if there is more than one player following or if there is only one, they will run into an ally and jump the player, this may put that player in serious danger.

Next Steps

I think the only obvious places the players could go is either back to the chapel or back to the house. I would like them to go back to the house because there is a handout they never got. It isn’t important, but it is a page from a book written in another language. Something that can be deciphered and it took me a while to make, so I don’t want it wasted! Although I could put it in the chapel. They will also note that there is no bodies or signs of trespassing when they do return there. The wall may even be patched up again, the doing of the children. Undecided on that part yet, it doesn’t make much sense, but it will give the players something to think about.

The Chapel

If/When the players head back to the chapel, they will notice a few things have changed, the mark on the wall has been repainted, there is now a rope ladder down into the hole and the doorway that the players found last time has had things put in front of it to try and hide it, badly. If they go back in there, they will note the bodies that were there are now gone as well.

I think there are some more handouts that can be given from down there, so I will have to work out a way of getting them to the players. I am hoping they are smart enough to get a proper torch before they head there this time… They will have an easier time finding things that way. In the last session, they were in the house and didn’t bother looking for any kind of torch, instead they made a fire torch… Sometimes I do wonder how they have such a weird thought process.

The room they uncovered in the last session was a bit of a sacrificial chamber but the only things they were able to find was some notes and a key, they didn’t really have a good look round. In the scenario as written, there is a spell carved into the wall, I am undecided whether to keep that carved into a wall or make it a piece of paper they find. The wall means that they can’t just go off with it and it will make it harder for the player to learn.

The other thing I need to take into consideration is everyone wanting to learn it… I know that is going to happen and I can hear the question now “Why couldn’t I teach them now I know it”. While I will have one of them study it once they get it translated which will take some time, if they try and teach it to another or have another study it, unless they get an extreme success, they will fail and suffer sanity loss for trying.

Moving on from the chapel, I need to give the players something to bite into and follow. This is still up in the air. The scenario gives a few options that I need to really look into and see what will work.

The Ultimate End

In the end, I need the players to head over to the island as scripted in the scenario. There will be a great chance of a player being lost here. I want it to be done by the hands of Mary Claire, I want the players to follow that thread and help her transfer her consciousness back into her body, but as the scenario states, that can’t happen and she will swap with one of the players instead. While I don’t know who specifically will be the target yet, with it being a young girl, it would make sense for them to target a woman, but I am kind of leaning towards my brother the missionary. Reign him in a little with that and give him another character. I will have to see how it is framed at the time, maybe get someone to volunteer to help Mary and they are then the target.

The other ending will be if Michael Thomas is there trying to perform the ritual. While Michael wont be able to be killed here, plot armour and all that. It would show that he is alive and still young and causing trouble. There is something in the scenario about a traitor jumping in the way of the kidnapped child and swapping places with Michael, that may still happen, that way I might be able to push the new inhabitant of Michael to be killed or arrested. This will leave Michael to escape as a child.

The main thing that will decide how this goes is if the players get hold of the globe at the officers house. Until that unfolds, I can’t solidify either ending. But either way Michael survives, the players find out a little more on what has happened. While I would like to remove one of the characters to make a point of how bad things can get, I would somehow have to get one of the other characters involved in the story properly somehow. Maybe the sanatorium nurse if the players go there and find Mary.

Who knows, nothing is ever straight forward with this group and I am going to have to play it all by ear.

Much Love <3