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Dan Maruschak
United States
Eugene
Oregon
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Continuing on from our previous sessions: Character Creation, First Play Session.
Michael, Erik, Simon, and I got together on Skype again on September 11, 2009 for a 2 hour and 49 minute play session of Spirit of the Century (although Simon couldn't join us until an hour into the session). Michael was the GM, Erik is playing Doc Tombstone (Wild West Monster Hunter), Simon is playing Jack Reefton (Heir to Captain Nemo), and I am playing Art Black (Stage Magician and Supernatural Debunker). Skype worked great this session, with few if any technical issues.
Before we started playing I tweaked my character a bit, based on how he was playing in the last session and some further thought on how to make him mechanically match the vision of Art Black that I have in my head. I swapped out his stealth-based stunts for Juggler and Close at Hand, since I wanted to be more effective in combat and focus more on throwing knives, which is something I was doing a lot last session and also fits as something Art would use in his magic act.
Continuing from last time, we have our hands on the Black Pearl, a black sphere about the size of a bowling ball. Doc knows that it has some mystical significance, but doesn't know any of the details. We decide we need to head to New York City where we can consult the occult library at the Century Club. Doc and Art hop a plane, hoping to meet up with Jack later after he brings the Nautilus through the Panama Canal (this let us account for Simon not being around for the first hour of play -- when he showed up, his character could, too).
In New York, Doc does some Mysteries research and discovers some basic information about the Pearl. Unfortunately, the real in-depth information about the Pearl can only be found in some books that aren't available in the Century Club library. Doc doesn't recognize the titles, but Art does. He's seen them before in the home of one of his family's old acquaintances, from back when his family was still rich (earning Art a Fate point for “I used to be from old money”). Fortuitously, the man in question happens to be throwing a party out in his newly redecorated home on the Long Island coast. Art tries a Contacting roll to wrangle an invitation, but flubs the roll. Instead, we concoct a plan where Art and Doc will show up at the party pretending to be the entertainment, Art with his magic act and Doc with a trick shooting exhibition.
Doc and Art take a car to the house. Art makes his way inside while Doc stays outside to prepare his demonstration, and also get in on the impromptu craps games that the chauffeurs have put together. Inside, Art meets someone who recognizes him and tries to give him a hard time about not running in these high-society circles anymore. Art takes a stress hit from the social attack, but manages to wow the guy with some magic tricks and gets him to drop it. Outside, Doc notices that some of the chauffeurs have started hassling one of the female house staff. He steps in (earning a Fate point for a compel of his “No matter what she's still a lady” aspect) and Intimidates the ring leader, humiliating him.
Inside, Art puts on a show. He focuses on close-up magic like coin and card tricks, since he didn't want to bring any elaborate props in case he needed to make a quick exit. I rolled a Superb result for the Sleight of Hand check for the performance (using the Legerdemain stunt) and impressed the crowd. The grand finale involved an “is this your card?” trick where Art throws a deck of playing cards up in the air and then throws a knife into the correct card, pinning it to the french doors that lead outside, segueing into Doc's trick-shooting demonstration.
Outside, Doc is doing some Fantastic shooting, but the showmanship surrounding it isn't quite so good -- his Art roll only gave him an Average. That isn't enough to attract the crowd, until he bumps it up by tagging “Hey y'all, watch this!” and “Like hell I can't shoot that!”, the latter of which involves shooting the champagne flute out of the hand of one of the guests who is still lingering inside.
With the house emptying out, Art makes a Stealth roll to surreptitiously get to the study where the occult books are kept. The door is locked, and the Burglary roll to pick the lock doesn't go well, but luckily “Houdini taught me a thing or two” about picking locks and Art is able to get inside. The books are found easily enough –- one small volume that easily fits into Art's pocket, and two larger books that Art will have to carry by hand. Just as Art is picking up the second book, the window bursts open and in jumps Juan Milmascos! (another Fate point for Art). Simon had joined us by this time, so Jack is able to observe from the Nautilus as several speed boats pull up to the party, discharging 18 of Milmascos's French henchmen (two groups of nine minions).
We start initiative, and Milmascos goes first, using a Weapons maneuver to knock the book out of Art's hand. Jack uses the Nautilus's deck gun to blast two of the speedboats to smithereens, and Doc uses a pair of sixguns to take out two of the minions. In the study, Art tries to do a Sleight of Hand maneuver to put some handcuffs on Milmascos's wrist and handcuff him to a bookcase, but misses the roll and the cuff ends up dangling uselessly from Milmascos's wrist. Outside, one of the groups of minions splits in half, some shooting at Jack on the Nautilus and some at Doc. The group with seven left in it charges past Doc and into the house.
In the study, Milmascos grabs for one of the books, but can't get past Art. Art pulls his handkerchief out of his pocket, which is tied to another, and another... He does a Sleight of Hand Maneuver to wrap the handkerchief rope around Milmascos's sword and disarms him. Outside, with the crowd of bystanders thinning out, Jack turns his gun on the minions that are still waiting by the boats, but a combination of unlucky player dice, lucky GM dice, Jack's low Guns skill, and the minion's group bonus kept him from doing any damage. Doc runs into the house after the minions and does a Guns maneuver on a chandelier to drop it onto them, knocking them prone. The minions stand up and split up, with five headed down the hallway toward the study and two grabbing female guests to use as hostages! (Doc agrees to focus on the hostage-takers as a compel of his “No matter what, she's still a lady” aspect).
Outside, Jack jumps into the water, intending to swim to shore, but notices some men in scuba gear rising from the depths –- The Atlantean Conspiracy! (Earning a Fate point). Doc does some fancy shooting and blasts the guns out of the hostage-takers hands, causing them to surrender. Jack runs toward the house, hoping to help Doc with the minions. In the study, Art goes to his old standby and uses a Sleight of Hand maneuver to set off some flash powder in Milmascos's face, flash-blinding him (Milmascos spent a Fate point for a re-roll, but couldn't beat my Fantastic result). Unfortunately for Art, those five minions that got away from Doc run down the hall and enter the study.
Jack races down the hallway, tagging “It was all according to plan” to boost his athletics roll, since he knew the plan called for Art to be in the room the minions were headed for. Doc, still struggling to keep up due to his low Athletics, takes some pot-shots at the minions, but doesn't do much damage. In the study, Milmascos finally gets two of the books and the minions grapple Art, immobilizing him.
Milmascos jumps back out the window, preparing to make his escape. Jack gets into the study and tries to attack Milmascos through the window with a boat hook, but he can't make the roll even when he tags “Stand strong for what I believe” for a re-roll (he believed that letting Milmascos get away with those books would be bad). Art, still tangled up in the minions, hurls a knife at Milmascos, trying to knock the books out of his hand. The GM ruled that I could knock one book loose by beating his defense by one and both books if I beat his defense by three. Based on just the dice, I beat him by one, and I took the free tag on his flash-blindness to bump that up by another two, since he couldn't see clearly enough to dodge the attack. He took the free tag on the Immobilized aspect that the minions had put on me, but I spent a Fate point to tag “The show must go on” since there was a good chance our research would be stalled without those books. Both books fall to the ground! Doc moves closer to the action and shoots through the door at the minions, taking one out (spending Fate points to tag a few aspects in the process). The minions decide to grapple with Jack this time, and get a Fantastic result from their roll, taking Jack to the ground. Jack, with his “Anything Goes” stunt, uses one of the minions as an improvised Weapon against another one, bonking their heads together to escape their hold.
Milmascos decides to run away rather than worry about the books. Art leaps through the window after him. I was torn between chasing Milmascos and getting the books, but the GM offered a compel of “I'll get you, Milmascos!” to give chase, which I took. While Doc and Jack are dealing with the minions still inside the study, Jack notices out the window that several men in wetsuits have picked up the books and are taking them out to the shoreline!
Milmascos runs over to the parked cars and gets into one of them. Art uses a Sleight of Hand maneuver to put a smokebomb inside the car, obscuring Milmascos's vision and hopefully hindering his escape. Through the smoke, Art notices an unusual electrical flash and the car starts up, even though Milmascos didn't have the keys. He starts driving away, but not very well. With the minions in the house finally dealt with, Jack jumps through the window and gives chase to the Atlantean Conspirators who made off with the books. They've put them in waterproof cases and are headed into the water.
Fearing that Milmascos will drive away, Art pulls open one of the doors on the car in order to leap into the back seat, but the GM offered a compel of “I hope my tuxedo doesn't get dirty” to keep away from the greasy black smoke that's filling the passenger compartment. Instead, Art leaps onto the running board and does a Sleight of Hand maneuver to connect that handcuff that was still dangling off of Milmascos's wrist onto the steering wheel. Milmascos's driving hasn't improved any, so he crashes into a tree and then surrenders.
Jack dives into the water to chase the Atlantean Conspirators, hoping to get an idea about how they are getting around. He is astounded when he sees them swim down and grab on to a killer whale which swims away with them! Jack, running out of air, returns to the surface.
We ended the session there, and I think we all had fun. Simon ended up spending the most Fate points, which gave him the right (under our house rule) to add or change a world aspect. He added “There is more to the Atlantean conspiracy than we know”.
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Randy Shipp
United States
Irving
Texas
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::slow clap:: Nice!
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