April 21, 2016
Eleventh Meeting: April 21, 2016
Agenda: 1894 Session #11
We began with Dracula and Liesl at the opera, which Liesl's player said would have to be Gunod's Faust (based on the first part of Goethe's Faust). Dracula had, of course, sent her a dress, complete with gloves and appropriate hat and / or veil, gloves, et cetera.
He also sent a map of the theater showing where their seats were, intended to reassure her that, should she choose to make a scene, it would be noticed, at least, if anyone deigned to do so. I'm not sure if 19th century opera goers pay attention to the opera or to their own conversation, and if they would pay attention to a plea for help.
Liesl seemed to find this less than reassuring, for some reason. Herman got a ticket so that he could keep an eye on them. IIRC, he wasn't a fan of that particular opera.
Sadly, Liesl's player did not use the line she'd come up with outside the session: "I could have gotten that dress for half what you paid for it." I'd figured Dracula's response would be that he was using Edom's money. Ah well.
Liesl tried to figure out if Dracula, aka Nicolaus (aka Nicolaus Olahus), had any humanity or empathy left in him. Liesl thought that he was evading her questions. He thought that they were talking past each other. I'm not sure who was correct. Apparently, the players, including those not in the scene, found this riveting.
They did establish that Nicolaus valued keeping his word and that he did not like to lie, at least, not to Liesl. This was part character, and part my feeling that if you have an overpowered adversary that can crush an entire party, having that character lie without a really good reason, both in and out of character, is basically deciding the PCs can't win. Granted, I'd forgotten that Gumshoe itself corrects for this problem for anything that's a core clue, and I need to bear that in mind.
Liesl asked if Nicolaus would feel anything if she were killed. He said that he would be annoyed. She said that she was angry about the state he'd left her poor cousin in.
He pointed out that he had asked her whether to bring her cousin to her even if saving the cousin's life meant endangering his sanity, and she had said yes, his life had to come first. This is, as far as I know, halachically correct.
However, Liesl said, she had not realized how bad a state her cousin Immanuel would be in. Now, exactly how bad a state he was in was an interesting question, as the player had Liesl drug Immanuel into unconsciousness almost as soon as he arrived, and shortly after, dropped him -- or rather, had someone else drop him -- off at Seward's asylum. He had even been lucid enough to tell her that Owen Renfield had been killed and that he owed it to Owen's brother to tell him this.
But, at the time, Liesl was too focused on planning an attack on Quantock Lodge and Count De Ville, aka Johann Jakob Ringler. She forgot Immanuel's words almost as soon as they were spoken, and I think the player did as well.
Dracula offered to make Immanuel forget his ordeal. Liesl needed to think about that.
I still don't know what I did that made this scene work for everyone.
Liesl and Herman returned to their hotel, where Liesl found a telegram from Sigmund Freud.
ELISABET STOP OLD CASE STUDY VH ESCAPED STOP HAD RECEIVED LETTER FROM YOU STOP THEN KILLED THREE STOP SUSPECTED TRAVELLING ENGLAND STOP BE CAREFUL STOP SF
Apart from the murders, this was, of course, old news to Liesl.
Liesl talked to Herman, trying to find out if he thought that it was her duty to be, essentially, Dracula's conscience, as she figured, correctly, I think, that she was the closest thing he had to a friend. Herman said that he would be eternally impressed if she did that, an interesting choice of words, and said it needed to be her choice. She said that she wanted his advice. At this point, Liesl's player suggested we cut scene, which was correct.
Gabriel, meanwhile, went to see Quentin, who wanted to talk to him about Juliette. Juliette was showing none of the signs of vampirism. But, she had developed a taste for blood, and Quentin said he'd understand if Gabriel wanted to break off the engagement.
Gabriel said that he'd need to talk to Juliette. He was relieved to hear Quentin say that she didn't seem to need human blood in particular. That seemed like something manageable. They could get dog blood.
GM as Quentin: Not dogs -- that's just wrong!
Gabriel's Player: Actually, Gabriel wouldn't suggest dogs.
Liesl's Player: Or horses.
Sebastian went to speak with his mother. She showed him a diagram concerning the hierarchy of Edom.
Lady Wimsey: I could leave it lying around in a locked drawer for you to find, but this saves so much time.
Sebastian realized that the diagram had been annotated by his mother, but the proposed leaders of Edom were written over a lot of Hebrew and other characters. She acknowledged that, wincing, and said that they had a lot of work to do to clean up Edom. Among other things, the traitorous police commissioner had to be replaced.
Gabriel went to speak with Juliette. She was relieved that Quentin had brought him up to date and asked if the wedding were on or off. Gabriel said that they'd all always known it was a marriage of convenience and friendship, not romantic love. And, while he didn't like to think about the blood drinking, well, he was sure there were other matters he didn't want to think of as well, like, oh, menstruation. None of these were bars to getting married.
Juliette broke it to him that she did, in fact, menstruate and perform other biological functions. The two proceeded to get thoroughly drunk.
I'm not sure how clear it was to other players that Juliette could eat and drink things other than blood, and certainly, her body needed that. She had what was something of an addiction to blood and / or an eating disorder.
Herman and Liesl took Van Helsing and headed for Misselthwaite Manor, expecting to be met by Earnest Renfield. Instead, they were met by Neville Craven, the brother Roxana Renfield despised, and the one the Craven parents wanted to get control of Misselthwaite Manor.
He had been called in by his parents to examine Ruthie Craven, his younger sister, and concluded that nothing was wrong with her. He explained that, of all absurd things, some silly Jewish woman who fancied herself a doctor had been called in. Her advice was ridiculous; locking up Ruthie in a windowless room and half suffocating her in the stench of garlic? How was that supposed to cure anyone?
Dylan, the Renfield butler, was glad to see Liesl and Herman, and gave Heman a letter which Earnest had written to Herman, Liesl, and Sebastian, explaining that the fairies had invited him to join his wife, and he had accepted the invitation.
Lord Earnest Renfield's Letter
Between Dylan's insistence, Herman's making a point of being Neville's half brother, and Herman's skill at Flattering Neville, the doctor reluctantly let the visitors in. Dylan managed to make it clear that Carmilla was still around or was back, despite being unable to say so outright. He could, however, gather information and supplies for the visitors and carry sealed telegraphs which, naturally, he did not open.
Quentin joined Gabriel and Juliette, and then Quentin was strongly invited to meet certain authority who'd been making noises about recruiting him for some time. They extended the invitation to Gabriel, less strongly. He accepted, after making quite sure that Juliette was out of sight, as he wanted to protect both Juliette and Quentin.
Gabriel and Quentin were taken to St. Ignatius's, aka Seward's asylum, and shown into George Stoker's room. However, Stoker moved and spoke as if he were someone else altogether, explaining to Frank Braun that, alas, a certain element of depravity was needed for some unknown experiments.
Braun departed, and Gabriel demanded to know what was going on and who wanted what from himself and Quentin. George Stoker spoke, explaining that he was Sir John Dee, former court astrologer to Queen Elizabeth I. He was possessing George Stoker, as he had possessed others after his death.
Gabriel asked about the wife swapping. Dee explained that the angels, sadly, did not speak to the pure. No, he needed a rogue, a con man like counterfeiter Edward Kelly, who could scry for him. The wife swapping was another experiment. Dee wanted to create a new type of being. And again, this could not be done with purity, so, despite his wife's sad protests, the swapping was necessary.
Gabriel: Look, Mr. John Dee --
Stoker / Dee: It's _Sir_ John Dee. I _was_ knighted, you know.
Gabriel (through gritted teeth): _Sir_ John Dee.
If he had not already done so, this is when Gabriel decided that he hated Dee.
Dee wanted to recruit Gabriel and Quentin in the occult war, to fight for Queen and country. Gabriel was appalled. Held fought for Queen and country, which was how he'd gotten his limp. He had no intention of doing that again and was vehemently opposed to the idea of Quentin doing so.
Dee assured Gabriel that Edom had no intention of sending either young man to fight a physical war. He talked about experiments that might heal Gabriel's leg. Gabriel noted that this was what De Ville had offered.
Dee said that this was being offered more as a perk of the actual job. Gabriel was clearly a gifted strategist and tactician, and clearly able to spot problems in the current iteration of Dee's organization that was Edom.
For Dee had, of course, worked with vampires before. As Kenneth Hite explained to me when I asked why Dee would think it was a good idea to work with a vampire, Dee used Ruthven against the Stuarts during the Rising, and Francis Varney against Napoleon and the radicals in the time of George III.
What Dee didn't realize, and Gabriel didn't tell him (whether or not he knew), was that Dracula was a self-created vampire who'd studied at the Scholomance. Dee also had not started the current organization that was Edom, although he had managed to put himself at the top of it. No, that had been started when George Stoker and Armin Vambery had presented evidence of vampires to a subsection of the British government.
So, Edom had selected a vampire about whom Dee simply did not know enough. Moreover, the Commissioner betrayed Edom, working with Count De Ville, who was once Johann Jakob Ringler, but had been turned into a vampire by Carmilla. Definitely not Edom's or Dee's finest moment, and Dee hoped that Gabriel could prevent future blunders and allow himself to be used as a guinea pig for what the players described as a super-soldier serum.
As for Quentin, Dee wanted to use him as a medium and a vessel he could possess. He had given the order to send Quentin home, or perhaps the authorization, if Sir Robert Parton had tried to remove Quentin. Gabriel thought that this was extremely stupid timing, but Dee thought that Quentin could be his eyes, which implies that some experimentation or preparation on Quentin may have already happened.
Gabriel lost his temper and tried to punch Dee-in-Stoker. Dee's burly bodyguards easily stopped him.
Herman and Liesl refamiliarized themselves with Misselthwaite Manor and pondered whether it was Carmilla or another vampire causing trouble.
AT LEAST, I THINK THAT'S WHAT THEY WERE DEBATING. IS THIS CORRECT?
Herman: It could just be another psychiatrist, you know.
Liesl: You take that back!
They spoke with Edgar Renfield, the four-year-old son of Earnest and Roxana. Edgar had been keeping carefully out of Carmilla's sight, and Dylan had been doing what he could to protect the boy. Also, Edgar explained, Uncle Owen would return and set things to rights, as unaware as everyone else that Dracula had killed Owen.
Edgar also said that he was protected by the fairies, and that his parents were with them. Herman asked if the fairies could help against Carmilla, and Edgar agreed to ask.
I forget how it came up, but they were talking about parents and mothers, and Liesl said something about her father remarrying.
Edgar: Oh, stepmothers are completely different.
Liesl: You're telling me.
Edgar: That means you're a princess.
Liesl's Player: Jewish Austrian... We are not going there!
Herman set up his cameras, hoping to catch the fairies on film.
Meanwhile, Sebastian visited Gabriel after the latter had left the asylum.
Sebastian: So -- you want to spy on Edom for me?
Gabriel: If you can get Quentin out of this, and make sure Juliette is never in this, yes.
I was focused on other things during the rest of their conversation, so I asked for a summary.
Gabriel's Player: Um...some amount of why Sebastian does what he does ("you arrested Quentin to _prove yourself to yourself_?"), some amount of "I know you want to bring down Edom for some sort of principled and/or abstract reason, I just want to protect my family and I'll let you use me only if you keep that in mind," a lot of Gabriel being long-suffering and cranky that he was at the point where, as far as he was concerned, he had to beg Sebastian for help, a lot of Sebastian being surprisingly gracious about it, what with him having been planning to spy on and restructure Edom anyway. A lot of "they're working with undead John Dee and he's a prick." Some information-sharing, namely Gabriel sharing what he'd heard from Dee and Sebastian sharing that ridiculous chart that Dee had written with the names of Dukes on it. Some amount of Sebastian being like "Well, I want to work with you because you're relatively smart" and Gabriel being like "No I'm not!" and being vaguely offended by that allegation.
Gabriel told Sebastian about John Dee, which explained Lady Wimsey's wincing and some of the odd writing, which was, no doubt, "Enochian". Sebastian remembered that Abraham Van Helsing had clipped ears, just like Edward Kelly was supposed to have.
Sebastian got the telegram from Herman and Liesl. I think it said:
CARMILLA MISSELTHWAITE MANOR COME
Sebastian and Gabriel took a train to Whitby and the manor.
Meanwhile, Liesl, Herman, and Van Helsing prepared to ambush Carmilla. Liesl drugged the servants, including Dylan, and all of the Cravens except for Edgar and Ruthie. Ruthie, of course, was in her room, waiting in a hypnotic state for Carmilla.
Edgar said that he could take Liesl and Herman to see the fairies. They agreed. He took them to a large hole that hadn't been there earlier in the day, and explained to Herman that the fairies weren't going to show up on film.
The hole had stairs leading down to a cave complex. This opened up into what Edgar and Herman saw as fairyland. Small, winged fairies flew around benevolently, and Edgar and the pregnant Roxana slept on comfortable looking couches.
Liesl, whose player succeeded in the roll against the hypnotic buzzing thrum of the fairies' wings, saw a less pleasant sight. The fairies were lobster-like insects with pincers and fungoid heads that changed color frequently. They spoke in a semi-robotic buzzing. Edgar and Roxana had electrodes and wires connecting to machines of unknown purposes.
The fairies / Mi-Go explained that the sleeping people had sent their minds out into fairyland and were seeing wonders. In the meanwhile, their bodies, and the body of their unborn child, were being protected, by the fairies. Edgar was watching over everything, ensuring his parents and his unborn sibling and the fairies would be safe.
Lisel's Player (as Mi-Go / Fairy): I am Unit 1141B, assigned to Mi-Go-Human interfacing.
Me: That's what Liesl hears. Herman, you hear, "I am Unabee."
Herman was happy. Surely, this was proof that, while there were vampires, beings of great evil, there were also benevolent beings like Unabee and the other fairies. And they seemed to like him. Certainly, they were impressed that he understood about the Telluric Fields.
Liesl (still shaken, but suddenly remembering): I can't believe I'm saying this, but we have to help Van Helsing! We can't let him fight Carmilla on his own.
Meanwhile, Sebastian and Gabriel arrived to find that no one was answering the front door. I believe that both gentlemen were more than capable of breaking in, but Gabriel started first by checking various doors and windows, and certainly, I had specified that the window of Edgar's room was open, as he often spoke to the fairies through it. So, Gabriel hoisted himself up, despite his leg, and Sebastian followed.
They found the unconscious family and servants and found Van Helsing in the kitchen. Sebastian addressed him as Edward Kelly, which brought a short rant about the things Dee had done to him.
The trio went outside and found the entrance to the fairy cave. They followed it and were reunited with their friends.
Herman: Liesl, why does Unabee unsettle you so?
I think Gabriel's player decided to spend 3 on the roll to resist the hypnosis, saying that, as it was a fairy tale, it had to be three. She failed the roll, and Gabriel fumed that if Roxana were awake, she'd be laughing at them all for not believing her and Arthur Conan Doyle and others about the fairies. But, all in all? Gabriel was more focused on other things. The existence of fairies was a minor nuisance.
Sebastian's Player: Sebastian wants to see what's actually there, unfortunately for him.
And he succeeded, his Stability hitting 0, despite it having been thoroughly refreshed at the beginning of the session. So, Sebastian lost a second Sanity point, and he was even more shaken than Liesl.
Nevertheless, Sebastian, Liesl, Herman, and Gabriel, and, at Herman's invitation, Unabee came out of the fairy caves and returned to the manor where they rejoined Van Helsing. They saw smoke pouring in under the doorway and up the stairs. They followed, and, to their utter lack of surprise, found Carmilla in Ruthie's room, feeding on her.
Gabriel snatched Ruthie away as the others killed her. If I recall correctly, Herman shot her with an iron bullet, and Liesl and Sebastian finished immobilizing her with an iron stake, but I could be completely misremembering.
ANYONE RECALL THE DETAILS?
Liesl got her bone saw and began decapitating the vampire. Gabriel brought Ruthie out of the room and into another one, and I think both vomited.
Liesl came out of the room covered in blood.
Liesl: It's done.
It was not until then that, in character, anyone thought to check to see if the dead vampire were truly Carmilla. Well, the body was thoroughly disgusting and covered with blood, but it looked like her, including the mole on her neck. Out of character, I presume that everyone knows that it wasn't. My take on things, which the players should feel free to contradict, is:
At the time, everyone was shaken, except for Unabee and Van Helsing / Kelly, who don't count as PCs. Gabriel never met Carmilla, so it probably would not occur to him that this might not be her.
Sebastian almost certainly figured it out later. It may have taken Herman a little longer, but he probably eventually figured out what had happened. I could see Liesl going either way on this, given that, like Sebastian, she was shaken, and she was more focused on Dracula overall, but she was also the one who had dug up a catalog with the picture of Mircalla, Countess Karnstein.
What had happened was that Carmilla returned, and possibly hypnotized Neville into letting Ruthie and the maid out of the room in the secret basement, although possibly Neville did so on his own for the reasons stated. Those who knew nothing about vampires were hypnotized into believing that the maid had left for another position, while those who did know were hypnotized into believing that the maid had died and her body been treated appropriately, to keep it from rising.
Then, everyone was hypnotized into believing that the maid was Carmilla, including the maid herself. She was disguised to look like Carmilla, and none of the PCs really had opportunity to spend much time with her before they killed her. But, as I said, I'm fine if everyone decides that their PCs eventually figure it out -- or if no one does.
Liesl and Sebastian spent some time sitting and staring in despair at nothing in particular.
Liesl: We can't win.
ANYONE REMEMBER THE REST OF THE CONVERSATION? I THINK IT HAD TO DO WITH HOW, YES, THEY'D KILLED THREE VAMPIRES, WITH MUCH EFFORT, BUT THERE WERE OBVIOUSLY MORE IN THE WORLD, AND CLEARLY WORSE THINGS, ALTHOUGH LIESL OBVIOUSLY HAD DRACULA AT THE TOP OF HER WORSE THINGS LIST.
Folks returned to London, at least for a while. Herman tried to purchase the Chicksand place that De Ville / Ringler had owned, hoping to get at least the porcelain. This involved contacting the real estate agent, who invited Herman over the next day.
Herman entered the man's office and was surprised to find himself being questioned by two large, capable men wondering just why a German foreigner was suddenly interested in that particular property. They sent the real estate agent out of his own office. (NB: Sending someone out of a room is a trick Robin Laws suggesting making liberal use of. Cf. http://site.pelgranepress.com/index.php/can-we-have-the-room-please/)
They then dispensed with pleasantries, and Herman openly referred to them as working for Edom. He made it clear that he wanted to continue the fight against vampires. A spend of both Vampirism and Reassurance convinced them that they could work with him. He could help them vet the porcelain and keep any pieces that were not somehow supernatural.
Liesl meanwhile went to collect her cousin, Immanuel Hildescheim, from St. Ignatius's. At least, that was her intent. Dr. Seward said that it would not be possible, and that Hildescheim needed to remain at St. Ignatius's for his own safety.
Liesl: Fine! _You_ keep him! He can be a pain in _your_ tuchus!
She pretended to leave, but used what the player referred to as "the key that opens all locks", i.e., Preparedness. With this, she was able to slip into the parts of the asylum she had not yet seen.
Of course, it wasn't as if Liesl didn't know how an asylum was laid out. She quickly figured out which wing her cousin would have to be in, and went room by room.
In the first room she checked, a young girl sat up in bed. She was mutilated, a scar going through one eye socket and down her cheek. She was chained to the bed.
Both eyes opened and leaked what looked like silver nitrate.
ANYONE REMEMBER WHAT SHE WAS WHISPERING OVER AND OVER? I THINK IT HAD TO DO WITH THE FAIRIES?
Other rooms were far too similar. Mutilated children, non-mutilated adults, but all acting as if they were receivers for some odd message, all leaking silver from their eyes.
Finally, Liesl reached a locked door behind which she heard Dr. Seward interrogating her cousin. Liesl set off the fire alarms.
DID SHE ALSO KILL THE LIGHTS?
The guards went to see what was wrong. I forget whether George Stoker / John Dee went with them. I think he did?
ANYONE REMEMBER?
Lisel felt sure that she could take Seward.
HOW DID SHE DO THIS? WITH AN MOS IN HYPNOSIS OR SOMETHING ELSE? OR A COMBINATION?
Eventually, she left him sleeping. Unfortunately, Immanuel was manacled to his chair, and Seward did not have the keys. Liesl weighed her options as she heard screams and thuds and then the sound of footsteps approaching.
Liesl: Immanuel, I can't take you with me. But I can give you release --
At that point, the door was hurled off its hinges.
Dracula (taking in the scene): My apologies. I thought you might need some assistance.
Immanuel fainted. Dracula easily broke him free of the chair and carried him out, hypnotizing him to forget the last several months.
I'm not entirely sure if I should have had Dracula burst in before Liesl did something drastic, like inject her cousin with something lethal, but the timing felt right. She had already dealt with the main problem on her own, and the danger she thought she was in was, after all, Dracula coming to her rescue.
We started wrapping things up for the 1894 leg.
Herman moved to become Edgar's guardian, as Owen continued to fail to show up at Misselthwaite Manor. Naturally, Neville and his parents fought this. Ruthie and Archibald supported Herman, but that probably made no legal difference, and of course, Edgar's grandparents were utterly uninterested in Edgar's opinion.
However, someone seemed to be pulling strings in the government to get Herman appointed Edgar's guardian and to make Edgar the Master of Misselthwaite Manor (which would make a lovely novel title, wouldn't it?). And, somehow, the Cravens found themselves in possession of a fine, large, fashionable house that suited them much better than Misselthwaite Manor.
Yes, clearly, someone had pulled strings.
Sebastian's Player: Is that Mom?
Me: _Is_ that Mom?
Sebastian's Player: Probably.
Gabriel made preparations to get Quentin and Juliette out of Edom's reach and, to his surprise, found himself falling in love with his fiance. However, the player requested that we leave things vague as to where the trio went or whether they escaped at all. I'd been expecting to do full on "five years later... ten years later..." but this actually works better for this run.
We can do flashbacks or otherwise create details when they're needed. Until they, exactly what happened is, like so much else in this run, full of possibilities and chaos until everything forms a pattern that, while far from perfect, coheres astonishingly well.
Sebastian, of course, began attempting to take over Edom from within. We left the question of his success or failure unanswered.
We turned to Liesl's final therapy session with Nicolaus Olahus, otherwise known as Dracula, which took place at night, at the Tower of London.
Liesl, shaken by all that had happened, had nevertheless come to certain conclusions.
She had seen no sign of empathy or humanity in Nicolaus. He had told her of wonders and terrors beyond what she permitted herself to imagine, but she considered Dracula himself to be the greatest threat to humanity.
(And here, the player pointed out that, while Liesl had seen the Mi-Go as they truly were, she did not know that they had an empire spanning planets or that they had literally removed the brains of Roxana and Earnest Renfield.)
She was not convinced that he wanted to regain his humanity and asked him point blank if he did.
Dracula: I am not sure.
What Dracula wanted, or believed he wanted, was to learn more about what he was, using the new-to-him science of psychiatry.
What Liesl wanted was to protect humanity. And, she told Dracula, if he truly wanted to do the same, there was only one way in which he could do it.
And she threw an iron stake at his feet.
Dracula (fading into mist): I am disappointed, Liesl. But then, I suppose you are also disappointed. We will not meet again.
Liesl: Yes, Nicolaus, I am disappointed. I was your last chance.
Liesl returned to her home and brought Immanuel to a Swiss clinic.
Immanuel: I still don't remember the last several months. I know that I was working for MINA, and that I was going to pretend to be an Englishman. I have no idea why. It seems like an incredibly stupid idea. But then, I have a lot of those, don't I?
Liesl (to Sigmund Freud): Completely insane. But, in this case, I think the amnesia is a blessing. Oh, by the way, I met a great admirer of your work, a man named Charles -- er, Carl.
Liesl married a Zionist around the turn of the century and emigrated to Palestine, where she joined a certain group.
WHICH ONE? IRGUN? IS THE TIMING CORRECT? 1931-1938 -- NOT A BIT LATE?
She didn't kill people, but, as the player said, she may have patched up people who killed people.
And, she joined, perhaps helped found, a group of Jewish scholars who had a private archive in which she placed her unexpurgated notes. This group looked into rumors of supernatural activity, and called itself something in Hebrew that translates to "We Remember". I asked for a transliteration of the Hebrew and was told it was "Ahnachnu zochrim".
Liesl's player figures she lives until Israel's War of Independence.
Liesl wasn't the only character who created a mythos tome in game. Herman annotated Ringler's journal, correcting and redacting, and adding a new appendix with what he had learned, perhaps expanding out to a new volume...
Odds and Ends
So, some stuff evolved, given the combination of sandbox and impulsive decisions and recalibrations. I'm not sure I didn't have too much gonzo stuff in the last session, and I know that the player handouts were too much (she says, asking everyone to annotate Dracula...)
(Liesl's player has annotated it in French, with post-it note translations. Beatrice's player currently has it.)
Remember the session where the PCs split four ways and everyone got attacked? I focused on logical threats, and only later did it become clear to me why each one had occurred. They were all different.
At first I thought De Ville and Dracula might be working together. But, as they weren't, I thought maybe Dracula had warned De Ville to stay out of his way, but also let De Ville have the Chicksand place.
But, that didn't make a lot of sense, so I think it's now the traitorous Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police who moved the Chicksand place out of the Dracula pile and into the pile of _his_ vampire pals, De Ville / Ringler, Carmilla, and "Mama".
So, there were basically three factions: Edom, De Ville-Carmilla-Satanists, and Dracula.
"Mama" was from Carmilla's faction, and she attacked Sebastian because he was in the way of Carmilla's schemes. She tried to hypnotize him, then kill him, then blacken his name.
Jenkins, Archibald Craven's roommate (Archibald being the photographer and the brother Roxana likes), worked for De Ville, and he decided to bring Mrs. Pat there. Why not? How could she possibly be anything but a net gain to that circle? De Ville killed him for his presumption and tried to use Mrs. Pat. That went about as well for him in the long run as "Mama" trying to use Sebastian.
Carl Bradford, the madman with the knife who attacked Herman in the public baths, was in the thrall of Dracula. Dracula made several mistaken assumptions. He thought that Herman was MINA, as someone had noted Robert Roosevelt had visited him. And, he was working with Sebastian at Misselthwaite Manor, which was in Whitby, where Dracula was supposed to be welcomed -- or imprisoned. And given that "Harker" spoke German and other languages, Dracula may have started to guess that Harker was MINA. To be fair, Herman was an enemy of Dracula's, as he was a vampire hunter.
Mr. Hardcannon was the one that took me the longest to figure out. I mean, at first, sure, he was a Star Vampire working for Dracula, just like the three "women" Immanuel saw. But, Dracula had just come to Whitby, and thence made his way to London. Mr. Hardcannon had a street rep. Sure, he could've picked it up in a month, but it was reaching. No, Hardcannon had been summoned and bound by Sir John Dee, who probably thinks of him as a bound demon. Dee wanted Liesl killed because she was an interfering foreigner. He'd have been fine if she'd survived and fled the country, but alas, Liesl is not so easily intimidated.
Dracula killed Owen Renfield believing him to be an Edom agent planning to torture information out of Immanuel Hildescheim. Actually, Owen was an ex-Edom agent planning to get Immanuel somewhere safe.
St. Ignatius always was an Edom node. I cobbled together some of the details later, but from the moment I put George Stoker there, Dee or no Dee, it had to be some place that Edom thought reasonably secure. Well, that and its position to keep an eye on Dracula at Carfax Abbey.
The Demeter was just a complete FUBAR. I decided that I didn't really have to make up precisely what happened. Everything just went wrong. Probably there were MINA spies and superstitious Romanians who knew something Bad was on board and meant to do something about it. Probably the Edom people aboard had orders for dealing with something going wrong. None of it helped.
That said, anyone who died was probably thrown into the water, which means they won't rise as a vampire. Probably.
Carmilla is down a couple of people, but Baron Vordenburg didn't make an appearance.
Gertrude Bell committed suicide in 1926, or so the papers say.
Sir John Dee lives by possessing people. Why Edward Kelly never died is an interesting unanswered question, as is the reason he became a vampire hunter.
Any loose ends people still wondering about?
