13th Session
Vito (whose player had missed last session and given me fairly free reign with the character) regained consciousness in a pit in the ground. The ground was maybe ankle deep in water and large bugs scuttled. The walls were fairly easy to scale, but the top of the pit was covered by a grate, locked to a small post at each corner.
Vito remembered being ambushed in Bangkok and beaten unconscious. Someone had tended to his injuries, but he was naked and unarmed. And, it started to rain, although he was in no danger of drowning. He was also not in the city, as far as he could tell from what he could hear and what he could see through the grate.
Vito braced himself to await whoever came for him, fairly sure that his captors wanted to soften him up and shake his nerves before interrogating him.
In Bangkok, Joyce rented a smaller plane than her DC 3, a two seater biplane. She took Lillian and made a reconnaissance flight over the mysterious island of Ko Krok. All she had to do was cut the engine, glide over the island, and turn on the engine before an actual crash was inevitable. Piece of cake!
Joyce's player spent a fair number of Pilot points to make sure that she could do this complicated maneuver safely and silently. This was a very good idea, as I had set a high, but not absurd, difficulty, especially as this was the rainy season.
Meanwhile, Vito looked up and saw a Thai woman in a shift holding a spear.
Vito: I'd make a pithy comment if I could think of one.
The woman stabbed the spear down at him. He managed to wrest the spear away from her, which annoyed her. However, she left and soon returned with another spear.
Vito: Haven't you people ever heard of guns?
She stabbed down at him, stabbing him in the arm and then departing. The wound was not deep or serious -- but, it did fill Vito with rage for a moment. He was able to get his emotions under control, and he realized that the spear had been laced with Nectar of the Bangkok variant.
Meanwhile, Joyce and Lillian rendezvoused with Martin and Darla, discussing their plan. Joyce figured that she, Lillian, and Darla would go to Ko Krok while Martin walked into the Labyrinth in Bangkok and surrendered. Joyce talked about going into either the Labyrinth or the crumbling estate on Ko Krok with a whole lot of fire power.
Martin: I hate to bring this up, but -I- might be in there.
Joyce: So, no incendiary grenades.
She reviewed their not inconsiderable resources.
Joyce: Who wants the Browning?
Martin: What's a Browning?
Those two lines do a good job of summing up the characters.
Meanwhile, Martin pondered his own resources.
Martin: Can someone get me some cocaine and some laudanum?
Joyce: That sounds like a hell of a plan for a Saturday night, Martin.
I forget exactly why Martin wanted these things, but they were acquired. My notes mention capsicum, but that may have been my mishearing something.
I think Darla asked if the plan was really a good one.
Joyce: It's a terrible plan -- but we don't have another.
Martin tried to explain that he knew a lot of things that the cult wanted to know, probably more about the Liar than either his enemies or his friends.
Joyce: That means your life is more valuable than Darla's or mine.
Martin wasn't happy to hear that, though it followed logically.
I forget the context / content here:
Joyce: [SOMETHING I CAN'T READ IN MY NOTES] I'd never thought of it that way before.
I have no idea what Joyce said or what the context was. I'm fairly sure it was a Joyce-Martin conversation.
Martin talked to his sister.
Martin: I'm very drunk right now, but don't f*cking die.
Meanwhile, Vito scaled the walls of the pit again. The woman who had speared him was now naked, making a fire and chanting in the Tongue of Lies. Vito saw that she had an unnatural mouth on one forearm, and another on the opposite thigh. As she chanted, Vito could feel the flesh around his wound peeling back. Looking down at his arm, he saw a mouth forming where the wound was, complete with a tongue and teeth, It hissed at him.
Vito still managed to hold it together. He jammed the spear tip into his new orifice.
GM: It chews on the spear.
Meanwhile, Joyce, Darla, and Lillian went to Pattaya. Joyce brought the small plane, as there was no good place for the large one to land if they did decide to fly to Ko Krok. They made arrangements to rent a boat for the following day, and spent the night in Pattaya.
Vito saw the woman who had attacked him return to stand next to the grill. She told him that the hunt now began. If she killed him, her mouths would feed on his flesh. If he killed her, his new mouth would feed on her flesh instead of on his own. If he refused the hunt, he would be devoured by his new mouth.
She dropped the keys to the locks on the grate into his pit. Then, she ran off, no doubt waiting to ambush him.
Vito called out that he wasn't going to eat her, just kill her. He sternly informed the new mouth that, as far as he was concerned, it was Lent for the mouth. Then, he scaled the walls, undid the locks, and slipped into the jungle having (just now revealed) he had the Outdoorsman skill.
Spotting a crumbling estate, he made his way to it, foraging for food, and quite possibly killing some animal for his dinner en route. He took shelter in the garden shack, which, despite the remains of some of Savitree's earlier victims, was a goldmine in terms of creating crude weapons.
The next day, Joyce, Lillian, and Darla set out bright and early for Ko Krok. Martin set out for the Labyrinth as soon as he woke up, at the crack of noon.
The doorman at the Fragrant Honey Shop recognized him as the man who bribed him for a peek in the Lkabyrinth when he came too early for the fights. And he was again too early, having (as far as the doorman knew) missed the previous fights.
Doorman: You need to buy a calendar.
Martin explained who he was, to the consternation of the doorman, who realized that he'd probably be killed if his fellow cultists realized how badly he'd screwed up, not realizing the person they wanted had blithely walked in and out on his watch, with his cooperation.
Martin (laughing): Don't worry. I won't tell if you won't.
The doorman was greatly relieved and let him in.
[I need to give him a name -- Martin's saved this guy's life twice over now.]
Daniel Lowman met Martin and told him that, while usually, when folks were brought to Savitree, Thawi and his thugs beat them senseless, given Martin was being cooperative, Daniel was willing to drug him instead. (He really appreciated Martin being cooperative, especially given how stressful his life had been since Martin and his friends arrived in town.)
Martin voted for the drugs and requested laudanum. Sure, Martin has some on him, but he wasn't about to tell Daniel that. Laudanum was fetched. Martin offered Daniel a vial of Los Angeles Nectar as a guest gift. Daniel was surprised, but gladly accepted it.
Thawi's thugs shoved Martin into the dentist's chair they used for Nectar addicts and forced the laudanum down his throat. Daniel was disgusted by this, but didn't let that stop him from drinking the Los Angeles Nectar as Martin passed out.
On Ko Krok, Joyce, Lillian, and Darla slowly made their way through the jungle to the crumbling estate, dodging and disarming traps as needed. As they passed the garden shack, Vito's second mouth started to yell at him. Vito became aware that there were people moving towards the shack, I think -- the players, of course, all knew exactly what was happening, but took considerable pains to make sure that their characters only reacted to what they knew. Fortunately, bloodshed was avoided.
I think Lillian first saw Vito and his extra mouth, and she told Joyce to put whatever gun she was aiming down, wanting to make sure Joyce didn't reflexively fire in a perfectly understandable attempt to destroy the horror in front of her. Certainly, Vito said something to the effect that she might want to shoot him, not having a death wish, but being well aware that shooting him would be a reasonable reaction to the situation.
While they were somewhat nonplussed by the situation, I think neither Lillian nor Joyce came close to losing it. Darla, however, was another matter.
Darla: I don't know what that is! I don't know what that is! He's naked!
Joyce: -That's- what's disturbing you?
Darla: He's extra-special naked!
For the regular kind of naked, Darla made Vito a sarong, out of plant matter, I think. For the extra-special kind, she wove something he could tie around his arm to at least temporarily gag his extra mouth so that it wouldn't keep trying to bite him. Vito and Lillian discussed the merits of amputation.
Vito heard Amelia Burroughs's voice telling him that that might work, but there might also be another answer in Ethiopia, something that George Ayers knew. Vito passed this information on, and folks decided to consider their options before deciding, but to continue making their way through the estate and into the main house before pondering options for Vito's arm.
(After the session:
Darla's Player: Having Amelia suggest Ethiopia was pulling your punches.
Me: Actually, no. Having Amelia suggest Ethiopia was me upping the odds that folks would go there at some point so that I can run the Ethiopia chapter. Having Vito be wounded on the arm instead of on the head, neck, or torso was me pulling my punches. But, since I fiated Vito's capture, I figure that's only fair.)
Martin woke up to find himself lying on a cot. One of his wrists was bound to a corner of the cot, but he was otherwise unrestrained. A Thai woman was sitting by the cot waiting for him to wake up. He correctly guessed that this was Savitree.
She gave him water and untied him, moving very carefully. Martin realized that he was no longer wearing his coat with its lining of shorthand notes. Looking around, he saw it neatly folded in a corner.
Martin (probably silently, to himself): Damn. I spent so much time making that.
Savitree is possibly the smartest NPC in Eternal Lies. There were several things of which she was unaware, but she was very aware that too much knowledge of the mythos could drive people mad. And, since she needed Martin's help, she started to explain, very carefully, Jeremiah's situation, having no idea that Martin had already figured out that she had Jeremiah's brain in a jar.
Martin didn't hasten to correct her. Eventually, however, he said something that indicated he did have a good idea of the situation.
Savitree: How did you know that?
Martin: I did research, too.
She accepted that and explained that Jeremiah was helping with her research and that, while she worshipped the Liar From Beyond and Martin fought It, they both needed to know who It was.
She also showed Martin the mouth on her forearm and let him know about the one on her thigh. As she figured they would be working together for some time, she didn't want her extra mouths trying to snack on him. Martin was shaken, but handled the revelation well enough to satisfy her.
He admitted when she asked that the supposed messenger from Malta who tried to subborn Daniel Lowman was his ruse, and I think he told her about Brooks's expedition to the Yucatan, though that might have been later.
He also let slip that he was a Nectar addict. This annoyed her, as she wanted someone who was not touched by her god. Also, Martin prefers the Los Angeles Nectar to the Bangkok Nectar. But, Savitree decided that she could work with or around this as needed.
Eventually, Martin felt that enough of the preliminaries had been addressed to get down to what he considered the most important matter.
Martin: This is where you take me to see my boyfriend.
Savitree agreed.
Meanwhile, Joyce, Lillian, Darla, and Vito made their way carefully around the back of the main house and up a series of long overgrown terraces, dodging traps and the occasional (inanimate) skeleton. There was a chair on the highest terrace, kept carefully clean, in a sunny spot. The group slowly opened the door behind it, the one leading into that part of the house.
Someone was singing very badly -- and Joyce recognized the tune, for she had written it. It was "The Tennessee Waltz". It was being sung to an old woman who was trying to waltz to it despite her infirmities -- and her blindness. Joyce recognized the voice, which complimented the woman on her dancing (in Thai) before resuming the song. It was coming from one of three machines that were hooked up to a cylinder on a table.
Martin also recognized the voice as Savitree led him towards the room with the cylinder containing Jeremiah's brain.
In the room with the cylinder and the old woman, Joyce said something, probably Jeremiah's name. This startled Jeremiah, who certainly wasn't expecting a visit from Joyce Summers. He fell silent.
Outside the room, Savitree didn't know why Jeremiah had suddenly fallen silent, but she decided that she needed to hustle Martin away until she knew what was going on. Martin, who also didn't know why Jeremiah had suddenly fallen silent, wanted to go towards the room with his boyfriend, not away from it.
Jeremiah tried to tell Joyce that he wasn't Jeremiah, but, er, some other brain in a jar.
Jeremiah: You're not buying this, are you? This is very embarrassing.
Savitree tried to put Martin in an armlock. She succeeded, but the mouth on her arm took a bit out of Martin, which was not what she wanted it to do.
Martin, who had been yelling at Savitree to let him go to Jeremiah, now yelled at her to stop biting him.
Lillian came running. I think Joyce stayed put, despite her Drive for adventure (as Cat pointed out), I think because someone had to keep an eye on Jeremiah and the old woman who was afraid.
There was a brief standoff, as Savitree didn't think she'd live very long if she let go of Martin. I forget exactly what happened, but either Lillian did something to make Savitree let go of Martin or he managed to pull away. Lillian knocked the other woman down.
I forget whether Lillian had any help, though I think the others may have arrived by then. I think Joyce gave Lillian a pair of handcuffs.
As Lillian cuffed Savitree's arms behind her back, she saw the mouth on Savitree's forearm. Martin warned her about the one on Savitree's thigh which Savitree herself had thoughtfully warned him about just moments before. As I said, there were things Savitree did not know, and one of those was that the group had learned about Ko Krok.
Now that the biggest threat on the island, i.e., Savitree, was contained, Martin got caught up with Jeremiah. Later, Darla brought up the matter of the mysterious Sir Masks-A-Lot.
Darla went fishing to feed Savitree's mouths. Vito had no intention of feeding his own extra mouth, explaining that, as far as he was concerned, it was Lent for the mouth.
Darla (I think): Easter was months ago, but I take your point.
The old woman was gradually calmed down. Jeremiah introduced her as Ravee Natanee, the grandmother of Savitree and only member of the family whom Savitree had not killed. Ravee worked very hard at pretending to be a senile old blind woman who believed everything Savitree said about servants and relatives moving away. She had done her best to stay clean, under the circumstances. Joyce and Martin were able to set her mind at ease about her safety.
Savitree was willing to talk with her captors, at least up to a point. After all, she was learning more in five minutes than she'd learned in ten years. If she hadn't learned about the Yucatan before, this is where she learned about it. She also learned that George Ayers, the only cultist smart enough to realize early on that Ramon Echevarria was lying about the god he taught his cult to worship, had gone to Ethiopia to try to learn more of the truth. Of course, that had been 13 years ago, but clearly, the Yucatan and Ethiopia were worth investigating.
However, folks weren't sure what to do about Savitree. Lillian wanted to fight her, and wondered if having her as a sparring partner might take the edge off Savitree's appetites. Joyce considered dropping Savitree on a deserted island in the Pacific Ocean where she could survive or taking her to Ethiopia. Her idea was that Savitree could be used to test whatever possible solution for Vito's extra mouth might lie in Ethiopia. Others pointed out that Joyce was talking either about risking Savitree escaping or trying to drag an unconscious woman around the desert.
Joyce: Where do the mob put their people they need to leave alive?
Vito: Atlantic City.
Martin was trying to figure out what to do about Jeremiah's situation of being a brain in a jar that got hooked up to three machines -- one for sight, one for hearing, and one for speech.
Vito: Not to interfere in matters of the heart between two people who are obviously so close -- but don't you think you should ask him?
I don't remember the context of this:
We don't want holes in the plane.
Or this:
Lillian: No, Lillian thinks that it's her -job-.
Joyce: Lillian's crazy -- we know this.
