To Remove a Wedding Curse

Raw Dump

Invulnerabilities and weakneswses are on the character not on the skill

"You're hitting me with iron? What's the matter with you? How were you RAISED?!"

Er... it ment well

Gregory in public Reginald in private

Is he always like this when he's talking about romance?

Oh, I thought you were talking about courtship, not romance?

So are you saying that having Edwina under the same roof as Sophronia might not be the best idea?

Because mama has decided not to die

ohgodohgodohgod

I could say mama had absolutely forbidden

My prospects are not as good, right?

FP for Archibald

I am Not. Sweet.

Past Gibralter all things are permissibele

Ettigquietee changes depending on which side fo the river your on? Really? Alice, why did you not tell me that? Does everyone else have the same problem with water I have?

I would have to bring back alec. Alec has been hiding

I'm sure London misses him terribly.

If this goes wrong, I blame Victor. Why is fae magic keeping anyone from finding Talos.

And the chartists have a fae working for them

Yes, and we through him into an iron fence

But we made that up to him

So he might not hate us now

What is Talos getting up to?

His own business, I'm sure. He plays a lot of chess.

Would you protect Talos if he hurt someone?

i don't think he has

You could play him by letter

Where do I deliver a letter to take it to talos?

Well, I could take it to him

I hand you a papper to give to Talos. All it sways on it is E4. No, King 4

It occursa to me that when your relatives get themselves in debt to faeries, bad things happen and trips to mars need to be taken.

Not that my father isn't -smart_

Senisble?

I was going for better at life, but sure. Sensible.

That's ironic.

Are you being deliberately evasiove or are you really that stupid?

That doesn't seem a very nice question. Aren't you supposed to be polishing your manners?

We do have a reputations

For, you know, knocking things over and setting things on fire

All those things deservbed it!

But you understand from an outside perspective that might not be immediately obvious.

Last call for the Official Talos Post.

I don't see a particular reason to give him a letter. I'll send him my card.

Talos is getting mail. Why does that seem so much more surreal than anything else?

We could include a hunk of iron in the package.

To less drinking!

No! To more drinking!

Sophronia, how impulsive are you feeling this evening?

I'm sure no more irresponsible than usual.

This doesn't smell quite right

Does fog smell right?

Generally yes.

Maybe it's because we're not in longon

I am familiar with the sce3net of fog on 6 continents

We put the sheep back. Bybebye toys.

She's not scatterbrained shes the sensibne one we decided this

we did?

she and I did

That I believe

Oh dont tell issaac he;; just worry

To have all of your digging done by a delicate young lady. Fine

you could go and have drinks with the night watcvhman

How very perspicacious of you

If they're trees

Oh dear -- we dont get that reacktion as often as we ought

We were tidy. We were very tidy.

Let me try a trick that I know

I can show you one!@

Dolphin sonar

Oh good, another crystal

You should really get them nicely set for the season

Oh say -- The Marsh!

Don't should! We're trying not to be noticed.

Do we want a tree monster?

Yes!!

Might I suggest we wait until next session for the tree monster battle?

Save a shard for fae.

Tree monsters must be stopped w/o bride and groom noticing / wedding party

Because they have to be HAPPY! Are you happy when tree monsters attack?

We are.

We're special.

Wedding party can be in the know, just not the bride and groom

Story Games Dump

In Monday's Kerberos Fate, Sophronia, the 9 inch clockwork faerie, did not get attacked with cold iron, but her player supplied a quote for that eventuality: "You're hitting me with iron? What's the matter with you? How were you RAISED?!"

Reginald / Gregory went out drinking with Gregory's brother, Archibald, and their friend, Gerald. Reginald tried to get Archibald to talk about who Archibald wanted to marry, but Archibald misunderstood, and talked about the best matches he might make for the family.

Reginald / Gregory (to Gerald): Is he always like this when he's talking about romance?

Gerald: Oh, I thought you were talking about courtship, not romance.

Later, Reginald explained to Sophronia that, past Gibralter, all things are permissible.

Sophronia: Etiquette changes depending on which side of the river you're on? Really? Alice, why did you not tell me that? Does everyone else have the same problem with water I have?

Meanwhile, Alice made it clear that she did not want to become her male alter ego as yet.

Alice: I would have to bring back Alec. Alec has been hiding.

Sophronia: I'm sure London misses him terribly.

Reginald took a deep breath and risked asking Sophronia, his fiance, why fae magic was keeping anyone from finding her "cousin", the 20 foot tall mechanical man, Talos, who was probably working for / with the Chartists (who might have nefarious schemes if I can ever come up with appropriate ones). The group remembered that the Chartists had a fae working for / with them.

Sophronia: Yes, and we through him into an iron fence.

Reginald: But we made that up to him.

Sophronia: So he might not hate us now.

Reginald: What is Talos getting up to?

Sophronia: His own business, I'm sure. He plays a lot of chess.

Victor: Would you protect Talos if he hurt someone?

Sophronia: I don't think he has.

Victor (after a few more rounds of continuing to fail to get Sophronia to give a more definite answer to the question) Are you being deliberately evasive or are you really that stupid?

Sophronia: That doesn't seem a very nice question. Aren't you supposed to be polishing your manners?

She did point out that Victor might be able to play chess with Talos by letter, something Victor clearly wanted to do.

Victor: Where do I deliver a letter to take it to Talos?

Sophronia: Well, I could take it to him.

Victor gave her a paper he already had on him, with a chess move already written down.

Reginald asked if he could give Sophronia a letter for Talos, and she agreed.

Sophronia: Last call for the Official Talos Post.

Alice: I don't see a particular reason to give him a letter. I'll send him my card.

GM: Talos is getting mail. Why does that seem so much more surreal than anything else?

Reginald (to Sophronia) It occurs to me that when your relatives get themselves in debt to faeries, bad things happen and trips to Mars need to be taken.

Victor remains (properly) suspicious of Talos. After all, why is Talos unwilling to meet him?

Reginald: We do have a reputation.

Sophronia: For, you know, knocking things over and setting things on fire.

Victor: All those things deserved it!

Sophronia: But you understand, from an outside perspective, that might not be immediately obvious.

Then, the group went off to Shelborough to attend a wedding, as I borrowed the prologue scenario from Chaosium's Terror from the Skies. An unnatural fog rolled in.

Reginald: This doesn't smell quite right

Sophronia: Does fog smell right?

Reginald: Generally, yes.

Sophronia: Maybe it's because we're not in London.

Reginald: I am familiar with the scent of fog on six continents.

Naturally, there turned out to be a nefarious Martian plot at work, and Our Heroes found another Martian crystal.

Alice (sarcastically): Oh good, another crystal.

Reginald: You should really get them nicely set for the season.

As it got late, Our Heroes solved the mystery of the Martian Curse, which left the question of whether Martian Tree Monsters would attack. Going by the book, the answer would be no, but I wasn't asking the book.

GM: Do we want a tree monster?

Player: Yes!!

GM (checking the clock)L Might I suggest we wait until next session for the tree monster battle?

Folks agreed, and suggested that the tree monsters would have to be stopped without the bride and groom noticing there was a problem.

Sophronia: Because they have to be HAPPY! Are you happy when tree monsters attack?

Alice: We are.

Sophronia: We're special.

Write Up Attempt

Sophronia, the 9 inch clockwork faerie, did not get attacked with cold iron, but her player supplied a quote for that eventuality: "You're hitting me with iron? What's the matter with you? How were you RAISED?!"

Given the events at the Boston Marathon, Kristen asked that I not focus on anarchist plots this session. Given that I've not yet figured out what anarchists / Chartists in 1840s Britain actually did / might do that would make a good Kerberos plot, this was not a problem, as I said.

Nunzio suggested a couple of interesting plots for them, clever ones, but not necessarily sufficient. Sure, I could see Talos bribing and blackmailing people to vote the right way in Parliament on social issues, but what would Martin Croyle do? Someone suggested that there might be bank robberies to fund the bribery.

Nunzio also suggested that the inventors working for Croyle build machines to run a factory, buy the factory, pay the workers as they normally would -- but not for working in the factory. Instead, the workers would hand out leaflets and pamphlets urging Croyle's cause.

But, actually, my plan was to run the prologue to Chaosium's Terror from the Skies, suitably modified to be about Martians, to be backdated to 1841, and to take into account the various abilities the PCs have.

Alice's never-before-mentioned friend, Abigail Barker, had learned Alice was in town and hastily invited her to be the maid of honor at Abigail's wedding. Abigail was plain and shy, and she considered Alice a friend because Alice had never been mean to her. Meanwhile, Bartholomew Ford told Victor that he'd been invited to be the best men at that very same wedding, a wedding of his former pupil, Isaac Martin, an up and coming son of a wealthy business man, i.e., someone in a similar position to Victor's, before things blew up socially. Victor was willing to go, and was intrigued when Bartholomew mentioned hearing about a curse on weddings in the town where the wedding was to take place.

Reginald went over to the home of The Bachelors, aka Douglas, Gerald, Robert, and Archibald. Robert was a bit wounded, having been on the receiving end of Francis's ire for his swordfighting skill not matching up to her expectations. Douglas distracted him so that Gregory, Archibald, and Gerald could go drinking in an establishment that was just the right degree of scandalous for young noblemen like themselves to patronize.

After picking up gossip (assassination attempt on the queen, a young noble scarred in a duel with some unidentified party), Gregory tried to ascertain his brother's desires in terms of matrimony, and explained that Archibald no longer had to marry someone who could be Lady Pennsington.

Gregory (to Gerald): Is he always like this when he's talking about romance?

Gerald: Oh, I thought you were talking about courtship, not romance?

Regardless, Reginald didn't want to condemn Archibald to marrying Edwina Campion if he didn'te want to.

Archibald: So are you saying that having Edwina under the same roof as Sophronia might not be the best idea?

He commiserated with Gregory about being manipulated by their mother, Lady Sage, into agreeing to become the next Lord Pennsington. Gregory pointed out that the current Lord P. is still alive and well, and that the next generation, Lady Sage's, might also last for a while.

Gregory: Because Mama has decided not to die.

Archibald: Ohgodohgodohgod.

Gregory asked how much Archibald had already committed himself to Edwina.

Archibald: I could say Mama had absolutely forbidden it. My prospects are not as good, right?

Gregory agreed that they weren't, and thought that this might help loosen Edwina's grip. We all agreed Archibald should get a fate point for, well, being Archibald.

Archibald: I am Not. Sweet.

Gregory: Of course not.

Alden: He's totally sweet, isn't he?

He is. I should make it one of his Aspects. Also, Archibald was finding that the women he liked, well -- Leanna had run off to Paris to try to make herself more of a medium to help the Fairy Earl. Drew was really in love (or, at least, in crush) with Gregory. And then, there was Abigail, who had gotten engaged to this other fellow. It seemed to be a love match, although one approved of by both families.

Meanwhile, Merrill Wilkinson quizzed Sophronia about Gregory, and got confused when she referred to him as Gregory.

Sophronia: Gregory in public, Reginald in private.

Note to Self: Reginald probably should get a plot point for that. It is likely to inconvenience him.

Merrill explained that he'd deliberately distracted Reginald so that Sophronia could visit Talos without being followed. I think Sophronia missed that Merrill was actually, you know, plotting and thinking ahead. But, that's only fair, as he completely missed that Sophronia was earnestly hoping for his approval, his affection, and his attendance at her wedding. She looked so sad when he was dubious about whether a church wedding would work, given her fae nature, but she pointed out that churches aren't actually anathema to most fae.

Later, Reginald explained to Sophronia that, past Gibralter, all things are permissible.

Sophronia: Etiquette changes depending on which side of the river you're on? Really? Alice, why did you not tell me that? Does everyone else have the same problem with water I have?

Meanwhile, Alice made it clear that she did not want to become her male alter ego as yet.

Alice: I would have to bring back Alec. Alec has been hiding.

Sophronia: I'm sure London misses him terribly.

Reginald took a deep breath --

Reginald: If this goes wrong, I blame Victor. (to Sophronia) Why is fae magic keeping anyone from finding Talos.

The group remembered that the Chartists had a fae working for / with them.

Sophronia: Yes, and we through him into an iron fence.

Reginald: But we made that up to him.

Sophronia: So he might not hate us now.

Reginald: What is Talos getting up to?

Sophronia: His own business, I'm sure. He plays a lot of chess.

Victor: Would you protect Talos if he hurt someone?

Sophronia: I don't think he has.

Victor (after a few more rounds of continuing to fail to get Sophronia to give a more definite answer to the question) Are you being deliberately evasive or are you really that stupid?

Sophronia: That doesn't seem a very nice question. Aren't you supposed to be polishing your manners?

She did point out that Victor might be able to play chess with Talos by letter, something Victor clearly wanted to do.

Victor: Where do I deliver a letter to take it to Talos?

Sophronia: Well, I could take it to him.

Victor gave her a paper he already had on him, with a chess move already written down. Nunzio said that it said "E4", but he and Josh then decided that, given the year was 1841, it would say "King 4".

Reginald asked if he could give Sophronia a letter for Talos, and she agreed.

Sophronia: Last call for the Official Talos Post.

Alice: I don't see a particular reason to give him a letter. I'll send him my card.

GM: Talos is getting mail. Why does that seem so much more surreal than anything else?

Reginald (to Sophronia) It occurs to me that when your relatives get themselves in debt to faeries, bad things happen and trips to Mars need to be taken.

Sophronia tried to defend Merrill, while simultaneously acknowledging his flaws, but noted that Talos didn't necessarily share them. After all, Talos was quite smart.

Sophronia: Not that my father isn't -smart-.

Reginald: Sensible?

Sophronia: I was going for better at life, but sure. Sensible.

Reginald: That's ironic.

Victor remained (properly) suspicious of Talos. After all, why is Talos unwilling to meet him?

Reginald: We do have a reputation.

Sophronia: For, you know, knocking things over and setting things on fire.

Victor: All those things deserved it!

Sophronia: But you understand, from an outside perspective, that might not be immediately obvious.

Alice delivered the first item from Mars, a piece of a shattered beacon, to Lady Miriam of the fae.

Then, the group went off to Shelborough to attend a wedding, as I borrowed the prologue scenario from Chaosium's Terror from the Skies. Abigail swept up Alice and Sophronia and went to buy far too much honey from a local widow in the interest of establishing good relations with the village. After all, she and her fiance didn't really know the town. They were settling on land that his family owned.

Victor and Reginald went around asking questions and collecting rumors, and everyone met for breakfast where Alice reported having horrible nightmares about giant Martian tree monsters attacking the wedding. Well, less giant than they would have been on Mars, and green instead of red, but definitely monstrous, not the tame tree shepherds from her past life. The bride had also had nightmares, which she was sure were mere pre-wedding jitters. Yes, the same ones, about tree monsters attacking the wedding and eating everyone. Bartholomew Ford had had them too. Folks were pretty sure that the groom had also had them, but Victor had been a bit too abrasive asking him about that. Reginald stayed behind to do some damage control.

I forget the context, but somewhere around here was this bit of dialogue:

To less drinking!

No! To more drinking!

That evening, Reginald decided it was time for some fun.

Reginald: Sophronia, how impulsive are you feeling this evening?

Alice: I'm sure no more impulsive than usual.

Reginald and Sophronia went out to play tricks on the local sheep. An unnatural fog rolled in, and Sophronia got lost for a moment. Then Reginald found her, to both their relief.

Reginald: This doesn't smell quite right

Sophronia: Does fog smell right?

Reginald: Generally, yes.

Sophronia: Maybe it's because we're not in London.

Reginald: I am familiar with the scent of fog on six continents.

I did ask about the disposition of the sheep.

Sophronia: We put the sheep back. Bye-bye toys!

Reginald: She's not scatterbrained. She's the sensible one. We decided this.

Victor: We did?

Reginald: She and I did.

Victor: That I believe.

The bride urged her friends to keep quiet about her nightmares, not realizing others had had them as well.

Abigail: Oh, don't tell Isaac. He'll just worry.

Folks were happy to agree.

By now, Our Heroes had talked to the locals in the pub, the single policeman for the town, and the new reverend. The new reverend knew nothing about any curse, but was looking forward to performing the first wedding at his posting. The rest of the locals knew the stories about the church being cursed and weddings either a) being entered into out of necessity, rather than love or b) being cancelled at the last minute and followed by tragedy. The pattern was that each new reverend would start out doing marriages, or trying to, and then stop, arranging for his parishoners to get married elsewhere. Funerals always went very smoothly.

There was an odd plaque in the church. Correlating gravestones and church archives, Victor figured out that the plaque's inscription referred to four particular gravestones which had no corresponding record. These had been defaced right before the one successful happy wedding. After, they'd been sent for repairs, to a mason in a town further away than one might expect. The proprietor of the stoneworks had been a boy, but remembered that the man who worked on the repairs was never quite right afterwards, and that his father thought that the workshop felt odd when the stones were there. He also found the receipt, which, while countersigned by the reverend at the time, showed that the person asking for repairs had used an obviously fake name. After the gravestones had been repaired and replaced, the happily married couple and the family of the best man hastily moved out of town.

Reginald asked Alice to use her power to dig up the four graves.

Alice: To have all of your digging done by a delicate young lady. Fine.

Reginald: You could go and have drinks with the night watchman.

Alice decided she'd rather do the digging. No coffins were found, and no bodies had been buried, but the soil was very easy to move, and bones easy to find. The bodies that had been buried in the church cemetery decayed faster than they should. Also, the four tombstones had a design of what looked like a beehive surrounded by a ring of people, but which Alice recognized as personal Martian fliers.

Reginald went to check out the honey, but there was nothing wrong with it. It was just that, after the initial four stones with the design were placed, other folks decided to use the design, and some widow decided to sell honey because of that, and it became a tradition that widows who needed to make ends meet would sell honey.

Victor got the old reverend's address from the new reverend, and went to visit him. (In the scenario as written, distances matter, as the clock is ticking down to the wedding. In the scenario as I ran it, with three PCs flying and Victor having superspeed, it just wasn't a factor.) The old reverend learned what he was there for and immediately invited him in.

Kristin: Oh dear -- we don't get that reaction as often as we ought.

The old reverend didn't know any details about the curse, and theoretically didn't believe in it. But, he did know that weddings of happy couples were invariably cancelled and followed by tragedy. Indeed, one wedding party tried an exorcism. He wasn't present for that, as he didn't hold with it. The entire wedding party and exorcist were never heard from again. Funerals always went surprisingly well. The reverend felt guilty, as he knew this was something he should have done something about, but he had no idea what to do.

By now, Our Heroes did. Victor had found an old man who knew a legend I had invented to tie the adventure more into my Martian arc. The curse had started around 1758, when a man who wanted a woman who preferred another suitor called down demons to curse the church. The demons were actually Martians, but the man, probably part of a cult -- or, if not, probably the founder of a cult -- didn't know that. I'd forgotten the rest of what I'd decided, so when Josh asked if pursuing this further were a dead end, I said that it was. I've no interest wasting player time, as opposed to character time. Later, I remembered the rest of what I'd decided, but I could easily do an infodump without backing up.

Right now, though, it was clear that the four stones were somehow anchoring the curse and needed to be destroyed, not merely defaced. Our Heroes returned to the graveyard.

GM: Did you actually clean up after yourselves last night? Or did you leave a mess where the four gravestones were?

Sophronia: We were tidy. We were very tidy.

Reginald: Let me try a trick that I know.

Alice: I can show you one!

Reginald wanted to use dolphin sonar, but I think folks decided that was too complicated. Regardless, the stones were dug up and smashed. Inside each of them was a Martian crystal.

Alice (sarcastically): Oh good, another crystal.

Reginald: You should really get them nicely set for the season.

Josh asked if one of the crystals could be the second of three Martian items given to the fae. I agreed, but said that third needed to be something that wasn't a crystal or something like one.

By now, between what they'd discovered and various Occult rolls, Our Heroes learned that removing the curse required two things. The first was the destruction of the gravestones, which had been accomplished. The second was a happy wedding successfully taking place inside the church. Fortunately, one just happened to be scheduled in just a few days.

This left the question of whether Martian Tree Monsters would attack. Going by the book, the answer would be no, but I wasn't asking the book.

GM: Do we want a tree monster?

Josh: Yes!!

GM (checking the clock)L Might I suggest we wait until next session for the tree monster battle?

Folks agreed, and suggested that the tree monsters would have to be stopped without the bride and groom noticing there was a problem.

Sophronia: Because they have to be HAPPY! Are you happy when tree monsters attack?

Alice: We are.

Sophronia: We're special.

Reginald's Letter to Talos

A letter from Reginald to Talos (delivered by Sophonia (Reginald hopes))

My Dear Mr. Slodowy,

I hope this letter finds you well. I imagine that you will be reading my words with more than a bit of skepticism, with which I can sympathize.

Nevertheless, I hope that you will come to understand that, while I disagree with some of the beliefs I expect that you hold, I am sympathetic to many of your goals, to a degree that might surprise you. I hope that we will have an opportunity to exchange ideas in a peaceful manner. I would prefer to do so in person, but I would be more than willing to correspond by mail for the time being if you would prefer.

In addition, it appears that you and I will be relatives in the not too distant future. For that reason alone, I would very much like to get to know you better. Please be assured, you and my dear Ms. Wilkinson will not be the strangest individuals to be welcomed into my family.

Sincerely, Gregory Sage