21 October 20014 Session

Josh couldn't make this session, but as Kara had no reason to go to the MLP convention, that was all right.

Kelly had decided that she should talk to vampires from House Raith, as Audrey was from House Malvora. Folks had also discovered at some point that Audrey had given the tickets Jimmy gave to her to Ward and June Cleaver, visiting tourists she seemed to know. They seemed to be White Court vampires from House Skavis. She'd deflected questions from Bernard in earlier sessions on what all this magic stuff was.

Arthur was starting to find Audrey annoying.

Arthur: She has come across the one flaw in her plan: She has tried to use the city against Arthur!

I forget the context of this:

Someone, probably Arthur: ...unless baseball's much more scary than we thought.

Jimmy didn't quite get this My Little Pony thing. What team was Arthur on? Twilight Sparkle's? Okay. So... Bernard was singing an Apple Jack song? But, that was changing teams, right? It wasn't? How did that work?

I'd decided that there would be a ritual at the My Little Pony convention, but wasn't sure how to decide if / when folks rolled to see whether they figured this out or what kind of action it was. But, I didn't have to worry.

So, what song would be used for the ritual? After about twenty minutes of watching MLP songs on line -- ah, the sacrifices I make for my art -- I decided we had to go with Apple Jack's "Raise This Barn" song. Bernard did a huge song and dance number, with lots of Pony fans joining in. I asked what folks were doing.

Arthur was marching with Bernard. Jimmy was getting beer. Kelly was carefully looking for anything out of place.

That was a good enough reason to let the player roll. Kelly figured out that Bernard's musical number was clearly a kind of ritual, whether or not Bernard realized it.

Then, Bernard led people out of the convention center to Arthur's chagrin. They didn't have a permit! Well, okay, they weren't being disruptive. But... but... He'd volunteered to work security, so he couldn't go with them!

This was the player's idea, and I counted it as a self-compel. Arthur called to Jimmy, who'd joined the group.

Arthur: I gotta stay here -- at the convention center -- take photos!

Kelly joined as well. Bernard led folks onto the subway, to Brooklyn, and around the Clocktower Building. He took an apple from one of the fans costumed as Apple Jack, and Kelly realized that he was somehow taking energy from the building and putting it into the apple, using the crowd's energy (chrome only, as having lots of Weight Class 0 folks chanting along with one does absolutely nothing).

Jimmy took pictures. He told Bernard that they had to get back to the convention. Bernard nodded and led everyone back on the subway and back to the Roosevelt Hotel.

The hotel had been getting noise complaints about the convention, coming from Audrey Finch, despite the fact that there hadn't been an excessive amount of noise (especially after Bernard led everyone outside). But, she now launched an attack and we went to a three round contest (that's the right term, yes?) between her and Arthur. Was she going to be more hated or more feared?

Jimmy created an advantage for Arthur, a Zone of Quiet around him in the middle of the MLP convention. Audrey sent out email about budget cuts. I think at some point she created Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt, aka FUD, as an advantage, or at least I have something to that effect on a Post It note. We agreed that Austerity Politics and Power Transfer were fine world aspects to use in the conflict.

But, earlier, Kelly had done research on Audrey and had created the advantage: Finch's Past Doesn't Hold Up. I think she succeeded with style, as the Post-It note has two boxes, only one of which is filled in. Arthur sent out his own memos and blog posts and tweets, and won a victory in the first round.

We figured that Audrey might well counter with email that said, "I haven't decided where the cuts are coming from yet..."

I forget Arthur's counter, but I think he got the second round, and I think the third round went to her as he tried, unsuccessfully, to get folks to fill out some kind of form and email it in, I think complaining about Audrey.

Arthur: D*mn it! No one wants to do anything on a Friday after 4pm!

But, he triumphed in the next round. I may be blanking on some of the details here -- he may have only won two rounds, succeeding with Style in one of them.

Just as last time, I had not anticipated the conflict of the session would be Jimmy trying to resist Arthur's efforts to close down Chumley's, I had not anticipated that the conflict of this session would be the Battle of the Bureaucrats!

Arthur: This is great! It's 4:45, and I am filling out forms from a brony convention. This is the Best Day Ever!

Audrey Finch was more hated than feared.

Arthur: If she didn't notice me before, she notices me now!

I forget why Audrey called Kelly, but I offered Avram a Fate Point if she got Flustered in a way that was a set back. He took the point and figured she gave something away.

Kelly: Oh yeah? You -- You don't know about the Song of Erra!

There's a whole poem written about the Mesopotamian plague god, Erra, a god who was perhaps waking up and with whom Lord Rodent had thrown in his support. I think "Song of" was my mistke, but hey, perhaps in the game world, "Song of" really is part of the title of the poem. So, Audrey now understood more about what the group was trying to stop. As someone who fed on fear, naturally, she didn't want them stopping a plague.

Folks talked to Bernard. He claimed that he just sort of thought he should lead folks in that song, and get them to march down to the Brooklyn Clocktower. It just felt right. And he thought holding up an apple just, you know, made sense -- Apple Jack had apples, and hey, the apple was for the Big Apple, aka NYC, right?

After making sure that he hadn't been, even accidentally, trying to do mind control magic on the crowd, Kelly told him about the Laws of Magic, and folks filled him in on the secret world. He said he'd keep the apple safe and bring it to Liberty Island with him when they were ready to do the ritual. Of course, they still needed permits.

Someone: Permits -- the hardest part to get.

Kelly created an advantage: Researched the Occult History of the Clocktower Condo. She also searched it physically, finding a Damaged Orrery, which was likewise an Aspect. Jimmy reparied it, so the aspect changed. It was now Better than New.

I ruled that Kelly now knew all that her player had originally suggested about the Clocktower. Mechanically, "Researched the Ritual" became "I know how they did it!" with three free invokes, and notes:

• We're going to need to be in Liberty Island.
• Ideally in the torch.
• There might be competition.

As for the history, as Avram explained it to me, as the stars came right for the plague god to awaken, a ritual was done at the Clocktower to mess with Erra's time sense so that the god wouldn't realize the stars were right and would continue to sleep. The ritual involved They Might Be Giants playing one of their songs, "Older". It's rather creepy; see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdIRrmNN_CQ

Part of the material component of the ritual was in the basement of the Clocktower Building, so when Hurricane Sandy hit, it was damaged. The plague god was stirring.

Also, one side effect was that the Clocktower Building made people feel uneasy. Too many intimations of mortality. This is why the penthouse never sold and why Anne Hathaway sold the apartment she'd bought in the building without ever having spent a night in it.

Bernard had transferred the energy of that ritual into the apple, and bringing it to Liberty Island would no doubt help with the renewal of wards, including wards on the plague god, keeping Erra asleep.

Someone: They did the ritual in the Clocktower?

Someone else: They probably did it here cuz they didn't get permits for the statue.

Arthur wondered if they could buy Audrey off. She just wanted to create fear, right?

Arthur: Who do I know at Six Flags?

Kelly: I think she has her sights set a little bit higher.

Jimmy: Great clown!

Kelly recruited Jimmy to go with her to talk to someone from House Raith. This would probably involve a trip to the red light district.

I forget who said what here, but the conversation went like this:

Do we -have- a red light district?

Yeah.

Where?

On Craigslist.

A bit of research and Kelly knew where to find a party where at least one person from House Raith would be in attendance. I quickly statted up a House Raith woman, and went for an obvious name: Sindy.

Avram: She probably chose that name back when that sort of pun was considered cool.

I made that an Aspect.

Kelly convinced her that House Raith wouldn't enjoy things getting too scary in the city. It would be like the AIDS scare, which really puts a damper on parties, you know? James agreed to owe Sindy a favor in return for House Raith help.

Sindy agreed to help, and she also suggested that, seeing as how Jimmy was a Troll-Blooded Changeling from the Winter Court, and how plague actually fell under the auspices of the Summer Court, perhaps he could recruit some Winter Court help. James left a message for his Uncle Bash, a full troll.

Arthur decided to talk to Audrey directly, suggesting they go to dinner.

Audrey (as cold as when she asked Jimmy): Are you asking me on a date, Mr. Islay?

Arthur (blithe and cheerful): No, I don't date vampires.

They went to a place where there were some health code violations so that, I think, Audrey would be at home being able to scare people. They talked, neither changing their position. Audrey noted that as soon as Chumley's faced a serious threat, it got its act together. Arthur said that he liked her forthright approach.

The player said he wanted to create an Advantage. I asked what it would be. At first, Gaylord suggested Mutual Respect, but I noted that was a two edged sword. He decided to go for what he called "the worst possible" Aspect, taking this idea even further, to Budding Romance.

Someone: They've flirted -- sending each other forms.

I liked this, so I made the Difficulty something like 2, I think, given Gaylord started with -1. He invoked "I think I'm finally over Kara." After all, Kara hadn't been at the MLP convention, and indeed, hadn't been around when everyone was working on the project she herself had started.

I suggested "Tact is for liars" as the second Aspect, as Arthur had praised Audrey's direct approach. Gaylord hadn't realized it was fine to use a Trouble Aspect to help as well as to hurt one's PC.

And so, Arthur and Audrey found themselves looking at each other, suddenly awkward, as the Cleavers ate at a table off to the side. Arthur and Audrey hastily each excused themselves, saying they'd see each other at work the next day.

And, of course, Arthur expected her to be at Liberty Island.

Avram: If there's a lust vampire nearby, everything gets interesting.