September 21, 2016

Finale of Dracula Dossier 1940

I wanted this session to be cathartic and have all the action we'd been missing. To that end, we set up TFFBs (even if it took me a while to figure out exactly what we were doing (TFFBs or TTTBs) and how, and I handed everyone 3 poker chips each to represent the various pools.

The Pools:

• Reassurance -) Infiltrate
• Tradecraft -) General Team Pool
• Military Science -) Preparedness
• Pharmacy -) Disguise
• Electronic Surveillance -) Sense Trouble

I also told folks we'd start in medias res and to feel free to do flashbacks as desired.

Quotes whose context I don't recall:

Joyce: Yes, I know. I've been to India.

Joyce: Vito did you give him a .38 for his first gun? Everyone knows you give him a shoulder gun for his first gun.

Vito: You know that Martin's getting notes on all these shenanigans, right?

That last is potentially plot creating, as Martin is a PC not currently being played, a Source of Stability, and a person who has reason to want a means of immortality.

Our heroes and heroines were inside Fort Jilava, in a secret section. A bald man was strapped to a table with tubes running between him and several children strapped to other tables. The tubes were full of blood. At first, folks thought that the children were being drained by a vampire, but they eventually realized that the blood flow was going the other way.

Another table in the room held a black rock. Now, originally, I figured that this, the rock that had been called the heart of Queen Marie of Romania, was completely separate from the rock that Dracula had claimed Edom stole from him. Currently, I'm not sure. I'll review timelines when it becomes relevant, but it seems to me that if I can collapse two rocks into one, I should.

DOES ANYONE RECALL IF THE OTHER TABLES HELD THE REMNANTS OF CODREANU AND HIS 13 FELLOW MARTYRS?

There were also children and some adults being held prisoner in a room off the large one with the tables.

As for those who were neither prisoners nor PCs, there were scientist types and soldier types. Some of the soldiers were Romanian, others German. And, persons of particular interest included:

1. Baron Vordenburg
2. Major Doering
3. A young Romanian man who seemed to be learning what was going on with growing horrow
4. Father Andrei, aka The Angel, aka Abraham Van Helsing, aka Edward Kelley

The first three of these had bodyguards. The fourth was theoretically on the PCs' side, and was on a balcony overlooking the scene.

Vito's player thought that the rock should be put into a box with an elder sign on it. He suggested that Vito might have learned how to cast the spell, which made no sense to me. So, he suggested that perhaps Martin, his Source of Stability, who most certainly did know how to cast the spell, had made the box. That (plus a Preparedness Spend and roll) made more sense to me, as my issue wasn't with the box, but with the idea of Vito de Genarra as mythos sorcerer.

< Flashback >

Martin: Vito, take this. I have a feeling you're going to need it.

< /End Flashback >

Vito: Guess what? Marty gave us a present.

Joyce: Martin gives you a lot of presents.

At this point, folks noticed that their watches had stopped, and all of Hedy's electronics had stopped.

Joyce shot at Vordenburg. Vito relied on Stealth, planning to tke out Doering. Quimby ran interference for Dexter, who was moving to steal the stone. Hedy waited to see what would be most useful for her to do. Van Helsing began chanting.

As for Isabella, she recognized the young man as none other than King Michael of Romania. She got close to him, disguised as one of the nurses, and quickly filled him in on the basics, e. g., that she and her comrades were as appalled as he was and that they would be doing something about it, so he should be prepared to make a hasty exit.

The young king did just that. Quimby continued running interference, which included shooting at people. Isabella pulled a tarp off a very large water tank and through it over Major Doering, who was being garrotted by Vito. Dexter ran towards the kids in danger, overseeing freeing them, and then freeing the other prisoners.

Joyce continued to shoot at Vordenburg. She had taken up a good sniper's position on the balcony, and blew off his head. This did not seem to kill him, however, and his bodyguards seemed even more annoyingly hard to kill. She did take out the man strapped to the table.

Van Helsing's chanting summoned -- or perhaps released -- a shoggoth, and folks beat a hasty retreat. Then, there was rumbling in the earth, and those who foolishly looked back saw a vast, tentacled creature rising from the earth and attacking Fort Jilava.

The retreat continued, involving a car or two, and I think a horse or two, with Quimby less than agile on one of them. At the border crossing, folks had less trouble than one might expect, as they had the king of Romania with them. They were also met by one Christopher Lee of the RAF, who had been working to make sure there was a plane available to them for their extraction.

Pre-epilogue Loose Ends Wrap Up

King Michael intended to do his best to fight Iron Guard and Nazi vampire programs. Dexter decided to give or sell Castle Iulia Hasdeau to the king. Quimby filched the stone from Vito's case.

Dracula agreed with Joyce that he should go back to sleep, but also agreed that, especially as the group had helped free the Roma prisoners, he would give the Allies some help. If anyone thinks of a logical target in Romania that Dracula could take out (preferably one that doesn't involve too much rewriting of known history), let me know, and that's what he'll have done.

Hedy had made recordings of what the Germans and Romanians were saying to each other in Fort Jilava about what was going on -- at least until the electronics went on the fritz. And, Isabella was listenting. The others might well have overheard some of this as well. The full background went like this:

After the infamous wife-swapping incident with Dee and Kelley, Dee's wife gave birth to Theodorus Trebonianus Dee. This was an occult birth, and involved not merely wife-swapping, but also a mandrake root. At least, that's what Dee said it was.

Now, officially, Theodorus Trebonianus Dee died at about thirteen years of age. Unofficially, Sir John Dee created a spy network to deal with mystical threats to his country. This was a precursor of Edom. And, Theodorus Trebonianus was, of course, a part of this organization -- until he went rogue.

Sir John Dee, who had made use of vampires before, sent Varney after Theodorus Trebonianus. Edward Kelley, who considered himself Theodorus Trebonianus's true father was there. Theodorus Trebonianus destroyed Varney and hypnotized Edward Kelley, making Kelley believe that he was dead as well. Thus, Sir John Dee thought that the mission had succeeded, albeit at a cost, and was satisfied.

Theodorus Trebonianus had gone to the Scholomance to study, but had gotten kicked out. He wasn't sure why. He had, however, seen Dracula's lab notes about how Dracula became a vampire. That book was probably Le Dragon Noir.

Theodorus Trebonianus then became Baron Vordenburg and experimented in the creation of vampires. While no vampire himself, he created Carmilla. She's not as powerful as Dracula, of course, or as knowledgeable. She turned Iulia Hasdeau, who was exactly her type, and had been in Romania before folks woke Dracula. I think she probably fled shortly after and because Dracula was awakened by the group. The memories of what happened in England in 1894 are still fairly fresh in her mind.

Regardless, she and Iulia were working with Queen Helen, the mother of King Michael, and with the Iron Guard. Iulia and Queen Helen wanted to resurrect Codreanu and his followers using the item known as the Heart of Queen Marie.

Queen Helen had been opposed by her husband's mistress, Lupescu, who had used her influence to make sure that Codreanu and his followers were killed and buried under a lot of concrete. Lupescu was part of the organization Liesl had created in Palestine, or at least had indirect ties to it. She'd had to flee with King Michael's father, King Carol II, who was basically a pawn in all of this secret maneuvering. But, Lupescu had left her diary and her icon collection behind, and Dexter had discovered both. The massacre at Fort Jilava before the group arrived was doubtless connected to the exhumation of Codreanu and his followers.

The Iron Guard was working with the German organization known as MINA. Sadly, this group had fallen from what it used to be, or at least from what it had claimed to be in 1894. Frank Braun, a 16-year-old in 1894, had spoken with Sir John Dee when Dee was possessing George Stoker and learned about Theodorus Trebonianus. He went back to Germany and convinced MINA to try to duplicate the experiment, and the result was Alraune.

However, Alraune was either too destructive or too out of control or both, so MINA decided to destroy her. Frank Braun helped her fake her death, as the two had gotten attached. Unfortunately, MINA discovered this and captured Frank Braun, using him for vampire experiments. In other words, Frank was turned into Orlock.

Alraune tried to get Joyce-as-Joshua to rescue Frank, and is likely not pleased that Frank wound up very, very dead. That said, it meant that the children who received some of Orlock's blood are not going to become vampires.

MINA had become a sort of guardian / employer of Kelley / Van Helsing, imprisoning him in an asylum except when they had need of him. He'd escaped after receiving Liesl's telegram in 1894, but had since been recaptured and brought to Romania. He escaped and, never particularly sane to begin with, had decided that what children could be saved should be, but the evil he had seen must be brought down, regardless of the cost. Hence, he summoned a shoggoth to kill everyone.

One thing I forgot there was that he should have seen Baron Vordenburg / Theodorus Trebonianus Dee and recognized the man as his supposedly dead son. Perhaps he never got a clear look. He was, after all, focused on summoning a shoggoth. Perhaps there's a post-hypnotic command keeping him from recognizing his son. I'll figure it out if it comes up again later.

The baron was meeting not only with the Iron Guard, but with Major Doering, a specialist in Romanian railway communications. Doering was a member of MINA and also a specialist in telluric energy. The idea I had was that this was a sort of three party summit to exchange occult information and plans.

Both the baron and the major had certain safeguards against vampires. The major was protected at a cost, though, some kind of artifact or amulet that emitted counter-telluric radiation, but was also slowly killing him. It is possible that MINA would have found a way to save him, but Vito killed the major first, and then he and his amulet were destroyed in the carnage wrought by the group, the shoggoth, and the chthonian.

As for the baron's safeguard, he had continued experimenting and turned some people into what are called or will be called zalozhniy. Basically, they're killed before their proper time and raised with a complicated ritual. They're fast, and they create a field a little like the major's, but without the radiation. However, that's why the clocks and electronics stopped. Zalozhniy are nigh indestructible -- their Achilles Heel is the way they died before. Recreate the wound that killed them, and they will die for good.

The baron himself, though, had done what some would call removing his heart and placing it inside an egg in a duck in a pig et cetera. In reality, he had done something involving the zalozhniy. He hadn't gone into detail, but words like "telluric" and "fields" were slung about.

So, Major Doering is very, very dead. Frank Braun is very dead, and Alraune is displeased about that. How her girlfriend, Sarah Quarrie, feels about all of that is an interesting question.

Kelley's fate is unknown. Baron Vordenburg / Theodorus Trebonianus Dee is still alive, despite having had his brains blown out by Joyce. He will recover. His zalozhniy bodyguards are likewise still alive.

Epilogue

My notes say that Vito said to Isabella, "Careful with those shoggoths." I have no idea of the context of this.

Regardless, Vito returned to the USA, but was mobilized again. He spoke with Douglas Henslowe, a man who'd helped fight the mythos with him for years (and with others some time before that) in OSS HQ.

Vito: Pearl Harbor has just been bombed -- America has entered the war.

He was also spoke against using Certain Tactics except in direst need.

Major de Genarra: Exotic assets have an exceedingly strong corrupting influence on those who use it. They alter the character of people who use them and drive people mad.

Isabella Hildescheim, granddaughter of Immanuel Hildescheim (who was Jonathan Harker) and Liesl's cousin, returned to Palestine and was last seen annotating the Dracula Dossier in Hebrew.

Joyce was in a 1942 propaganda film made in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, featuring a women's brigade. She waved at the camera.

Hedy's player said that if Joyce were to ask Hedy to follow her, Hedy would. She'd been touched and flattered by Joyce's attention and obvious interest.

So, the camera turned to Hedy who shrugged at the camera, a sort of comedic "can't help myself -- who could?" shrug, and followed Joyce off into the sunset.

While both will return in "The Carmilla Sanction", I raised the question of Hedy eventually touring the solar system in a brain jar, and the player liked that. Heck, we all figured it explained a fair bit about Hedy Lamarr's later life.

Dexter, whose drive was Curiosity, sent Dracula the reels of the Bela Lugosi movie. Dracula watched it in his castle (which still has Hedy Lamarr's begcone, despite the castle being in interdimensional space), having somehow acquired a movie projector.

The last still was not the movie, but rather, a shot of the PI's business card, with a note that read: If you have time... write me!

As Carmilla had bitten Dexter, he is not getting recruited for "The Carmilla Sanction", and the player had already figured she might sit this one out. I sounded her out about helping me co-gm this one, which would have been an interesting experiment, but she declined. It may be as well to have a feeling for how a relatively "normal" NBA scenario goes.

The final shot was of Quimby, sitting outside the office of his Edom superior, Sebastian Wimsey. He had in his briefcase both his report and the stone he had filched, thanks to his MOS. And, he had a decision to make.

Quimby Voice Over as he sits flicking his grandfather's lighter: I could give both to Sebastian... or just the report... both or the report... both... or just the report...

Flick. Flick. Flick.

[Roll Credits]

Miscellaneous Notes

Dracula was fairly low key here, and it's interesting watching what people projected onto him. It's also a little frustrating, particularly when PCs from the 1940 leg either assume that the novel is utterly accurate even after PC and player have been told it's not, or seem to believe precisely what their 1894 PC believed, without having access to the blow by blow of their thoughts or the campaign.

Between the 1940 leg and the 1894 leg, I am now inclined to be VERY cautious about allowing a PC to fall in any way under the power of a vampire. The problem is that this removes agency from the player, who generally decided that, to the degree the PC has volition, he will isolate himself from any information or action that might jeopardize his companions. This is a sensible choice, but it means that the player has very little to do.

There are ways to make this work, of course, but I'd need to have a better grasp on the system and of what I'm doing for any particular instance. Also, the group is large enough that things fall between the cracks, and that bites folks with compromised PCs especially hard.

The 1940 leg was harder to run than the 1894 leg, as I didn't have the plot of Dracula to fall back on. Folks had a mission to do, and no one knew what it was. This made it hard for them to figure out what to do and hard for me to figure out how to guide them. I think it would have been very helpful to have more detail about a) what the actual goal was for the mission, including exactly what Edom was hoping Dracula would do and b) exactly what the Official group, i. e., the one whose adventures are tantalizingly glimpsed in the annotations to the Dracula Dossier, did and suffered.

The 1948 leg will be interesting because I will be using a specific adventure, "The Carmilla Sanction". Folks know their mission, and I know what default resources I have. It's less likely that we'll get a character saying, with more than a little justification, "Why are we here? Things have gone way south. Time to get out!" Yes, the player was very good about letting the character get talked out of leaving, and there were the Drives, but I prefer it when the situation doesn't make bugging out the most sensible course of action.