22 September 2014 Session

The theme of this session was expressed by Kara.

Kara: So... Statue of Liberty?

Her priority was finding out what ritual needed to be done to renew the wards on Liberty Island.

Meanwhile, Jimmy looked at Vic's amulet and thought he might have seen something like it in Chinatown. Blowing a roll completely, he was utterly convinced that a particular store's particular trinket bin was full not of plastic junk, but of really cheap gold amulets, so he bought all of them. One of his friends pointed out his mistake when he showed his find.

The group went over to Liberty Island. I forget what prompted this: "Firearms? Absolutely not."

Kara is always armed, which was a bit awkward, but she took off her visible weapons and stashed them in her cab (which is also her horse, Mist).

Once folks were at the statue, Arthur had someone take a picture of the group, and a picture of him with Kara.

Arthur: I didn't know you were so interested in the Statue of Liberty.

Arthur became a self-appointed tour guide to another group of tourists. At least two of them, a nice older couple, Ward and June Cleaver, bought a couple of Jimmy's trinkets. Arthur gave them his business card and assured them that, yes, indeed, the flagpole on Liberty Island was Historic.

Someone noted that Liberty Island used to be an ammunition dump before WWI, and before folks realized that it could blow up. The things one learns from roleplaying...

Kelly tried to determine whether the ritual Kara was talking about needed to recreate the wards or just pull more power. I explained that the ritual needed to renew, not to recreate from scratch.

Kelly took dirt and grass from the island to help with the ritual. Jimmy noted that the interior of the statue needed some maintenance work, and folks realized that this would definitely help with the ritual. It was odd that the folks who should have been maintaining the statue hadn't been...

Someone said something about the ritual and freedom.

Kara: It isn't about that kind of freedom. It's about letting people in... Oh dear.

And someone quoted the "wretched refuse" bit. Given I was working the rat god and the plague god into things, this sounded suitably ominous.

I forget who asked this of whom: "You won't blow up a helicopter, right?" (I think it was Arthur asking Kara, who assured him that she wouldn't.)

Arthur started taking notes on what would be needed for the ritual. Obviously, permits for the, ah, religious ceremony of the, er, Druidic People. Yes. And it might be filmed for a reality show -- they'd need to do a night time shoot. And they'd need a Key Grip.

When folks came back from Liberty Island, I think Arthur contacted Dr. Fatima Yasmin, a friend of his who worked at the Met, asking her to look at the amulet. She studied it and said that it had an inscription, a prayer to Ninkilim, aka Lord Rodent. Arthur had taken the name "Ninkilim" and the sewer man's explanation that he was the Vessel of Ninkilim, and Arthur had dubbed the man "Vic Nim".

The amulet was gold, about 3 or 4 ounces worth (and I was told that gold currently goes for about $1,300 an ounce. As Dr. Yasmin noted, one would expect it to have a prayer that the rat god would either leave one's own fields and crops alone or attack an enemy's. But, this one prayed that the wearer might become a worthy vessel for Lord Rodent.

Some of the group wondered what to do with it.

Kelly: If you were cops, it would be easy -- we'd simply assume it wasn't his in the first place.

Arthur: So it already has his -name- on it. (Because he's dubbed the man "Vic Nim".)

Kara: Doesn't that mean we should -not- give it to him?

Arthur: What if when we got back to the mainland they didn't give you your weapons back?

Kara: That'd be okay -- they're in my car.

Arthur: Oh.

Kara: Now, if they stole my car, we'd have to talk -- and I'd have to talk to my car.

Arthur was adamant, however. The amulet was Vic's. Also, he got flowers and a Get Well card for the rat man. Jimmy signed it, and possibly Kelly did as well. It read: "Get Well Soon. Sorry you were trapped in a sewer."

Arthur: This is like the third time I did something like that.

Kelly took a rubbing of the amulet, and folks got photos of it as well.

Arthur, Jimmy, and I think Kelly, went to pay Vic a visit during or just after his therapy session. His therapist was Bernard Hamilton. He and Arthur were both My Little Pony fans with a bit of a frenemy vibe. My initial assumption was that they each had their own favorite character from the show, but I think Gaylord later said that they both liked the same character, but for Completely Different Reasons. Which character? We eventually went with Twilight Sparkle, though Josh thought Bernard should be more a fan of Nightmare Moon.

Bernard's office had a wall safe, and Arthur got him to put Vic's amulet in it, showing Vic and making sure Vic got a receipt for it. Folks hoped to get someone to teach Vic ASL, as his rat-like features made talking hard for him, but I pointed to one of the world aspects we'd created, Austerity Measures.

Jimmy created a writing machine for Vic instead, and Vic used it to talk, which included thanking people for their help. Someone gave him an appropriate head scarf to conceal his snout.

Arthur was confident that Vic could soon have his own place and Vic asked about rat pets, which is indeed legal in NYC.

Someone: This is weird.

Arthur: I did say he was in Bellevue.

Kara was brought up to date.

Kara: I'm gonna ha have to do some research on it.

Arthur: You're not going to have to kill anyone, are you?

Kara: No.

Arthur took folks to the Met. Kara went through some display or other of Viking arms.

Kara: Interesting... Interesting... Wait, That's a table.

Arthur: It says on the card --

Kara: Table. Table. Hair ornament. Farming implement -- not a weapon. Marital aid. Hey, I wonder if they deliberately mislabeled that one.

Kelly used her skills as a Mage Historian to create an advantage: Researched the Ritual. I assigned this a difficulty of 4. (I don't think we applied her Weight Class for Minor Practitioner. Was that correct of us? If one were to apply it, how would that even work?) Kelly also learned that there might be competition, as whoever did the ceremony to renew the wards on Liberty Island could change their parameters.

Jimmy, meanwhile, used his skills to create an advantage. He had the Materials on Hand to fix the damage inside the Statue of Liberty.

Arthur used the Careful approach, as, apparently, "being gentle is a form of being careful". He had been treating Vic with compassion and love, and created an advantage. He got a total of 5, and the advantage was Budding Friendship.

Arthur: I could use a roommate. It would cut my expenses in half.

So, his roommate would look like a Kaiju Rat.

Kelly: Oh, actually, we already have that -- they just disguise them as giant balloons.

And Arthur started working on the paperwork to get permission for a night ritual on Liberty Island at the appropriate time.

Arthur: Obviously, I can't help out with the ritual.

Kara: Actually, you can.

Arthur (clearly not seriously worried): Oh, am I the human sacrifice?

He was well aware that Kara was dangerous. Either he or Kelly noted that, since the reason the birds talk to Kara is because she ate either dragon meat or blood, she had obviously, at some time, either been involved in killing a dragon or been friends with one.

I sketched out a timeline for the game, deliberately planning the arc so it could complete during playtest period. Next session, I said, the players would tangle with the Austerity bureaucrat, whom we named Audrey Finch.

Someone (as Audrey): You want permits for WHAT??

But, that would be on Monday, it clearly having been Friday during the first session and Saturday-Sunday during the second. Gaylord noted that she probably worked for the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings, aka the OATH Tribunal. Reality is amazing.

There was some joke about Vic starting a meetup group, Ninkilim.nyc.

After Audrey, if I could work in a football game, I would (I didn't, not exactly), and there would definitely be the My Little Pony convention. It probably wasn't big enough to justify using the Javits Center, so it would probably be at the Roosevelt Hotel (where I attended small media conventions in the 1980s).

Arthur: So all my monies go to ponies and cab fare.

Jimmy (trying to understand MLP fandom): What game is it? Oh, I've got a jersey for that.

I noted "I've got a jersey for that" is a great aspect.

And, after the MLP convention, obviously, we'd have the ritual on Liberty Island.