
| The Chronicle - Atlanta Under Siege The First Session played on 1997-01-11
Settings: Bass High, Antebellum Mansion, Susie’s Bar and Pool-hall. Cast: Daniel DuBois, Susie, Miss Baglady and eventually Sarah Chandler. The first session of play would be focused on introducing the players to the different fractions playing in the political game. The Renegade recruiter and mentor Daniel DeBuis should send them out to check a couple of strange events reported by independent renegades going on in a nearby old Antebellum mansion and later on go check on Susie and her bar. The reason why the players should travel a couple of blocks away from their base Bass High to the mansion is simple to build a certain feeling of the dark and decaying gothic Shadowland and of course for the players to get to know their characters since it is their first time of play, with exception the Prelude. The short walk to the mansion shouldn’t be a problem unless they do something terrible stupid and if they would a Hierarchy patrol would must certainly take them in for questioning and make them swear the Oath to Stygia and meet an Anacreon of the precise jurisdiction the character falls under. Well at the mansion they should discover it completely abandoned, but in the cellar if they can get down there since there are no stairs nor any ladders available to their service, the should find a black whirlpool. The whirlpool is a Nihil leading straight to the Tempest. This Nihil is unreported to the Hierarchy and no other fraction knows about it. After they have found the Nihil, of course with no knowledge with it was, they might head back and report what they saw and they will get an explanation by DuBois what they have seen and how dangerous it was. He will mention something about Spectres and other hideous creatures, then he’ll rush out to seek up someone. Even if he is a renegade recruiter and terrible fanatic about the Hierarchy’s fall he will inform them about it and earn an Oboli for it. The following day guards will be placed there to fight eventual Spectres.
Whether or not the players head back to Bass High and report what they have seen they would most probably head to Susie’s Bar and Pool-hall where they will meet some of the local wraiths. Of course will they meet Susie, who will chock them since she is naked and a very fat woman. Inside the joint there is a band currently playing a sad song with the use of Keening and other skills. Susie have no other intention that to just say hello to the new handsome guys in town and try to hit on them. Perhaps one or two of them are able to play some music and might trade some information for it. Since one of the characters are murdered by his wife and his lover after they had taken away the brakes on his car which eventually killed him. This falls under the jurisdiction of the Anacreon of The Emerald Legion, Sarah Chandler, who’ll approach him and try to recruit him to the Emerald Legion, whether or not this is successful the player get an opportunity to meet an Anacreon and perhaps make a powerful friend or enemy, who knows?! Along with the one to one roleplaying between the Player and the Storyteller, the Shadow could get a chance to be extremely active and try to trick the host into doing something he will regret. This Chronicle isn’t really a Shadow versus Psyche kind of a chronicle but will of course have such ingredients.
Scene Three - Susie’s Bar and Pool-hall.
Scene Four - Reporting to Daniel DeBois. |
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The Third Session played on 1997-01-25 Chapter Two - A sense of Oblivion The second session or the second chapter will revolve much around the Shadow and its powers since the first session had a lot of shadow-playing, perhaps a little too much, I don’t know. Since it was the first session all the characters must correct and adapt their personalities to the rest of the troupe. There are especially two characters who overplayed their driving passions into becoming a hard work for the rest of the troupe. Instead of just telling them straight out that their roleplaying might disturb others I’ve decided to use the Shadow. The characters Shadow has a passion to command people into doing whatever he wants them to do, this of course could develop to a nasty dark passion which will increase the Shadows influence and will eventually control the character. The players will also face a dilemma which I’ll present to them. After a minor incident the greedy characters will take two pairs of Stygian chains by two members of a Heretic cult after both the Hierarchys and Heretics have been killed. Since its highly illegal to possess such chains and due to their high value on the black market, they will be hunted if they show themselves with the chains, both by Hierarchy, Renegades and Heretics. They are in the middle of a situation most tricky to solve. Whatever they do will make them enemies to another group. The second chapter should be more or less a character driven one, where a dilemma is presented and they have to solve it one way or another. Meanwhile they try to solve their problem one of the characters will have his Shadow increase in power and everything should be a mess. The Players are still in the first phase of a new chronicle which means they have to meet a lot of people, get to know different fractions and learn who is friend or foe. I believe in meeting a few persons each session instead of presenting them at once in some way or another. The characters should establish connections between the persons they meet, and its important to make each meeting memorable. The second chapter should be an excellent opportunity to present different Hierarchy characters or Heretic characters, such as Jameson and Denzil. Jameson wants no trouble but will act with great suspicion and Denzil will try to befriend the characters to later betray them and trap them into doing something they’ll regret. Scene One - Shoot-out in the middle of the street. Setting: At some street empty with people. Cast: Two persons sent by Taylor and two by the Hierarchy. The first scene is somewhat of a prelude to the dilemma which will be presented. Here the characters will witness a car-chase which will result in a brutal struggle among two Heretics and two Hierarchy Legionnaires. The incident takes place in the real world since the Heretics and Hierarchys skinride. The Heretics skinride two white persons dressed rather fashionable traveling via a red lotus and the Hierarchys skinride two cops dressed in civilian clothes pursuing them in a black Lincoln town car. The sports car will crash and a resulting gunfight between them. The wraiths will step out of their puppets and continue the battle. Eventually all dies and left on the ground is a pair of Stygian Chains. The sounds of sirens approach and the two car wrecks burn a little. If the characters will investigate the scene too long the police will arrive and with the police the Hierarchy Legionnaires. They must run rather than hide. Goal: To introduce an incident which looks like nothing to the players but will in a short period of time escalate to a serious and difficult dilemma.
Scene Two - Wanted dead or alive!
Scene Three - Lets go and do somethin’ about that Shadow of yours!
Scene Four - Friend or Foe?
Scene Five - What will the King say about that…
Aftermath
A possible intrigue to link one of the characters background to the chronicle would be to Involve Mike Randall and his murdered girlfriend. What would happen if he suddenly notice a couple of persons and among them his girlfriend. This could be an excellent opportunity to exploit one of his passions and thus help him increase his pathos, which have been quite a problem to gain.
The Cult, The Ensemble of Enki
The cult is not seen as a potential threat to the Hierarchy and much of this attitude is based on their lack of evidence and information on what the cult is actually doing. A possibility for the characters is to befriend the cult and collect evidence that will stand in a Stygian Court to later betray them and earn prestige among the Hierarchy, this of course is just one possible outcome. The cult has no prestige whatsoever among wraith society but is known by the more occult heretic cults such as The Followers of Samedi. The cult also got some connections to The Klan but all the Cults members doesn’t quite share The Klans view upon things.
The Members of The Ensemble of Enki
Chaplain Marcus Vortrotter |