TURNS OUT THIS WAS A SILLY ONE AND I DIDN’T THINK IT WOULD BE
Ursa, Merlin and Nora head down the street and into the city proper, to find that curfew is coming fast and anyone who’s still out is in danger. Merlin Messages the cyclist who’d just passed them and is told there’s a hotel a few blocks away.
When Ursa tries to get maps up on her phone, instead she just gets a little pop-up from an Evil Puppet, who tells Merlin that he’s going to eat his dad. Merlin says that’s what his Mum does, and the puppet is grossed out and leaves.
The sun fully sets, and as it does it literally starts raining murderous puppets.
They sprint to the hotel, which turns out to be a quaint and suspicious B&B, complete with cosy fire, rustic vibes, and a suspicious old woman at the desk.
She’s weird and contradictory when asked questions. She says the rooms clean themselves, and when asked what breakfast will be she’s like ‘we don’t have breakfast’. When it’s pointed out that the sign said ‘bed and breakfast’, she says ‘……….eggs’.
It’s 200 dollars for the room. Nora actually got cash, luckily, because Merlin’s card doesn’t work as his bank doesn’t exist here. The old lady tells them a bit about the ‘horrible forces’ that rule the world, and how they got a lot more imaginative once they started importing movies from Fulcrum thanks to the power of plagiarism. Hence the puppets. Last month was clowns. The month before was pale japanese women.
Since they’re suspicious, Ursa tries to get a read on the old woman – she’s named Ethyl, and she’s definitely up to something yes – and Nora uses her Eldritch Sight (after an initial vision of Morris when she activates it) to spot a strong Abjuration on the walls, windows, and doors, as well as Illusion around the woman herself and some Conjuration upstairs. Before moving, Ursa asks for a map.
Nevertheless, they go upstairs. The room is small and only has a single bed. There’s also a small tv, which they switch on. On it is the Evil Puppet from before, who introduces himself as ‘Evil Puppet’. Nora shortens it to EP.
Nora changes the channel a few times, and the Evil Puppet has to run to get back onscreen. He’s out of breath. It’s just cruel, is what it is.
EP basically says ‘hey, you’re obviously in danger. I’m here to help.’
‘Why would you help,’ asks Ursa. ‘You’re an evil puppet. What do you gain from that.’
EP says he unfortunately owes her fiance a favour or two, so he wants to help get him outta trouble. He hops back into the phone and vibrates it across the map, to show them where the slaughterhouse Alkahest was zapped to is. He also mentions that the wards on he doors will keep them in, so they’ll need to deal with the old lady.
Meanwhile, Merlin’s been poking about for secret passages and ends up revolving through a wall and vanishing. He ends up in a nasty, mouldy, run-down room, with no way back.
He does however message Nora, who attempts to open the same passage he did—and triggers a different one, falling through the floor to a cellar.
With Merlin walking down an endless corridor with only his phone for light (and a shadowspawn for protection), and with Nora exploring the cellar with a slowly rising water level, Ursa heads downstairs to try and confront the old woman.
She finds her ‘asleep’, but in trying to sneak past, Ethyl’s eyes open and Ursa sees the line of the lure on her head, anglerfish style, which pulls her back up into another part of the house. Ursa is left behind as the nearby door opens.
For each of our intrepid party members, they see a spooky nightmare!
Ursa sees zombie versions of her family members caught in the recent blast, Merlin sees his own body taken over by the Morris Worm. Nora sees Ella, taken over once more by the Mantle of the Auditor.
Nora’s the first to solve it; unable to fire the Mantlepiece at her sister (after some mild trauma over it in the past) and unwilling to pull on Warlock power after the recent vision of Morris, she simply closes her eyes and lets the vision wash away.
Above, Merlin attempts to simply walk away, sick of Morris’ pestering. But Morris looses a Witch Bolt at him, saying he can’t escape this, Morris is in his head! Merlin still, though, walks way, leaving the illusion behind.
At the entrance, Ursa too fights through the illusion. She knows her family can’t possibly be there, and even if they were they didn’t die in the explosion… so she just gives her (zombie) Dad a hug. This breaks the illusion with just enough time for her to see the old woman floating towards her, going ‘eeeeeeeeeee’.
But Merlin’s Shadowspawn and a shot from Nora’s Mantlepiece explode her.
‘I want my money back you bitch,’ says Nora. The house coughs up her $200.
Ursa steals the lockbox behind the counter too, and in it is $750 and a magic knife. Merlin wants it, and it turns out to be a Blade of the Medusa. It’s cursed. Sorry Merlin.
With the old woman exploded, her wards begin to fail, but they only do so juuuust as the sun comes up. A puppet comes through the catflap but explodes with the sunrise, so it’s fine.
Our group leaves, finding the world oddly cheery and active despite the whole curfew thing. There are a bunch of hot dog carts. They buy some, and find that the onions and ketchup almost disguise the fact that the sausage-inna-bun itself doesn’t actually taste of anything. They get a bit of coffee. It’s Caliber.
After an hour, they find themselves at the business park with the old, condemned slaughterhouse. This is where Alkahest and Panacea ended up.
Roll History 