The Chronicle - Atlanta Under Siege

First and Last and Always…

-Sisters of Mercy

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 concentrated to introduce the players to the different fractions playing the political game. The renegade recruited 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.

Inside the joint they will meet ‘Baglady’ as everybody around calls her. She carries with her a shopping cart filled with relic beercans, bottles, blankets and all the possible junk one can think of. Baglady doesn’t recall her real name, (or perhaps she doesn’t want to tell anyone), and she will be able to provide the players with a whole lot of information if they can stand her babbling about Christ, Redemption and the Holy Bible. There should be plenty of opportunities to dialogue and roleplaying which should be encouraged to the utter most degree. Of course should the Shadow concept be tried as well as the Arcanoi-powers they players posses. There is not direct action in the first Chapter but could be enhanced with some wicked Spectres hanging out in the basement of the old Antebellum mansion, not to many though since the players are new to the concept of Wraith and doesn’t quite know their potential.

Unavoidable would the travel in the Tempest be and there are plenty of good opportunities for the inventive Storyteller to describe hideous scenes and the cold, black sea which fills the Tempest. Inappropriate would to scare the heck out of the players the first time they venture the Tempest with hordes of Spectres, which could be used for a later purpose, unless of course the players clearly addresses that they want fight or want to see the powers of Spectres. (Use some of the basic templates of Shades available in Dark Reflections: Spectres)

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.

Chapter One - Venture the Unknown

Scene One - Class Room #408, Bass High.

Cast: The only one present is Daniel DeBois, the characters mentor and teacher.

Setting: Class room #408 at Bass High has a long history of arson and flooding. It was actually the first classroom at Bass High to be closed down due to an attempted arson by one of the students, when the fire department tried to save the school, the entire room was flooded by the water and the room was unable to use.

Scene Two - The Antebellum Mansion.

Cast: Spectres if needed. (see the Dark Reflections: Spectres)

Setting: The old antebellum mansion is a decaying old house dated 1851. It was populated during the 70s but when the owner Mr. and Mrs. Andersen ran out of money they had to sell the property. Now the property is a forgotten county property and have not been used since ’73 except for a couple of youngsters who tends to hangout here playing some wicked game involving blood drinking and mystic rituals. The truth is that the youngsters are Devil Worshipers and that by some who have made contacts to a Spectre who hangs out in the area.

The house it selves is a three story, if you count the attic, Antebellum mansion painted in white with blue knots. The paint has almost disappeared in the shadow land and the building looks like it was made out of rotting wood. The inside is a mess filled with old junk. All the stairs are completely rotten and it is impossible to get downstairs and upstairs since the stairs are completely gone rotten. The sub-level could be reached by jumping but there will be problems getting up. Its 15 feet to the entrance level. The entrance level got four rooms and one kitchen, all the bedrooms are situated on the top-floor. There are no objects of value except for an old torn painting laying around on the attic dating 1861 and is a portray of a Civil War officer from the Confederacy. Treat this painting as a relic.

The cellar is an empty one single room. In the middle of the room is a 5’ x 5’ black whirlpool which gives the storm sound when standing next to it. Treat it as a Nihil leading directly to the tempest. If the players beg for it you could throw out a Spectre though no Shade.

Goal: Find the Nihil and report it to someone most likely Daniel Debois, which will report it to the Hierarchy and earn an Oboli.

Scene Three - Susie’s Bar and Pool-hall.

Cast: Susie, The playing band, Jessie (the baglady) and perhaps some local wraiths out of choice.

Setting: This closed joint was once a Bar and a pool-hall. Today it is closed and nailed shut with planks over the widows and is completely dried from liquors. Inside the players will meet Susie, the fat naked lady who tries to hit on them calling them Honey and Sweetheart who just want to say Hi to them. From the outside you can hear sweet clean Dixieland jazz and inside they can witness the band playing. Perhaps one or two of the players might be able to play and join them, at least Susie would appreciate this. Here the players can hangout and talk to some of the local wraiths, perhaps hear a few rumor or two, "The Hierarchy will search every haunt in order to find those not registered and they will for sure be violent!" and hear some gossip about the Hearse Riders as someone calls them.

Goal: Meet some of the locals, and perhaps adapt the Bar as a hangout as many other locals have.

Scene Four - Reporting to Daniel DeBois.

Cast: Daniel DeBois

Setting: Bass High class room #408 on the fourth floor. Here the players will just have a simple lecture by DeBois when the tell him about what they saw.

Goal: The goal is simply to learn the baby-wraiths about the Shadowlands and what they might encounter, thus increase their knowledge.

Aftermath

When it comes to rewarding experience points, emphasize on the roleplaying category one to two points for acting out concept well and perhaps extraordinary roleplaying. One point automatic and one for learning curve. No point should be awarded for danger since they have not experienced any danger and if they have it is their foolishness that have brought they into such situation and foolishness should not be awarded. Grand total of 4 experience points.

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!

Setting: All over Atlanta if the Character so desire.

Cast: Sylvie, Denzil Taylor, Jameson, Jesse, Susie, Daniel DeBois among many.

This scene is free form all trough and therefore gives many opportunities to meet new wraiths and non player characters. It all depends on the players but it is important to build a certain mood of insecurity and paranoia. The players will be hunted as soon as they mention or show the chains to anyone they have or have not met. It could be a good idea to trick the players to mention the chains to someone and put them into a forced interaction with either of the several groups. Let Sylvie help them out of such a tricky situation and let her teach them one or two things. Sylvie won’t tell anyone about the chains of they put their trust in her.

Goal: Success is of course survival, but there is a more deeper meaning of this scene, the introduction of new characters whether they become enemies or friends.

Scene Three - Lets go and do somethin’ about that Shadow of yours!

Setting: No particular, it is run during the entire session and further.

Cast: Sylvie

This scene is not really a scene, but a change in one of the character Shadow which will eventually lead to an increase in the Shadow. The Shadow will take over the character, perhaps more than once, and it is a good idea to form the host of the Shadow. Sylvie will play a very important role here and it is good if Sylvie could be trusted thus enable to form the hosts personality.

Goal: Strictly to form a players personality since it bothers the other players. No offense!

Scene Four - Friend or Foe?

Setting: One of The Church of Unholy Ecstasy’s haunts.

Cast: Denzil Taylor and perhaps some servants of his.

This is a good opportunity to describe a very influent Heretic cult, since they players have something the leader wants and thinks is his, the Stygian Chains. The players will meet Denzil Taylor which they would most likely find as a nice prick he really is. Perhaps even put some trust in him and eventually even join up his ranks?

Goal: Present Denzil Taylor to the Characters.

Scene Five - What will the King say about that…

Setting: Somewhere in Little Five Points.

Cast: Most likely Jameson and if things goes totally wrong, Jebediah O’Rourke.

This scene will occur one time or another though the circumstances could be very, very different. If the players surrender and admit they took the chains they could be doing this to Jameson, which will give them a lecture and force them to swear an Oath to the Stygian Empire but will not send them for enthrallment to Stygia which could occur if the characters are imprisoned by legionaries. If the latter will occur they should look forward to a couple of painful hours of interrogation at Five Points Station downtown and will be sent with the Midnight Express to Stygia to await a sentence which could lead to discorpation.

Goal: This is an opportunity for the more witty characters to escape the interrogation situation or even befriend the Hierarchy and join their ranks if they desire. Success is survival and survival is freedom.

Aftermath

There are plenty of opportunities for some really good roleplaying dialogues with non player characters. You could award both the Concept point and the Roleplaying point, the latter if someone not only plays appropriate but also plays the most important mediator in the more difficult situations. One point for success if the manage to stay alive and not be forced to Stygia to await a sentence of something horrible and perhaps even a point for Heroism? Here you can call out a maximum of five points which most likely no one will get.

Chapter Three - Seeing is Believing?!

Some basic thoughts.

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 Ensemble of Enki is a fanatic religious Heretic cult, worshipping an ancient Samaritan doctrine which will eventually lead to Enlightenment. The cult is run directly under Chaplain Marcus Vortrotter, a Dutch immigrant who came to Georgia to attend UGA in Athens in 1985. During a mysterious disappearance from campus, Marcus Vortrotter appeared in the Shadowland and formed his own little cult, The Ensemble of Enki. The cult itself got seven members and one of them appears to be Mike’s girlfriend Joanne Mattews. The cult as currently seeking potential members and the players might find the easiest way to find out whether the woman who appears to be Joanne really is who she seems to be.

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

Marcus Vortrotter got the rank of Chaplain of the Cult and claim his leadership over the Cult and none of the members complain about this. He is a fair man though cool and cunning, he is also somewhat a traditionalist and doesn’t like changes. He is the one to know the most secrets of them all and he is the real potential threat to the Hierarchy though he doesn’t mind their existence as long as they don’t interfere with the Cult and its interests. Marcus is a potential member of the Klan but have no status among them.

Minister Lucas Walters

Lucas Walters was the first to join Marcus Vortrotter and what would be the Ensemble of Enki. The two formed the doctrine after which the cult worship and believes in. Lucas, also called Luke, is a powerful wraith skilled in some of the ancient Arcanoi described in Wraith Players Guide. Lucas would like to see Marcus Vortrotters fall and does everything to convince that some new blood would be good for the Cult. New members with new ideas would be the fall of Marcus Vortrotter. Lucas Walters is quite liberal in his views and does not agree with Marcus views upon the negroid race. He is not aware of Marcus affiliation with the Klan.

Buccaneer Diana Andersen

Diana Andersen is the last member to have joined and she is under very strict control from Marcus Vortrotter. Diana has no recollection of her mortal life. She is the least powerful member of the Cult but due to her close relation to Marcus she knows a few secrets that would be quite valuable. Left for the players to find out is whether she is Joanne or not. She sure looks like her.

Buccaneer Tommy Lang

Tommy Lang was a former Triad member in his mortal life, as a wraith he spends a great deal of time by himself learning as much as he can about the Arcanoi powers. His greatest wish is not to achieve Transcendence but to become mortal again. The other members are not aware of his serious dreams to become mortal again.

Tommy would trade anything for insight in the Arts of Arcanoi, and is a tricky son of a bitch. He is by hart a bastard and will betray anyone if they don’t serve his purpose, though he has some respect for both Marcus and Lucas. He knows that Lucas got some powers that he want to learn.

Jonah DeLangiere

Jonah has always been a servant by hart but very interested in the Occult. As soon as his life was over he joined the Ensemble of Enki. He serves their purpose well and does anything the leaders tell him to do. He is a follower that doesn’t know any secrets valuable to the players nor the Hierarchy.

Buccaneer Willy Hoffman

Willy Hoffman is a very strange man, he looks like a 13 year old English school boy but is way older than 13. Willy is the son of a English ambassador who lived in Virginia during the first part of the 19th century. Little Willy was born 1812 in England but has been raised in VA as a nobleman and a gentleman but got killed during a fight among some boys at his school. He still got the English accent. If the players will show great respect for him, they will earn his trust and could be a potential friend but also a dangerous foe. He ended up in Atlanta after a serious botch in a Tempest travel. Ever since he has stayed in Atlanta.

Buccaneer David Roscoe

David Roscoe is the second Klan member of the Cult. He know Marcus from the Klan and he has a great deal of respect in him. David was a farmer in his mortal life, born and raised in Alabama but got killed in a car crash in Atlanta, GA.