uncomfortableCHARACTERS:
Alexandra "Alex" Scott (Kathy) - Television Journalist
Carole LaFlamme (Angela) - Bookstore Owner
Constable Andrew Harkness (DavidM) - Police Officer
Jennifer Upton (Ellie) - Sophomore University Student
Doctor Jason Harris (Mark) - Doctor
March 24th, 2014 (Monday)
The work week begins for each of the player characters in a rather mundane way. Jennifer Upton begins her day getting a new assignment from her Myths and Legends 101 professor, James Barker, to explore some of the myths and folklore of the urban landscape. She decides to look into some of the legends and stories told about homeless people. Jennifer begins with some basic research. She is shocked to learn of the sheer number of homeless people living on the streets (around 530 in 2008, and the number living in shelters (6,705 in 2013). Jennifer decides to narrow her focus down, and starts thinking in terms of which group(s) of homeless she wants to deal with. She remembers hearing about the recent pair of murders of two shelterers at Harmony House, and thinks that a paper on the house and its inhabitants will be just the ticket, especially given that she's been feeling female solidarity of late with Carole LaFlamme and Alex Scott.
TV journalist Alexandra Scott receives her latest assignment: to look at the deaths of a couple of homeless women in downtown Ottawa, near Harmony House, a shelter focused on easing the transition from crisis shelter to independent living for women and their children who are fleeing violence. She tells Eddie Graves, the assignment editor, that it sounds pretty mundane to her, but he tells her it's anything but. He offers her a pick of several cameramen, and decides to take Ronald James again, as she's gotten used to him. Alexandra starts doing some research, and learns a few things. The first victim, Taylor Rogers, was killed four days ago, the victim of what seemed to be a hit-and-run incident near Harmony House (on Gladstone Avenue), and the second victim, Andrea Whiteshour was found dead in one of the alleys near a restaurant close to Harmony House, stabbed four times in the chest. She gets in touch with Ronald James, and asks him when he'll be ready to roll.
At LaFlamme Books, Carole LaFlamme and her husband, Karl, are concerned about the drop-off in business. Karl tells her that he's got good news: the special order that he wanted for a client has come in, and they'll make a bit of money off it. He calls the man who ordered the copy of _Das Buch der Nacht_ (The Book of Night) by Helmut Zweiger, a Mark Namenlos, and tells him that his book has been received. The gentleman in question is thrilled, and says he'll be in as soon as he can make it to pick it up. Carole decides to take a quick look at the book in question, and seeing what it is, attempts to Sense the Unknown on the volume. It comes across to her as highly malevolent and holds some sort of secretive power... She realises that she needs to get hold of SAVE, but also needs to look into the person who ordered the book.
Constable Andrew Harkness begins a new day with his partner, Eddie Hanson. Andrew tells Eddie that he and his girlfriend, Rachel [Danvers], are doing well. He's actually thinking of asking her to marry him, given the condition she's in, telling Eddie that he really loves her. The two receive a call to investigate a robbery, and set off for the site, a convenience store, siren blaring. Arriving on the scene, the two witness a large crowd at the Mac's store, and Andrew calls for back-up. Detective Inspector Robert Meadows is already on the scene, and tells the two beat cops to keep the crowds back, and once they have back-up, take the lead on canvassing the crowd. The two go about their jobs.
Monday morning finds Dr. Jason Harris tired and a bit worn out after an emergency surgery the night before. He begins his morning shift with a call down to the ER, and learns that he's got another emergency patient - a homeless woman named Amy Schuyler. Schuyler is barely not beyond saving, suffering from multiple stab wounds, and Jason is able to save her [turns a Token Dark, adds +10 to the TN], but she remains critical. Sensing there's something unusual about the case, Jason asks the attending to keep him up to date on the condition of the patient.
Jennifer arrives at Harmony House, and is surprised to see Alexandra there laying down the first shots and intro commentary for her story. When Alexandra is finished, she tells Ronald to go set up for the next shot, and then talks with Jennifer. The two exchange pleasantries and then information on why they've both come to Harmony House, and Jennifer feigns ignorance of the two deaths that have already occurred to residents of the shelter. The two try to sense whatever they can about the place, but neither is successful. Alexandra says she should come with her, as she's about to talk to the Director of Harmony House, Sheila Finch. Jennifer says that would be great, and heads for the main doors of Harmony House.
At the bookstore, Carole takes a look at the listing for who ordered the copy of _Das Buch der Nacht_, but doesn't recognise the name. However she does realise the last name, "Namenlos", is an old derivative of "Nameless". For some reason, she's concerned about the matter, but trusts that Karl knows what he's doing. She turns her attention to other matters, and places a call to her SAVE contact, Halle Whadjat, but finds that she's currently unavailable. She leaves Halle a message (about the book and what she's learned).
Back at the Mac's convenience store, Andrew and Eddie learn that the victim was a 35-year-old man, Thomas Canty, thought to be homeless, who was living near the Mac's in one of the alleys. They proceed to canvas the area in an attempt to find out what happened. They learn that a "crazy, cloaked figure" followed Canty out of the Mac's, and when he entered an alley, ran in to it. Several of them heard screams from the alley, but when they went down the alley all they found was the bloody mess that was the victim. Andrew attempts to open up his senses to the Unknown [Sense the Unknown, and rolls a Low Success]: he senses a dark, destructive power that needed the blood. His imagination starts to run wild, but Eddie gets him focused once more, and they go back to questioning potential witnesses.
Jason goes up to the ICU at the Ottawa General, to check on how Amy Schuyler is doing. He's told that she's conscious, but still somewhat out of it, and he goes in to check on her condition. Looking at the charts, he sees that Amy is doing as well as can be expected under the circumstances. He hears her muttering, almost as if in her sleep, catching the words "promise", "youth", and then a lapse back to unconsciousness. He has no idea what it's all about, but he determines that he'll check on her later and see what he can learn.
Saturday night's game session of the Friday group's ongoing Chill 3rd Edition campaign was a fun session that the players seemed to enjoy quite a bit. The start of a new case, the players got into the session with some relish, and there was some good roleplaying throughout the evening with the players coming to some conclusions about events that were quite entertaining to me. I had a good time with the game on Saturday night, despite some of the eye problems that I'm having, but the eye discomfort was distracting at times. The players told me they're quite intrigued by what seems to be going on in this adventure, and are looking forward to next week's game (health and weather willing).
Overall, Saturday night's Chill 3rd Edition session was a great way to wrap up Friday night gaming for 2015, and I can't wait to see how gaming in 2016 with the Friday night players unfolds. :)