Bastun Nation

Amesbury Gothic

2005-07-15T11:19:41Z

So to recap: When we last saw our heroes, they'd just been saving the world from an incursion of a 'mythic'/ancient Ireland dimension, led by the Morrigan. It and she were driven off and the heroes returned to Amesbury. Bar Diarmuid, who was now the High King of Ireland, and who refused to shirk his responsibilities to his people. (Hmm. He may also have had a wife there...) That was Bealtaine, May 1st.

Previously I've done IC episode write-ups, from Dino's POV. And they take too long. So we'll see how straight description works...

Abi was not a good person to be around, what with having her lover of one night disappear. She spent a few weeks using magic and rituals both dark and light, trying to get him back, to no avail. So she upped and went off to France to visit some Wiccan friends for a few weeks.

Dieter had aided in some of the rituals and advised against others. But faced with an impending marriage to someone he didn't really know, he thought he'd better make the attempt, and travelled to England for the summer.

Dino did some 'stuff' and has spent the last six weeks with his family in Sicily.

Justin had a great summer. With college out, the labs were free. He spent his time there, experimenting and researching. Sometimes he even remembered to eat. And shower.

It's now early September (2006). Amesbury has been quiet (bar the tourists) since the events of Bealtaine - if anything, the town has a better atmosphere than before.

Arriving back from Italy, Dino checks in on the Alchemist's Head, which has been ably run by Rachel over the summer. Chatting away to Rachel ("Hey, you doin'?" ... "Of course I sent you a postcard - the Italian postal service is really bad..."), he finds that Abi apparently arrived back the previous night, but still hasn't been seen. Dieter eventually arrives in too, and as they talk, Dino's super-hearing reveals Abi has slipped out.

Dino calls Justin, who is rather taken aback to find it's actually September now. But he arrives over in short order, too. They spend most of the day waiting for Abi to get back, catching up on the events of the summer.

Abi, meanwhile, has walked around town, apparently getting the vibe of the place, checking out the graveyards and the like. She also checks out the Old-Abandoned-Warehouse-On-The-Far-Side-Of-Town. Things seem quiet [I think - missed that part], and walking back, meets a new priest, a young curate, who, warned by Fr. Callaghan to stay away from the bad part of town, obviously went and did the exact opposite.

When Abi slips back into her apartment over the shop, the others decide to leave her be for the moment, and head off to, where else, O'Flaherty's. Rachel only stays for one or two and heads off home.

As Dino, Dieter and Justin chat, a Dark and Mysterious stranger enters the bar and approaches their table. The trio knew he was Dark and Mysterious from the way he was dressed and, well - the way he was so obviously trying to be Dark and Mysterious (TM).

Dieter: "Oh god, a Goth..."

Dino: "Can we help you?"
D&MS: "I bring you greetings!"
Dino: "Dude - you've been playing too much Warcraft!"

D&MS: Some pretentious and self-important sentences (with Dark and Mysterious undertones) about being an envoy, a diplomat and an ambassador.
Dino: "Are you an android?"
D&MS: "What? No! Why?"
Dino: "Prove it - use a contraction!"

Dieter does some introductions and asks the D&MS his name.
D&MS: "You may call me - Andrew."

They order some drinks. Three creamy pints. And a coke for Andrew.

Justin, at this stage, is shattered, and heads home, while Dino gets some takeout and he, Dieter and Andrew get a cab to Dieter's place.

Andrew explains he represents Buffy Summers and her army of Slayers, in The Battle Against The Darkness (tm), and that the deeds of Amesbury's own Scooby Gang have come to their attention.
Dino: "What, so, to get your attention, people have to save the world twice? In case, like, the first time is a fluke?"

Dieter asks why they're being contacted now. Andrew says it's to let us know that Buffy knows that we're here, and now we know that she knows... and that this will prevent "misunderstandings". He presents his (ostentatious, pretentious and vulgar gold-leaf-embossed) business card.

Dieter wants to know if this means the Slayer will be taking an interest in Amesbury and its Hellmouth, and the trio discuss Buffy and her army of Slayers:
Dino: "So - it's kinda like the U.N. - intervening in the world's troublespots when required?"
Dieter: "No, I think it's more like Thunderbirds..."
Andrew: (completely forgetting to be pretentious) "WOW, that'd be soooo cool!"

Andrew eventually leaves (the swishing of his leather trenchcoat (being worn in early September in New England, mind) being somewhat marred by having to climb into the back of a cab), as does Dino.

The next morning, Dino, Abi and Justin all find they've got mail - old fashioned paper mail, at that! They all receive an invitation to attend the wedding of Dieter von Schwarzburg, at Schloss Schwarzburg, in a few weeks time...

Abi also receives an invitation for herself and friends to attend an event [opening of new office?] at the offices of Wolfram and Hart...

[End credits]

I have to say this was an extremely enjoyable and, at times, (intentionally) hilarious episode. This was the first time that we've had an appearance from any of the "real" B:tVS cast, and natural20 gave a spot-on interpretation of Andrew. Great fun!

Amesbury Gothic

2005-05-27T13:46:38Z

The show formerly known as JPF: Amesbury and Jamie: a Vampire Slayer.

The aftermath of last week's season finale... 'Closure'

She was a rebellious teenager with an unwanted power thrust upon her.

He was a warrior from out of the mists of time and legend.

Together, they... well, together, they were responsible for quite a lot of the crime around here. But they were also responsible for killing a hell of a lot of vampires. And hey, they saved the world. Twice.

Gone, but never forgotten.

OOC:

Dino walked silently up to the cemetary, which lay bathed in the sunlight of a crisp New England May morning. The grave was clean and well-tended, but several bunches of recently laid flowers were wilting, dried out from the heat of the last few days.

After a few minutes spent in silent contemplation, Dino rose.

The previously wilting flowers were now pristine and fresh, as if they'd just been freshly laid there. Among them was a brief sparkle and a new addition, a single red rose, came into being.

Dino smiled, turned, and walked away.

Bizarre moments in gaming...

2005-02-25T12:37:52Z

So last night's Buffy session, where the object seemed to be to break natural20.

Abi receives a flyer - an invite to the opening of a new upmarket pet store, the "Celtic Hounds". Proprietors, the Misses O'Connor and O'Keeffe. No, nothing whatsoever to do with the Hounds of the Morrigan, honest, guv.

The invite gets passed around the party. Brian makes a comment that as one person mimed passing the invite to another, it seemed to have gotten bigger. That's all we needed. It went to the next person, and got bigger again. And again. By the time this invisible invite had done the rounds of all present, it was now a novelty invitation in the shape of a lifesize Irish Wolfhound, whose jaw opened and closed if you wagged its tail.

Probably one of those 'you had to be there' things...

In other news: WoW at lunchtime...

White Elephant

2005-02-15T22:38:28Z

To paraphrase Fr. Dougal: "No Wook! I thought you only needed to come up with one idea and that was that! I didn't know that if you had one idea you had to start following it up with other, smaller ideas! I want out!"

So, apparently I'm now the editor of White Elephant - and I've noone to blame but myself.

Despite the odd panic attack, the deadline for the first issue has arrived tonight ('cos, like, what else would gamers be doing on Valentine's Day except finishing off their submissions for today) and amazingly, everything arrived in by deadline^[1]. Well, apart from adverts, but they're on their way. I'm rather shocked. Most of my work is now done, thankfully, and I've passed it over to the capable hands of arrgh_brains for polishing into something people will want to pick up off a shelf. W.E., coming soon to a con or games shop near you...

[1] And one other kinda article, which, typically, is from the first person I tapped for one...

DAoC

2005-01-28T16:45:04Z

Okies, all done - eventually. No spaces in names allowed, so look out for Badb, a short, red-haired Celt. She's on Hibernia on Excalibur, and at the moment is hanging around Howth. Though she seems to have got herself involved in a quest and may be running between a couple of other villages.

On the technical side of things, it's not looking brilliant... pauses and screen freezes, especially when there's a lot on teh screen. However, I am well overdue an upgrade, and may hopefully be acquiring a decent spec machine in fairly short order (had to uninstall a load of crap just to fit on the game updates and leave a reasonable bit of space for the swapfile).

I'll be on over the weekend...

Dark Ages of Camelot

2005-01-28T00:55:45Z

DAoC has been acquired and installed.

It swiftly brought back memories of my first foray into MMORPGs, Ultima Online. Why? Because, as a living game, it gets regular updates.

["3% - Mythic Update"] 23Megs of 707 downloaded. Thank the stars for broadband!

Starting the installation this late at night may not have been big or clever, but hey, it was new, and shiny.

I shall persist until I at least have a character created.

Hmmm. Badb hasn't been seen in a while. She'll be a Celtic Ranger (heh, a certain irony there). Later (certainly not tonight) we may create Bastun, an "Elfe" magic user (partly to see if any of the refs spak Gaelic :-)

["5% - Mythic Update"]

In the meantime I can catch up on LJ.

Old Welephant

2004-12-26T00:36:36Z

"Ah yes, but is it role-playing...?" by Anton

Badb Catha cursed as she steered her mount round the thick briars of Yew Forest. She wanted a clear escape route, given the dangers to be found in this wood! Ahead, the tangled undergrowth opened onto a clearing. Urging her steed, Brom, forward, she entered, only to witness a scene of horror. On the far edge of the glade, a warrior stood, stricken, as that most foul of undead - the dreaded Lich - drained the last of his life force. Badb spurred her horse into a charge, simultaneously drawing upon her magickal energies. "Kal Vas Flam", the words of power rang out and the Lich, already wounded, she now saw, was engulfed in flame. Her hand dropped to her sword hilt and paused. "No - a Lich. Silver!", she thought, and reached to her back to draw her silver katana. A swift, accurate strike, the lich dropped, its unlife extinguished. "An Corp" - more Words of Power, as she divined the spirit of the slain warrior hovering nearby. The ghost solidified, became flesh, risen. The warrior spoke - "Thx mate. Bloody lost connection. When I logged back in the lich had me".

The above description describes a typical encounter in Ultima Online, the world's first MMORPG. No, that's not an acronym for the latest type of rocket-propelled grenade launcher from W40K - it stands for Massively-Multiplayer, Online, Role Playing Game. So what's that, then? In essence, the 'next big thing' in computer gaming.

Pretty soon after the emergence of the first networked computers, the first 'multi-user dungeons' (or MUDs) appeared. These were fairly simple, text-based adventure games, similar to the first home computer role-playing games, with the exception that they also allowed interaction with other players. Although they enjoyed a steady following over the years (and many free MUDs are still available on the 'net), they never achieved mass-market penetration.

That changed about five years ago with the release of the first version of Ultima Online. The Ultima series of computer games had enjoyed strong support for well over a decade. Origin Systems, the publishers, then had some bright ideas. Ultima = popular. Internet = popular, and growing. Hmmm. Online gaming? Worth a shot. The idea was to create a graphical adventure game to be played only over the Internet, with thousands of other players, each of them paying a monthly fee. Origin thought it might work, and planned a game that they assumed would have a life of about a year before it was no longer profitable and they'd have to pull the plug. Five years on, Origin (now owned by Electronic Arts) has released three expansions for Ultima and has a subscriber base of 235,000, each paying a $10 monthly fee. The in-game Ultima gold coin, literally just a few pixels on the screen and an entry on a database, had, until 1st January 2002, more stability than the Italian lira (based on sales of Ultima gold on ebay.com).

From a business point of view, MMORPGs make sense. Previously, a games company might spend over a year and, say, a million dollars developing a game. On release, if the game was good, they could look forward to lots of sales for a couple of months at (in Ireland) €40 a shot, maybe sales of an expansion a few months later at €20, and a few more bucks dribbling in after a year when the game went out on a budget label.

With a MMORPG, the business model changes significantly. You still get the €40 sales - but then you get a steady income of $10 per month for as long as the player keeps playing. In Origin's case, that's a guaranteed $2.3 million - a month! That sort of money allows them to employ developers to constantly improve the game (with automatic distribution of patches to the players); Gamemasters, to keep an eye out for (and on!) the players - and still make a tidy profit.

Needless to say, others soon cottoned on to the potential, and two more MMORPGs soon appeared - Everquest (now the world's most popular online game) and Microsoft got into the act with Asheron's Call. There are many more either in planning, testing, or recently released. Fantasy is still the most popular genre, but the recent release of Anarchy Online, and the forthcoming The Sims Online may change that. Then, of course, there's the biggie - Star Wars Galaxies.

So - what are they all about, then? If you've ever played a single-player computer RPG, you already have the basic idea. MMORPGs are the same, except that you can interact with up to thousands of other players (not all at the same time, of course). The other significant thing is that the online world you are playing is persistent. If your character learns a new skill, buys some equipment and banks some gold in one session, the game server remembers all that has happened the next time you log in. In Ultima, if your character eventually buys a house, you can decorate it as you wish and even employ an NPC vendor to sell goods for you. The other players see the house as you've decorated it. When you log in, you might find that your vendor has sold your goods while you were busy in real life and there's a stack of gold waiting for you.

As to what you can actually do in these games - the short answer is "lots". MMORPGs are designed to appeal to as wide a player base as possible. Using Ultima as an example again, you can create many types of character and follow many, varied playstyles. Want to fight monsters? They're there in abundance, and you can develop your monster-killing character as you wish - pure fighter, pure mage, or a combination. Or why fight yourself? Become an animal tamer and get your pet dragon to fight for you! Battling other players? Again, there's no shortage of takers. Or if fighting isn't your bag at all, how about treasure-hunter? Thief? Fisherman (watch out for the sea-monsters, though)? You can even choose to become a craftsman. From the magical creator of potions and scrolls, to the more mundane smith - all are possible. Become a grandmaster smith, and the weapons and armour you create will even bear your name.

The big downfall of single-player computer RPGs, of course, is the singular lack of role-playing. Computers just can't do it. At best, you get random, witty comments from NPCs, but your interaction with other characters is strictly limited to choosing responses from a list. So how does interaction with other players work in MMORPGs? The answer is as varied as the number of players. I've met rude players, stupid ones, and great ones. There are those who will try to scam "newbies", and there are those who will take an hour out of their own online time to show you the ropes, train you in skills and spend some game gold to get you equipped. Believe it or not, you can even find role-players!

Now, I've been playing Ultima for nearly two years. The first guild my character joined, while full of fun-loving, helpful players, just didn't get the role-playing thing. After persuading the guildmistress that role-playing was 'a good thing', she agreed to involve the guild in more than just the ongoing storylines provided by Origin themselves. Lo and behold, at the next guild meeting, she announced "Right, we're going to have a role-playing event. The story is that I'm going to get kidnapped and the guild has to rescue me. Now, who wants to play the bad guys?". *Sound of palm slapping forehead*

Three months ago, however, I came across not one, but a whole slew of 'hardcore' roleplaying guilds, all based in the same (in-game) geographic area. There are interesting plots, alliances, crosses and double-crosses, community events and battles - fought according to strict rules of engagement. And almost without exception, an excellent standard of roleplaying. That's one of the things I love about Ultima - in almost two years, I've still just scratched the surface of a game that's constantly evolving. After an hour or two of decent role-playing with Morrigan, I can take out Badb Catha and go off on a monster bash - to yet another part of the world I still haven't seen. Or if I'm stuck for gold, I can get my master craftsman to make valuable items for sale. (OK, I'm lying about the last one. Yes, I could do that, but it sounds too much like work to me!).

One thing is for sure - MMORPGs are here to stay. There are huge differences in the genres, atmosphere and quality of the games currently available and planned - but why not try one out. www.stratics.com has information and links for most existing and planned MMORPGs (and a thriving Ultima community). And if you fancy trying Ultima - by the time you read this, the latest edition should be in the shops. Ultima Online - Lord Blackthorn's Revenge contains both a 2D and 3D client, new in-game monsters designed by Spawn creator Todd McFarlane - and a thriving community waiting for you. My current in-game ambition is to start a Celtic role-playing guild, so if you do pick up a copy and want some help getting a character established, feel free to mail me.

END

Er, this was written sometime in 2002 and I'm no longer playing Ultima. Somewhat tempted by DAoC, though...

JPF: Amesbury

2004-11-20T16:36:43Z

[OOC: Season two starts in February 2006, some four months after the first season's finale. Er, obviously enough, this'd be a locked post :-) ]

Abi's back.

I found this out when I received an angry phonecall from her, accusing me of stealing a book from the shop. Of course, I denied it, on general principle. Assuming that because something is missing, I must have stolen it - well, that's just mean.

Ok, the fact that I did steal it means my moral high ground has somewhat weak foundations, but still.

Anyway, she, Diarmuid and Dieter (who's been back a couple of weeks from his trek through various American tourist traps) evidently met up in O'Flaherty's. I got a call from Diarmuid, who wanted to meet up. Time to face the music.

There was no point in continuing to deny anything. After all, the spell worked and Jamie's back. That's all that matters.

Diarmuid laid it on a bit thick... didn't know what I was doing, danger of a black magic books in the wrong hands, and so on. And who'd been helping me and where were the books, so we could put a stop to this nonsense.

"It's too late - the ritual was cast a couple of weeks ago."

My satisfaction of the moment, however, was quickly crushed. Basically it came down to:

Him saying that if Jamie's death had been mundane - then it might not be Jamie that was brought back.

Not to mention "Don't you think that if Jamie had died saving her friends or family that hell is the last place she would've gone to?"

Fuck.

What have I done?

We went back to the shop, where the others quickly arrived. I have to say Abi wasn't as tough on me as I'd been expecting. Not that she was exactly conciliatory, or anything, but it could've been worse. Dieter was his usual tactful self, though.

Anyway, I was told to fetch a sovel from the basement, and off we went to the snow-covered graveyard, to verify exactly what was in there.

Jamie Mathers

1986 - 2005

Slayer. Hero. Friend.

R.I.P.

Diarmuid made quick work of the grave, and it was left to me to jump down and opn the coffin. It was empty.

Despite my earlier conversation with Diarmuid, inside I still felt elated. The spell had worked, and maybe she hadn't been in Heaven. Plus, they don't know Jamie as well as me. I'm sure she'd never have just taken her own life - she had to have been under some sort of malign influence.

We went back to the shop. Abi tried a stae-wide location spell. No luck. Then she used a world map. Still nothing. What did that mean? According to Abi: "Whatever came back - it wasn't Jamie."

Shit.

Later, it was back to the graveyard. Abi tried a spell that would reveal the residue of the ritual used on Jamie. It showed a line of faint purple light leading away from the grave. We followed it by car, up into the mountains, then when it led offroad and into the woods, we decided to return, more prepared, in the morning.

Next day, we met up again and headed back to where the trail left the road and went off down a logging track. Continuing on foot, I had this weird feeling that there was something else in the woods with us. A couple of times, I almost saw something off to one side or the other with my peripheral vision, but if I turned to look, there was nothing there.

Eventually, we came out on a clearing. It had makeshift training equipment scattered around - targets, dummies, stakes, and the like. Dieter said Jamie had brought him here before, once or twice. So this was Jamie's place, then, where she came for solitude. Abi said the traces were concentrated here, all right.

We looked around a bit. There were plenty of tracks, Jamie sized, which I put at a couple of days old. We followed the most likely recent set off into the woods, and, after a couple of hours, came out on another clearing. There was an abandoned shack on the far side. This time, it was Diarmuid's turn with the "I've been here before." Almost a year ago, he'd recovered a book and magical mirror from here.

As we approached, I detected a bad smell. We entered cautiosly, to find carnage. Three robed bodies, obviously involved in some sort of ritual before their deaths. Which had been caused by broken necks.

Shit.

There were Greek symbols daubed on the wall - obviously a college frat society, then. Jamie's trail had faded and her tracks were quickly being covered by fresh snow, so we returned to town. Some checking revealed noone had been reported missing as yet.

In other news - we've apparently signed up to join the JPF - Johannes' Popular Front. Although there are no secret decoder rings involved, and "joining" pretty much amounts to "swapping cellphone numbers."

JPF: Amesbury

2004-11-20T15:46:16Z

OOC: So, in an excellent first season, titled "Blood out of a Stone" by our GM/Writer/Producer/Director natural20, we've:

• discovered that everything is not as it seems in Amesbury, Mass.
• found that some of the characters are also not quite as they seem
• uncovered a conspiracy
• disposed of a medium-bad demon
• temporarily closed a Hellmouth
• found that abi_winthorpe has really bad taste in boyfriends
• lost a Slayer
• had lots of "houseguests" not survive their stays
• watched as Dieter got a season ticket to the local hospital
• got experimented upon
• gained an alabaster amnesiac
• found some allies
• been invaded by an army of golems
• "permanently" closed a Hellmouth
• and, as they say, muchmore...

The "show" has been very well received by some tough critics and has been renewed. But there remains the problem of a series named after an absent character...

Hence, we present for your viewing pleasure - "JPF: Amesbury."

The 'JPF' refers to "Johannes' Popular Front" - a loose alliance of anti-establishment anarcho-pagans who helped out a little last season. (The group didn't actually have a name, but in-game banter led to the christening.)

So, on with the show. Brian's calling Season 2 "The Sound of her Wings."

And as I'm typing this, it's obvious we won. Von Schwarzburg was slain by Dieter, and Abi's spell succeeded. We saved the world.

Life in Amesbury went back to normal. And we all lived happily after.

Except we didn't. Or at least, I didn't. How could I?

The others may have forgotten about her - it certainly seems that way. But how could I? I loved her. Love her.

So on with the plan.

Unfortunately, this meant delay. The others are suspicious, unsurprisingly. I mean, I think I've convinced them I wasn't going to do anything foolish, but they're a canny lot (well, uncanny, but you know what I mean.)

So for several weeks, I did nothing untoward, just got back into the routine of college, clubs, helping out at the shop. I went on the odd patrol with Dieter, not finding anything. Kept an eye on the Hellmouth. Helped Papa in trying to decipher the papertrail to find who really owns the land it's on. Flirted a bit with Rachel. I don't like leading her on, but if helped convince the others... And I dug up a couple of possible leads for Alex.

Routine.

So having pretty much convinced everyone that bringing Jamie back was the last thing on my mind... I then continued with my plan of bringing Jamie back.

To recap - I'd made contact with a Boston sorceror, "Lazarus", who claimed to be able to it. He required an object called an 'Urn of Osiris' to do so. He'd put me in touch with Pete Rose, a guy who specialised in "acquisitions." Rose's price for obtaining an Urn was three books. Two of them I had already acquired. The third, Libris Devor, which translates as The Book of Damage, was in the Alchemist's Head, in Abi's locked cabinet.

I'm pretty sure the cabinet was warded, but hey, Mr Walking Anti-Magi Shell. And the lock was the work of moments, thanks to my serum-induced abilities. The books were delivered to Rose, who supplied a rather ordinary looking urn in return. This, in turn, I delivered to Lazarus.

He performed the ritual the following night. Obviously I couldn't be in the same room, so he hooked up his camcorder and supplied me with a DVD of the events. It's obvious something happened. Lazarus' version of the spell is designed to return the subject to life and remove them bodily from the grave. They'll appear somewhere in the vicinity, but the summoning relates only to the sould, not the body.

That was a couple of weeks ago. The ritual worked. I know it. I've rescued her from hell. Jamie's alive, and back, somewhere near. It's perfectly understandable that she's not turned up. I mean, she's bound to be confused, upset - angry, even, that I left her in that place for so long. And look at Abi - she spent just a few minutes on the far side of the Hellmouth, and took off for weeks - she's still not back!

No matter. I'll keep looking for her, and when she does turn up or I find her, everything will be all right again.

Jamie: a Vampire Slayer

2004-11-19T17:43:08Z

The strange events of the preceding days were explained in the media as a military operation to eliminate a small terrorist cell. In the America of 2005, nobody questions anything when it's to do with the war on terror...

The day after she had closed the Hellmouth, abi_winthorpe told Diarmuid to mind the Alchemist's Head while she went away to Boston to get herself straightened out... and away she went for something over 3 months...

Diarmuid more or less put Rachel [NPC] in charge of the shop, as he himself got a job fixing up choppers in the local bike shop. He spent some evenings patrolling, but came across very little - three or four vamps in four months, or so.

Dieter went on vacation. The Grand Canyon, Mount Rushmore, the Hoover Dam...

Alex eventually regained some of her memory and left to try to find her parents...

Dino resumed college and played catch-up. He has a golem head, nicknamed Data, mounted on his bedroom wall. He hung out at the shop a bit and generally resumed his life. And got involved in nothing toward at all.

Yeah, right.

Jamie: a Vampire Slayer

2004-11-19T17:29:32Z

The church was quickly surrounded by what can only be described as an army of golems.

My serum-induced spidey sense kicked in, and I heard noise from out back. Investigating, I found some golems attempting to break in to Fr. Callaghan's house on the same lot. It was a bit stupid of me, but I managed to run out, grab the good Pere, and get him back into the safety of the church, which for some reason, the golems seemed unwiling or unable to attack.

Meanwhile, Abi was having a Wicca experience... she had somehow discerned that there was some sort of magic in operation involving the church, and eventually traced it to a spell, written - well, painted, I suppose - on the ceiling. She began working on deciphering that, while I started playing with Data's head and a radio transmitter.

We were interrupted by a visitor - Abi's ex, Michael. His visit can be summarised as "You're all going to die! Save yourself, Abi! Abandon those fools and joi... URK!" The "urk" being an exclamation of pain and shock as a certain person who shall remain nameless aimed a communion patten at him from the bell tower.

Continuing my work, I eventually reckoned I had figured out a way to transmit, through Data, on the golem's command channel. I tested it out. Simultaneously, several hundred golems within our view stopped whatever they were doing and began scratching their asses. Yep, it had worked.

Meanwhile, Abi had worked out that the magical writing on the church ceiling was a spell of Hellmouth closure. Handy, that. After some discussion, and with the clock ticking, we decided on... Plan A.

The return to the OAWOTFSOT was trouble free, thanks to Mr Data. Entering the warehouse, it seemed somehow... bigger. We went on into the main room, to find an opening Hellmouth, a crazed Austrian, and various minions. Chaos ensued.

Long story short: Fighting. Injuries. Alex diving from a catwalk to prevent a killing strike. Dieter and his uncle fighting tooth and nail. Diarmuid clearing a path for Abi to the Hellmouth. Abi, with naught but a rope around her waist, plunging in. It was quite simply the most terrifying experience of my life - and given the last few months, that's saying something.

And as I'm typing this, it's obvious we won. Von Schwarzburg was slain by Dieter, and Abi's spell succeeded. We saved the world.

[OOC: Obviously, this has been written a few weeks later... if I've missed anything major out, or gotten stuff wrong, let me know.]

Buffy

2004-11-18T00:38:31Z

I really must edit that last entry and write up the season finale, before Alzheimer's sets in...

So, new season starts tomorrow. What do we call it? (I'd do a poll except this is a free account.)

• Keep the current title (seeing as there's a possibility of a badong version of Jamie featuring somewhat heavily. And there's precedent... Blake's 7 ran for something like 5 series, with the eponymous Blake absent from season 3 on)?

• Slayers?

• Amesbury?

• Diarmuid Investigations?

• Iggy Investigations?

• Something else entirely?

Answers on a postcard...

Jamie: a Vampire Slayer

2004-10-06T21:16:19Z

Edit: Now edited to include actual events.

Well, Dad took my advice - caught him on his cellphone and found he had indeed made it to safety - complete with Mrs Mathers and the boys, thank God.

Meanwhile, the rest of us are stuck in town, which should probably be renamed Golem Central. They're everywhere!

We'd holed up in the Alchemist's Head - mostly. Alex and Iggy went back to the college, briefly, to grab some stuff for Alex to work on. She wants to find out more about he serum. Given everything else that's going on, I think that's little more than a distraction, right now. Iggy didn't seem too enamoured about Alex poling about with his bloodcells, though.

Back at the shop, we had a visitor - one Charles Young. Turns out he's an freelance investigative journalist (for freelance, I think 'National Enquirer' could be assumed?) who was doing a story on Dieter's family. He'd spoken to Abi before and decided to visit the town, but ran into trouble on the way in.

After everyone arrived back, we noticed even more golems on the street. A line of them, in fact. And a couple out back. Siege mentality broke out... it proved impossible to contact the outside world, aswell. Any call outside town resulted in us talking to "The Operator". Ever seen that old British TV show, The Prisoner - that's what it was like.

Apparently incoming calls were less restricted, cos then Abi got a call from Michael. He wanted to meet her - told her she'd be safe if she'd meet him. Unspoken, I think, was the implication that the rest of us wouldn't be. We'd got ourselves seriously on Luke Ford's bad side. She "agreed" to meet him the following night.

Young had brought a police radio scanner with him. I played with it for a bit... there was some kind of extra signal being broadcast, I'm sure of it, but it was really hard to isolate.

After a while, we were contacted by "The Operator" and told to leave the shop for our own safety. So much for a day's grace. Iggy stalled for time, while Abi ran down to the basement, started shoving crates out of the way, and revealed an entrance to Amesbury's storm drains. We beat a hasty retreat...

In the sewers, we quickly discussed our options. Heh. Like we had any!

Plan A seems to have worked for us so far, so Plan A it was... to the Old Abandoned Warehouse On The Far Side Of Town. Luckily, Abi had a map, so we were able to navigate in more or less the right direction, emerging about a block from the Hellmouth. Turning a corner, we found - well, I'm sure you can guess - golems. Lots of golems. And one Luke Ford. Who spoke to us in a German accent.

Or, more correctly... Austrian. Dieter's great uncle, not seen since WWII? Uh huh. How we'd missed this before, I just don't know. Hindsight, eh? Dieter made an abortive lunge at Ford/von Scwarzburg, which at least bought us time to run to the possible safety of sanctuary at the church...

[OOC: Characters arrive at church. Long shot pulls back to reveal more and more of the town and the black specs moving about it and the cordon all around it. Truly cut off from the rest of the world. Fade to black, theme tune, roll credits]

The game...

2004-09-18T11:17:52Z

...didn't place last week, due to foreseen circumstances.

Instead, guildofevil ran a one-off WFRP scenario, and then learned why my Traveller game took the best part of a year to run. Asides. Tangents. Delays. All good fun, though, and seeing as there's no Buffy game next week either, we're going to finish off the Warhammer scenario (complete with special guest star dace_holenfor.)

Kind of an appropriate adventure, too, given that it fell around the time of Talk Like a Pirate Day!

In other news, I now pronounce our Thursday night gamers as the "Most Civilised Gaming Group in Ireland". Most groups I know get in pizza or Chinese takeout, and/or bring snacks and junk food. Ours sessions have somehow turned into dinner parties! guildofevil is a bloody good cook, and for the last few weeks has given us delicious chilli, pasta and, last session, a scrumptious curry. The Irish equivalent of Mountain Dew doesn't appear till much later in the night - instead, it's wine or decent beer with the meal. This Thursday we even dined by candlelight!

Jamie: a Vampire Slayer

2004-09-08T14:59:18Z

Fuck. Ain't nothing I can do till this whole mess resolves itself. I do have two of the three books I need to trade for the Urn, and I know where the third is located - right there in Abi's locked cabinet behind the till.

But two out of three won't cut it for Pete Rose.

And anyway, I can't just run to Boston and leave my friends right now, not until we've seen this through.

I'm sorry, Jamie. Soon.

Jamie: a Vampire Slayer

2004-09-08T14:53:59Z

Yeah, the golem (one of the Agent Smith types) was just standing around at the shell of the house that had been their former base of operations. When we approached, Diarmuid talked to it and convinced it that we had new orders for it.

We ended up bringing it back to college. It began to interface with some network from the computer lab, and eventually, after returning to the Alchemist's Head, using what it gave me, I came up with an interface GUI. I think I can program it now. It certainly seemed to accept my rudimentary input, anyway... which was, following a scouting mission of Abi's, to go and see exactly what was up at TOAWOTFSOT. Abi had seen the place openly guarded, so something big is up.

It still hasn't reported back, though.

Things are getting bad. Well, worse. There are more golems. Lots more. Not just the police force, either. They're all over town.

There was a call from Johannes. He wants to help, wants to move the Judaean Peoples Front in to help, but can't do so openly. He reckons it's only a matter of time before Amesbury is cordoned off.

I phoned Dad, who, stubborn guy that he is (runs in the family, obviously), refused to just leave town with the family on my say so. He insisted on scoping things out first. I think he became rapidly convinced.

I also called Jamie's mom, but she wasn't especially into leaving straight away, either. My dad's going to stop by there, though, on his way out, so please God they'll be safe. I feel kinda responsible for them now. Plan B is express delivery of tickets to Disneyworld, courtesy of Dieter - addressed to the kids. Nasty.

Dieter had a visitor while I was holding the fort at the shop. Dangerous looking Romany type, all dark looks and melodrama. Dieter arrived to talk to him - turns out the visitor's family and Dieter's go waaaay back - and this guy gae him a sword. A fucking magnificent sword. A family heirloom that's only ever brought out in time of great need. Shit.

Couldn't help wondering, mind, what the Bertolucci clan equivalent is. I'm thinking it comes in a violin case, but there ain't no Stradivarius in it.

We also had a visit from Fr O'Callaghan - via the back door of the 'Head. He was scared. Strange people around the church again. Abi and Dieter investigated. Abi found a feeling of... "rightness" around the church, especially inside. A counterbalance to the Hellmouth? Who knows? Who the fuck knows anything anymore...

Jamie: a Vampire Slayer

2004-09-08T14:25:43Z

Fuck. Shit. Damn!

One of the suppliers I'd called put two and two together, and got in touch with Abi, who talked to Diarmuid, who had a chat with Dieter, and they all decided that what I was doing was wrong, bad, stupid, whatever...

There was an inconclusive argument.

Luckily, they don't anything about my new contacts. Best make sure it stays that way.

Jamie: a Vampire Slayer

2004-09-08T14:21:05Z

Things have been pretty confused recently, and I've not had much time to update. Here goes - hope I don't leave out anything important.

So let's see.

JALT#2 was interrogated again before Abi did her mojo on him, and from what we learned, plus information from Austria, some brainwork from Alex (she's smart!), and the phials we'd recovered, we were able to come up with a simple bloodtest to determine how effective the super-soldier-serum would be on a subject. Basically, it's a litmus test... the darker the paper, the more dangerous the serum is to the subject, while the lighter it is, the more effective it will be. Or something like that, anyway. Chemistry is not my bag. I came up as 'receptive', while Alex's test showed she was 100% compatible with the serum. Interesting.

We'd done some of the work at UMA. On our way back, we did something else quite interesting. We captured our own pet golem.

Jamie: a Vampire Slayer

2004-08-09T11:59:32Z

Not much to report. Seems like every time I tried to get some time on my own, or at least some private computer time, a queue of people formed.

Did manage a couple of minutes alone with Michael before his 'rescue', though. Turns out he has heard of this Rose guy (the one on the business card that Lazarus gave me) - and he has a reputation for 'finding' things. Hopefully managed to bluff Michael, by asking what was Rose's connection to Luke Ford.

Jamie: a Vampire Slayer

2004-08-09T11:50:38Z

When one of the prisoners you're keeping in your basement turns out to be an exploding golem, and you throw him into the night, causing a large fireball as he/it explodes - it pretty much draws the night to a conclusion.

So we more or less went home.

We got back together the following day and debated what to do with our dwindling stock of prisoners. Michael, unsurprisingly, was all for us letting him go, promising that he'd reformed and would be a good boy, now. You could practically hear him saying "I never really wanted to be a pirate, you know!" Junior Assistant Lab Technician #2 was understandable even more trrified. As far as he was concerned, a colleague had started to get hot, then been removed by us from the basement, then there was a bang. And his colleague hasn't returned.

~~Iggy~~ Diarmuid called Luke Ford, who played dumb. No change there, then.

Needless to say, we got a visit from the cops. Hmm - my name must be cropping up on quite a few 'unrelated' reports at this stage. Might just have to do something about that. And now, I think, I can.

My 'serum' seems to be kicking in more. My hearing seems way better than anyone elses, and when I set my mind to something - well, to some kinds of something, at any rate - I dunno - it's sort of hard to describe. It's a mixture between having the knowledge already there, and/or just instinct. Kinda. So far, my areas of idiot savantry involve medicine, languages, computers, and occasional tinkering. And no sign of any side effects.

Yet.

We also found out some of what Alex's serum did to her - but that came later. Most of the day was spent pottering around.

We more or less agreed that abi_winthorpe should research a forgetting spell for use on Mikey and JALT#2, before we dumped them 150 miles from anywhere. Abi called her Boston friend/wholesaler, to request ingredients - and was told by her friend that she'd come across a prophecy: "Near the town of witches, the men of stone shall come to rule..." So that's two sources now.

I called my papa and asked him to check out the ownership of Hellmouth Warehouse, having failed to do so myself. I also did some research for Alex. She'd remembered her surname, so we checked for missing person's reports and suchlike. After some hacking (that seemed to just come naturally to me) what I found was a distinct absence of information, as in "Move it along! Nothing to see!" More tampering.

Speaking of Alex - what she remembers still isn't much. Rural background, hunting, shooting, rockclimbing, that kind of thing. Things must feel very weird for her - all that's happened to her, plus the supernatural stuff on top? Anyway, we distracted her for some time with Rachel and that old standby - shopping (Iggy (Diarmuid!) had neglected to buy her a bra - it was getting distracting!)

Things to get a bit more interesting towards late afternoon/evening. ~~Iggy~~ Diarmuid and Abi went to check the old abandoned warehouse on the far side of town (OAWOTFSOT). New new locks. *Boot!* Inside, they found nine pillars arranged the Hellmouth again [1], and Abi was bale to detect massive magical energy powerflows. And the pillars were coated in blood. And they weren't having too much success in removing any. So they called Dieter to come bring some tools, who called me to come look after our guests.

So, while Dieter headed off with shovels, a pickaxe and a kango hammer(!) in his trunk, Alex tried on clothes and I talked a little to Michael, but couldn't get anything useful from him. Alex, watching TV, saw a newsflash about a scout minibus that had been found abandoned empty some distance from Amesbury, with apparent signs of a struggle. I then had a chat with Alex and tried to fill her in on the realities of life - vampires, demons, magic, and the like, but she wasn't really buying it.

Meanwhile, over at the OAWOTFSOT, Abi, Dieter and Diarmuid succeeded in removing one of the poles - not without some cost. In the course of this, Abi was hit by magic, and got a vision - youth, uniform, blood, agony, death. Pleasant. On leaving the warehouse, they met one of Amesbury's finest, who wanted to know what they were doing trespassing. Dieter fast-talked him and Abi and he headed off. Diarmuid too headed off but doubled back to keep an eye on the warehouse. The cop hadn't moved away, though - he was watching the place. Diarmuid approached, and an altercation developed. Upshot - Golem! And this one had brains - it got away!

At roughly the same time this was going on, Alex and I were still talking, while sat in Dieter's living room. While on the phone to Dieter, I heard a noise coming from the kitchen. As I got up to investigate, all hell broke loose. There was a blinding flash of light (disadvantage #1 of having enhanced senses has now been logged) and a bang, and suddenly Alex and I are on the ground, with guns being held to our heads. It didn't take much to work out who was behind this, and I don't think either of us felt like being experimental test subjects again. So we struggled. Probably a mistake. For my trouble, I got a couple of boots to the ribs and head. And then there's another loud bang as Alex took a bullet at point blank range from an assault rifle. The attackers have radios, and I can hear a voice over them shouting "Abort - shot fired! Abort!" - and, thankfully, the attackers abandon us and the house. Alex is lying on the floor, bleeding from a chest wound. I apply pressure and contemplate how to make a phonecall one-handed while still applying enough pressure. Then there's a 'plink' noise, and I see that Alex is doing fine all by herself. Her version of the serum apparently turns her into Wolverine? Because just like the scene in X2, her body has rejected the bullet, and it's lying there on the living room floor. She sits up, apparently fine.

Wow.

So I call the others, who make a beeline for the house, and go check on our guests. We're one short - Michael is gone. And JALT#2 has soiled himself. Again. The others arrive and we compare notes.

I have to say I'm pretty damn scared - and paranoid. We now have two people telling us about this verse - "Near the witches' town, men of stone shall come to rule." And from what we've seen lately, we know that the latest versions of the golems are perfectly capable of passing for humans in everyday society. And they've infiltrated the police and military. Where else? It's like 'Invasion of the Bodysnatchers'. Are they capable of mimicing individual people? We don't know. But it's possible. Then we have the Hellmouth, situated in a warehouse that's owned, apparently, by holding company after holding company - such that neither Papa or I were able to determine the real owner. And the pillars surrounding the Hellmouth are a very worrying development. There was that warning, before we 'closed' it, that the Orb of Azon could be used to channel the Hellmouth's power to someone. And then there's Mr Ford...

[1] Yeah, meant to mention that last time... on his last visit, Diarmuid found these nine metal pillars embedded in a circle around the Hellmouth. On that occasion, he was able to remove one easily enough.

Jamie: a Vampire Slayer

2004-08-03T13:55:35Z

So, via e-mail, I established that "Lazarus", handily enough, is a resident of Boston. Not knowing any bars there where everyone knows your name, I arranged to meet him in a coffee shop, with the object of establishing his bona fides. He obviously had his own motives, as he pumped me for information.

We eventually went back to his... er, 'consulting rooms'?... for a demonstration of his power. He summoned what he claimed was a 'fear demon'. Heh. Might indeed have been scary, if it was taller than five inches or so :-)

So, yes, genuine sorceror, mage, warlock, whatever. He wanted to know who had died, how she'd died, when, and so on. I told him.

He reckoned it would indeed be possible to bring her back. Difficult - but possible.

Wow.

It's started to hit home just what I'm contemplating. But it's so worth it. Not just for me - but for her family. Amesbury. The world.

Anyway, 'Lazarus' showed me a contract, which seemed standard enough (I can't believe I just wrote that).

What I have to do is provide a component necessary for him to perform the resurrection. An Urn of Osiris. And Jamie and I have to perform a favour for him after she's raised. What he has to do is raise Jamie.

So all I have to do now is find one of these urns. Will check out the 'net and Abi's usual suppliers later (and discreetly!). Lazarus also gave me a business card belonging to an acquaintance of his, as a possible source.

Watch this space...

Jamie: a Vampire Slayer

2004-08-03T13:43:31Z

So the usual morning routine happened. Get up, shower, dress, have breakfast and head down to the basement to interrogate the captured sorceror and scientists. As one does. Nobody's feeling too gentle - perfectly understandable, given the circumstances. abi_winthorpe's ex had got her strapped to an altar and was about to sacrifice her, last time they'd been together, after all. "It's not you, dear, it's me" taken to a whole new level.

Michael isn't hugely full of information. Yes, he was working for Luke Ford. Yes, he's scared of Ford. Why? Oh, the usual, dabbling with forces man was not meant to know, yadda yadda. Except this is coming from a guy who was already into demonology, so if it's got him scared, then I guess it's worth paying attention to.

Next, it's the turn of the Nazi scientists-in-training. One of them, at least, is somewhat forthcoming. Long story short, Dr. Weiss has been working for the U.S. military since the end of WWII, on a variety of projects - and latterly his work had been for Ford. Ably assisted by our research assistants. The purpose of the project using me - and our Jane Doe houseguest - as primary lab rats was apparently to develop a bona fide 'Super Soldier Serum', straight out of Captain America. Yeah, sounds neat - except there are failures, and side effects and suchlike. We're able to cross-check some of what they've told us with a thick fax that arrives from Dieter's uncle. Apparently the variety I'd been given (while presumably rapidly healing me) is intended primarily to benefit covert agents, and does stuff like heighten the senses. They didn't know too much of the specifics - including what particular flavour of Kool-Aid had been given to Jane Doe.

Speaking of whom, while I was questioning our would-be Mengeles, I hear our houseguest wakening. In a bedroom. As in, two stories up. Heh.

I send Abi up to take care of her. Understandably, there's some shouting and screaming and stuff - repeated every time one of us goes upstairs to the kitchen. She - Alex, that is (she can't remember her surname as yet) - has apparently been their prisoner and experimental subject for over a year! She is very, very freaked - especially when she hears Dieter's accent.

Deciding that the fewer people around Alex, the better, at least for the moment - plus, wanting to check in at home and not to mention needing to think about what's been done to me - I decide to head off for a bit. As I leave the basement, I can just hear a high-pitched whining noise. But considering the shit I've been through, I pay it no mind. This, em, turns out to be somewhat significant...

When I get back, I find Dieter's been talking to his uncle about the translation he'd faxed. And, apparently, our Dieter is the subject of a prophecy that his uncle had found. Something about "near the witches' town, the men of stone will take control"... Well, obviously, the witches town is Salem, and our old golem friends are kinda made of stone... Iggy[1] has been out, too, checking on the Hellmouth warehouse. There are more signs of activity, including new, strong locks on the doors.

I also hear that annoying, high-pitched whining again (no, not my sisters!) I search around a bit, and eventually determine it's coming from the basement. I search around, and trace it to one of the scientists, who's hot. No, not that sort of hot. As in temperature-wise. I demand to know what's up with him, and he laughs - and laughs again when I break his finger. And the heat is stronger now. Iggy quickly releases him, manhandles him up the stairs, and throws him. He - it - explodes in mid-air. Another golem.

Man, this is worrying. The first golem we encountered was humanlike, but relatively fragile, and, from what we could tell, not all that intelligent. Since then we've encountered different ones, each version stronger/better/faster than the last. This one was pretty damn sophisticated - it completely escaped our notice that it was anything but human for quite some time. And it seemed to possess emotions, or at least gave a good impression of doing so. And a guy with pretty unlimited resources has the power to manufacture them. And he's not a friend. He also knows a lot about us - and Michael hinted he may even be drawing power from the Hellmouth. Probably thanks to us.

[1] I keep forgetting. He's not really Iggy. His real name is Diarmuid (think I have the spelling right). And while he's been perfectly happy to have us call him Iggy for what, months, now, all of a sudden he wants us to call him Diarmuid. Strange.

[OOC: Some details may have been forgotten or omitted. Before Brian or Wook get the chance to say it - yes, this is because I am old. In some cultures this would earn me respect. The gamer culture is not one of these... :-P ]

Jamie: a Vampire Slayer

2004-07-23T11:24:43Z

[OOC: Er, private post, obviously.]

Entry 1:

Yeah, like I'm really going to forget bringing Jamie back. We need her. I need her.

But no, even apart from the fact that she's my best friend... she's a Slayer, and there's a Hellmouth here, and even though we closed it, things are bad and seem to be getting worse.

Fuck it - this is a private entry, I don't need to justify myself to anyone.

Anyway, 'Operation Osiris'. Yes, well...

Researched a lot down at the Alchemist's Head. Even the books out back were little help. Yes, they confirm it is possible to resurrect someone, but then I knew that anyway. Mostly they just refer to other texts.

Made a list of those texts, asked Abi for them, she immediately knew why. And gave me a lecture. There was no point arguing, so I just agreed.

Went googling, and eventually found a page where someone seemed to know what they're talking about. Mailed 'Lazarus', and have established contact.

Abi left me in charge of the shop while she and Iggy went off on their 'picnic'. Distracted Rachel, and managed to pick the lock on Abi's cage of books. And yes, she has the main one I need, the Book of Osiris. Read through most of it while they were away, mainly to get the gist on what's involved and to find out what ingredients I need. The main one seems to be something called the 'Urn of Osiris'.

Replaced everything, and Rachel was the none the wiser - though she did ask me how I knew how to read hieroglyphics. Strange, I hadn't noticed I'd been doing that till she said. Should probably look into that. But meh - that'd just be a distraction.

Seeing as Abi is so against resurrecting Jamie, I know there's no point even talking to Iggy about it. In fact, he warned me off it as well. Now, seeing as I can't use magic, that means I need to find someone who can. This 'Lazarus' is a possibility. And there's also the pagan groups and independents at UMA. Will try getting some names from Rachel...

Jamie: a Vampire Slayer

2004-07-23T11:06:34Z

It's been a funny couple of weeks.

Life has been getting back to "normal" - as much as it ever does in Amesbury lately. Dieter's been in hospital, where's he recovering from his last altercation. Abi's had the shop open nearly every day, and has even taken on help (Rachel, the girl from college who visited me in hospital, coincidentally). Iggy's been busy in a workshop, inventing something, and patrolling. There's been no reason not to go back to college, so I did. Caught up on lectures, rejoined the kung fu soc. Had lots of conversations with people who studiously avoid mentioning that my best friend fucking killed herself by hanging. Oh, and we have an unconscious Jane Doe still asleep on Abi's foldout bed.

Like I say, normality, Amesbury style.

I've also been around to the Mathers house a couple of times. Poor kids - they still seem in shock, and Mrs Mathers isn't any better.

I've thought endlessly about changing things, bringing Jamie back, making everything the way it was. Researched some, too. But not only would it be incredibly difficult, it'd also be dangerous. Both Abi and Iggy have warned me off it, and they know a lot more about this sort of stuff than me. So yes, that plan's shelved.

So. A couple of days ago, Abi and Iggy decide to go for a walk in the woods or something (not implying anything, move along, nothing to see here), leaving me to show the ropes in the shop to Rachel. When they get back, a few hours later, Iggy gets a call from Luke Ford.

Long story short, Ford is afraid that he may have been badmouthed by persons unknown (the Judaean Peoples' Front, presumably) and wants to clear that up and still have Iggy work for him. He also mentions that he knows I've been rescued, that there are Nazis secretly manipulating the US military (and government, probably), and that some of the remaining scientists are being held in a safehouse in Salem, should we care to investigate. That's the gist of it, anyway.

Of course, it screams "trap". And we get a bit paranoid. I pop over to the Radio Shack, buy some stuff, and put together a bug detector - but it seems the place is clean. We decide it's at least worth checking out this safe house, though, so I go to Google+ and jump into the web. A while later, I've managed to find some info on the house, including the fact that it's registered owner is one 'Michael Ruthbridge'. Who, it seems, is Abi's ex-bf psycho stalker mage...

And, in a major turn up for the books, Abi - yes, Abi - decides it's time to kick ass and take names.

We tool up. Iggy gives me a pressie... two spring-loaded stakes, which can be worn concealed under the sleeves and with a flick of the wrist, pop out to do some dusting. Abi and I take my car, and Iggy, of course, uses his hog.

The place is easy to find. It's guarded, by humans. Long story short, we use old reliable Plan A, Abi turns a gun to dust, I manage to disarm a guy who's grabbed Abi's sword, and, in the basement (where else?), we find two scientists, and a very frightened Michael Ruthbridge. It's not us he's scared of, but rather Luke Ford.

A couple of minutes later, and Michael is unconscious in the trunk of my car, Abi is doing a John Travolta impression straight out of Pulp Fiction, covering the scientists in the back, and we head to Dieter's basement. 'Cos the last time we stored evil Nazi scientists there, it worked out so well... Dieter's back, too, and we also collect our Jane Doe, thinking Abi's probably isn't safe anymore.

[OOC: The 'Déja vu' also refers to Iggy and Abi's trip to the woods. After acquiring "essence of the land", a necessary ingredient for a summoning ritual (said essence being 50-year-old Irish whiskey), they performed the aforementioned ritual to summon a lord of the Tuatha de Danaan. Iggy had apparently forgotten his last of four geasa, which amounted to "Never summon us!"

Conversation in ancient Gaelic ensued, the upshot of which is Iggy has been re-instated as a sort of Champion of the Tuatha de Danaan, and has a couple more geasa - he must use his real name, he may not use any modern weaponry (hence his gift to Dino of the 'flick-stakes'), and he really, really better not summon the Tuatha again!

Oh, and casting the ritual has revealed his whereabouts to the Morrighan. Which is bad.]

Game

2004-07-18T22:51:38Z

natural20 mentioned at the last session that the current 'season' of the Buffy game would last roughly another seven or eight 'episodes', probably finishing up around September/October.

What would people be into playing after that?

Personally, I'd have no problem going straight into Season 2, though Brian might want a break from GM'ing.

Alternatively, I now have the Gateway Domain sourcebook for Traveller T20, if people want to continue on from the Grendelsbane's last adventure ('new' people can of course be accommodated); or there's Buffy/Angel, set in Dublin (obviously that'd be with a different cast than the current game).

Then, of course, Brian and I aren't the only GM's sitting around this particular Thursday night table...

Thoughts?